Designers more prominently display TVs
No longer something to hide in a bulky piece of furniture, televisions in the modern home have been elevated to a position of near reverence.
The TV has transitioned into the modern hearth. In fact, it's often paired with an available fireplace as a focal unit.
This may be due to the state-of-the-art design of flat-screen TVs, rendering them sleek and easier to position, like any piece of art. It follows logically that these slim profiles have reduced the tendency to view a large TV as a monster and modern families no longer feel the need to minimize the intrusion.
Our collective attitudes have changed toward TV. It could also be that we are now a screen-oriented culture that uses devices ranging from smartphones to huge flat screens. Even toddlers play on computer screens and iPads. Adults interface with their laptops, smartphones and iPads nonstop.
Home wall-mounted screens double as computer screens and media vehicles and are viewed as a status symbol. The more large screens in a home, the greater the prosperity of the inhabitants.
I am old enough to remember having a small black-and-white television that hid away in a walnut cabinet about the size of a deep bookcase. It was no taller than 40 inches, and the screen was the size of a large toaster. It's hard to recall how hard it must have been to see the tiny images. We've come a long way, baby!
Technological advances don't mean that design of a focal wall doesn't matter. In fact, a media wall can become an elegant affair. This one was featured this past summer in the Sunset Idea House in Manhattan Beach, California. This home was designed as a modern, entertaining-oriented beach house.
This design unites the function of artful display, hearth and TV screen by stretching one material along the entire wall. Contemporary design solutions and materials blend well with minimalist flat screens. The fewer changes between materials, the more elegant the result.
Obviously, there are design challenges in more traditional design themes where decorative tiles might be used around a fireplace or a carved wood surround might be incorporated around the firebox itself.
We do find more complex ways of covering screens that feel more traditional: Artwork that hinges or slides closed to hide a screen is the most common device.
As a practical matter, it is important to remember where you will store cable boxes, DVD equipment and other media items such as controls and CDs. Most people want all the unsightly cords hidden away behind a cabinet door or even behind a wall. Remember as you design a custom wall unit that you will need access to these boxes and wires from time to time.
Wireless controls make use of equipment streamlined. For reasons that are unclear to me, my husband and our neighbor concocted a web of cords that burst out of the right side of our TV. Eliminating this tangle is the top priority on my New Year's resolutions for 2015!
Fortunately, the intrinsic sleekness of modern equipment lends itself to smaller rooms and tiny homes in general. No floor space is sacrificed for media equipment, which is a boon. The tiniest of rooms can be transformed into a state-of-the-art media center, complete with surround sound and room-darkening window coverings.
Add in comfortable seating and you have the ingredients for a home entertainment center. There are even ways to project the images right onto a wall or ceiling, without use of a physical screen.
• Christine Brun is a San Diego-based interior designer and the author of "Small Space Living." Send questions and comments to her by email at christinebrun@sbcglobal.net.
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