How high should the television be?

Set the centre of the screen close to your eyeline when seated in the chair you use most. Tape the mark on the wall and live with it for a day. A fireplace below the screen often pushes the screen higher than is comfortable, so check the stack before drawings.

Can equipment be hidden behind solid doors?

Yes, with ventilation. A closed bay holding a receiver or a console needs vents at the top and bottom, or a speaker fabric front that passes air and sound. Remote signals also need a path, so plan either a fabric door or a repeater in the bay.

Should the media wall float or sit on the floor?

Floating reads lighter and leaves the floor clear, but the wall has to carry the load, which is checked before anything is built. Floor-standing suits deeper boxes and heavier equipment. Many walls use both: a floating centre section with taller runs standing at each end.

When is the stone measured?

After the cabinetry is set. The boxes are installed and levelled first, then the stone is templated to the actual opening and returns. That order avoids a surround cut to a drawing that the room did not quite match.

Planning a media wall

By Valmont Custom Cabinetry · Published September 12, 2026 · No prices in the guides

Start with the screen and the seating

Measure from the front of the sofa to the wall and pick the screen size from that distance, not from what fits the wall. Then set the height. A screen mounted too high pulls your neck up all evening, and it is the most common complaint about a finished media wall. Sit in the chair you actually use and mark the centre of your eyeline on the wall in tape.

That mark drives the whole elevation: the shelf above it, the storage below, and the height of any fireplace opening under the screen.

The fireplace decision

An electric fireplace is the simpler unit. It needs a power feed and a framed opening, and it produces little heat at the face, so cabinetry can sit closer. A gas unit needs a venting route, a gas line and a licensed installer, and it carries clearance rules from the manufacturer that govern how close any combustible material can come. [Kam confirms clearance requirements with the fireplace supplier.]

Pick the exact model before drawings. The rough opening, the surround depth and the gap between the fireplace and the screen all come off that unit's own specification, not from a general rule.

How deep the wall needs to be

Depth is set by what has to fit behind the doors. A wall that only carries a screen and shallow shelves can stay slim and read almost flat. Add a receiver, a console, a soundbar and a subwoofer and the lower boxes need real depth, along with room behind for cable bends and plugs.

Floating boxes make the floor easy to clean and make the wall look lighter, but the wall structure has to carry the load, which is checked before the boxes are built. Floor-standing runs suit heavier equipment and taller storage.

Shallow: screen, slim shelves, no equipment behind doors.
Medium: soundbar, streaming boxes, a games console with a vented door.
Deep: receiver, subwoofer, records and larger drawers.

Storage, ventilation and speaker fabric

Hidden storage keeps the wall calm. Open shelves make it lived in. Most rooms want both: closed drawers and doors at the bottom for equipment and clutter, one or two open bays at eye level for objects and books. Decide the split before the elevations, because it changes the door sizes.

Any door that hides live equipment needs air. That means a vent detail at the top and bottom of the bay, or a fabric front. Speaker fabric doors let sound and heat pass while hiding the box behind. The fabric is stretched on a frame and the frame is built to the same reveal as the other doors so the run still reads even.

Power, cable routes and lighting

Mark the outlets before the wall is drawn. You need power behind the screen, power in the equipment bay and a route between them, plus data if the equipment is wired. A conduit or a chase built into the carcass means a cable can be pulled later without opening the wall.

Cabinet lighting is wired in the shop before the boxes leave, so the drivers, channels and strips are already in place when the run is set. The electrician makes the final connection on site. Agree the switching early: one circuit for the shelf lighting, another for anything washing the surround.

Surround materials and fronts

A stone surround is templated after the boxes are set, so the cabinetry goes in first and the stone is measured to what is actually there. Stone reads heavier and handles heat around a fireplace well. A panelled surround in painted MDF or veneer reads lighter and lets the wall match the rest of the millwork.

For the fronts, painted doors give a flat quiet field. Veneer carries grain across the run and needs the sheets sequenced. Fluted or slat fronts add texture around the screen and are worth a sample under the room's own light before you commit.

What the drawings settle

Step two is elevations plus a photorealistic 3D rendering, and that is where the screen height, the fireplace opening, the door split and the lighting are all fixed on paper. Every box, door and drawer front is then cut, edged and finished in the shop and dry-fitted before delivery. The quote is itemized line by line, so a change to the fireplace or the depth shows as a change to a line, not to a lump sum.

Planning a media wall: what to decide before drawings