The television has become thinner, smarter and less intrusive over the years, but there is one thing that hasn’t really changed: when it’s switched off, it’s still a large black rectangle sitting in the room.
For some people, that doesn’t matter at all. A beautifully designed entertainment unit beneath a wall-mounted television can make the whole composition feel considered, and sometimes that is exactly the right solution.
But I’ve always liked the idea that a television doesn’t necessarily have to be there when you’re not watching it.
Over the years I’ve designed custom entertainment units where televisions slide behind panels, disappear into cabinetry, rise out of furniture or lift upwards into a cabinet above. Sometimes the solution is relatively simple. Sometimes it involves quite a sophisticated mechanism.
But the mechanism has never really been the starting point.
The starting point is the room — and how somebody wants to live in it.
One room, two ways of living in it
I first explored the idea of concealing a television in my own home many years ago.
It was an open-plan living space incorporating the lounge and dining area, with the kitchen partly open behind it. There was a staircase to one side, a glazed entrance area and views through to the garden.
During the day, or when we were entertaining, the television disappeared.
Suddenly it wasn’t a TV room.
It was simply a living room.
You could have friends over, sit and read, listen to music, enjoy the garden or simply enjoy some quiet without a television becoming the visual focus of the space.
Then, later in the evening, everything could change.
The television could be revealed, you could lie back on the lounge and watch a film or a favourite program, and for those few hours the room could quite happily become a TV room.
The same room had two lives.
That idea has stayed with me ever since.
Does the television need to be the focus?
When somebody comes to us looking for an entertainment unit, they don’t necessarily arrive saying, “I want to hide my television.”
Often the conversation simply starts with the room.
How large is the wall? What furniture is already there? How large is the television? What needs to be stored? Is there audio equipment? Is the television wall-mounted or sitting on the furniture? And importantly, how does the client actually use the room?
Some people are perfectly happy to see the television all the time.
Others haven’t really considered that there might be another option.
That’s where custom design becomes interesting.
Rather than starting with a predetermined piece of furniture, we can look at whether the television should remain visible, become part of a larger composition, sit quietly within the design or disappear altogether.
Custom entertainment units don’t need a standard solution
There are many ways to conceal a television, and the projects we’ve completed over the years demonstrate just how different those solutions can be.
We’ve designed entertainment units with sliding panels that simply move across the television when it isn’t being used. We’ve used double doors where that suited the proportions and character of the room.
We’ve designed televisions that mechanically lower into long, low cabinetry.
In other projects, the television rises vertically out of the furniture.
And we’ve created integrated wall systems where the television lifts upwards into cabinetry above.
The decision isn’t really about which mechanism is the cleverest.
It’s about which solution makes sense for that particular room.
A large wall might allow us to create an expansive built-in entertainment unit incorporating shelving, display areas, storage, lighting and the television.
A smaller room might need something much quieter.
A relatively simple sliding panel can sometimes achieve everything the client needs without creating a complicated wall system.
Every home is different, which is why these pieces really are custom entertainment units rather than variations of one standard design.
When a fireplace becomes the focus instead
A St Kilda penthouse we worked on is a particularly good example.
In the main living area we designed a wall-mounted entertainment system incorporating an ethanol fireplace beneath the television.
But the television didn’t always need to be part of the room.
A large sliding panel could move across and completely conceal it.
With the television hidden, the composition changed.
The fireplace became the focus. The cabinetry, shelving, artwork, furniture and view could take over, and the room felt like a space for conversation and entertaining rather than somewhere arranged around a screen.
Then, when the owners wanted to watch television, the panel simply slid back.
Nothing else in the room had to change.
One room. Two ways of living in it.
That, to me, is the real appeal of concealing a television.
Sometimes there simply isn’t a good wall for a television
The bedroom in the same St Kilda penthouse presented a completely different problem.
There were expansive windows where you might otherwise have positioned the television, and permanently placing a screen in front of them would have compromised both the room and the outlook.
So rather than trying to find another wall for the television, we designed somewhere for it to disappear.
The television was integrated into a custom cabinet. When required, a motorised mechanism raised the television out of the furniture. When viewing was finished, it lowered back down and disappeared.
The cabinet could then return to being simply a piece of furniture.
It’s a very different solution from the sliding panel in the living room, yet both came from exactly the same design process.
We weren’t asking, How do we hide a television?
We were asking, What does this room need?
The entertainment unit can become part of the architecture
At the other end of the scale are rooms with large uninterrupted walls where a substantial custom entertainment unit can actually give the space the presence it needs.
Our Eureka project had a wall approximately six metres long.
A small entertainment unit would have looked lost against it.
Instead, the wall became an opportunity to create something substantial — an architectural composition of furniture, storage and display with the television incorporated into it.
In a situation like that, completely hiding the television isn’t necessarily essential.
Good design can also be about allowing the television to remain visible without letting it dominate everything around it.
That distinction is important.
Concealing a television is an option, not a rule.
What happens to all the cables and equipment?
This is the less glamorous side of designing custom entertainment units, but it is every bit as important.
A television that rises, lowers or moves behind cabinetry still needs power, cabling and sometimes associated equipment nearby.
Cable lengths matter. Ventilation matters. Equipment needs somewhere sensible to live.
And everything needs to remain accessible.
Technology occasionally needs resetting, replacing or servicing, so there is little point designing a beautiful concealed system if somebody has to dismantle half the cabinet to reach it.
We work through those practical details once we’ve established what the client wants the room to do and how the television will be integrated.
The clever part should almost disappear.
For the person living with it, the experience should simply be: open it, use it, close it.
From a simple entertainment unit to a complete wall system
Concealing a television doesn’t necessarily mean creating a complicated wall system.
Sometimes a relatively simple sliding panel is enough. In another room, a motorised lift might provide the best solution. And in a larger space, the entertainment unit might become part of a complete wall incorporating storage, display, lighting and other elements.
The scale of the solution really comes back to the room, what the client wants to achieve and how they want to live with it.
That’s why I prefer not to begin with the mechanism.
We begin with the space and the conversation. Once we understand what needs to happen in the room, we can work out the simplest and most appropriate way of making it happen.
When the television disappears upwards
Another solution we’ve used takes the idea in the opposite direction.
Rather than the television rising out of a piece of furniture, the television and soundbar lift upwards and disappear into cabinetry above.
When they’re needed, they lower back into the room.
Again, the technology itself isn’t really the point.
What matters is what happens to the room when the television is gone.
Designing custom entertainment units in Melbourne
After more than thirty years designing and making furniture, I’ve seen televisions and home entertainment technology change enormously.
The enormous televisions and bulky equipment of years ago have largely disappeared. Streaming and smaller devices have simplified things considerably.
But one design question has remained surprisingly constant:
What role do we want the television to play in the room?
At Special Things, our custom entertainment units in Melbourne are designed around that question rather than around a predetermined format.
Sometimes the answer is a beautiful freestanding piece.
Sometimes it’s a wall-mounted entertainment unit.
Sometimes the television becomes one part of a much larger architectural composition.
And sometimes the best television is the one you can’t see at all.
A room that changes with you
I still come back to that first concealed television I designed for my own home.
When it was hidden, the room felt different.
It wasn’t waiting for somebody to turn the television on. It could simply be a place to live — to entertain friends, have dinner, listen to music, read, talk or sit quietly and look out into the garden.
And then, when you wanted the distraction, there it was.
Open the cabinet.
Reveal the television.
Put on a movie.
Lie back and enjoy it.
That’s ultimately what a thoughtfully designed custom entertainment unit can give you.
Not simply somewhere to put a television.
It gives you the choice of what you want your room to be.