Vintage buffets and credenzas can work well as media storage for today’s flat panel TVs and components, but sometimes there is that particular space where nothing vintage (or cool) seems to fit.  It’s amazing how much of our furniture is really space specific.  Something that worked so well in one home may just not fit in another.

As I was recovering from shoulder surgery last month – and staring at our bedroom TV –  it reminded me how inadequate our TV  setup had become.  When we moved into our house 16 years ago, a tall Techline bookcase fit the bill in a very utilitarian (but not very stylish) way.  It gave us needed storage (no room for dressers in our bedroom), and a place to house (hide) our then state of the art tube TV, along with a stereo and a VCR (remember those?).

our original bedroom media setup. great for 1997. not so good for 2014! this is also before we put cork floors in our bedrooms.

But as TVs got flatter and wider, the boxed in space of the Techline limited the size of the flat panel we could accommodate.  And let’s face it, our eyes aren’t getting any younger.  I really wanted a bigger screen.  And I wanted the TV to be a little lower than it was (blended bifocals, but let’s not go there!).  So I started looking for a dresser or highboy that would fit the space.  The dressers were all too wide – and the highboys too small for our storage needs.

As a last ditch effort, I checked Ikea and to my surprise, found that their Besta media storage offered the perfect solution.  Two of their low bookcases side x side on an aluminum base, and outfitted with doors and full extension drawers filled the space perfectly, did not obstruct the heat register, gave us plenty of storage, accommodated the dvd player, cable box, and apple TV.  And best of all allowed us to fit a much larger flat panel TV on top.  It fits much more flush to the walls than the old Techline did.  Overall, it turned out to be the perfect solution.  For now…..

we had 47.5″ to work with – the exact width of the Ikea Besta unit

a perfect fit! the unit completely clears the heat register. it is outfitted with 6 full extension drawers (top) and two doors (bottom). It is actually two shelf units, screwed together and sitting on one base. Ikea had just discontinued the single unit this size.

Ikea Hack:  to give the unit a little midcentury flair, we chose these Paul McCobb inspired pulls in a brushed chrome (NOT satin nickel) finish. These pulls and many, many, many other cool ones are available for order at one of our favorite places, Bona Decorative Hardware in Oakley. http://www.bonahardware.com/