Custom Entertainments Center?
 

Have spent several days shopping for an entertainment center for the living room but haven't found one that has all of the bells and whistles we want.

We have a wall that is 14 feet wide and 10 feet high and I'd like to get something that will come close to filling the space.

Does anyone have a recommendation for someone to build a custom one?

Thanks,

Try Creative Finish Carpentry of Florida. Mario Viola. He does built-ins. Look at his website at creativefinishcarpentry.com

Before you custom build, go to Babette's Furniture in Leesburg on Hwy 441. They have beautiful wall units that look custom with builting in lighting, display shelving, hidden speaker compartments, etc. Some are even expandable for different size televisions (we have one of those). They are georgous and worth a look.

I just sent you a PM regarding a custom built-in Entertainment Center that we had built around a 52 inch LCD TV. Six pieces in total 3 base units and 3 hutchs. Base untis provide for ALOT of extra storage and still allows for use of your remortes. The side hutchs have notched glass shevles, cabinet lighting, and a separate switched light feature on a separate shelf to accomodate our small Village homes.....all brought together with crown and base moulding and trim.

Best thing about a built in is its wall to wall, Solid wood (no fiberboard), no wasted space, cabinet quality lights and hindges, and you get what you want. It can be stained or painted but stained is fairly more expensive due to the type of wood and extra labor in the staining process.

The process was no mess no fuss.....took measurements , built it in his workshop, primed and painted offsite, delivered it to the house and a day to install. Painter came by to paint crown, trim and touch up and areas as necessary.

I don't know anything about the Villages Workworking shop, but I wonder if they take on such projects to raise money for charity?

Also, we also saw a vendor at Spanish Springs during one of their market days that sells some new interesting furnature. She told me that she works with some guy that custom builds the furnature.

Now, I don't know if he makes what you're looking for as I only saw painted furnature, but it wouldn't hurt to ask if interested. You can stop by there to ask or call Deborah. (PM me if you want a phone number) She was at the opposite corner from the Cattle Baron Restaurant corner but I don't know if she's at LSL on their days.
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Our next door neighbor had one built by a contractor that works on his own. The work is beautifully done, they were neat, clean and prompt. Send me a PM if you would like me to find out the contact info for you...

Our house is being built as we speak and would be interested in any contact info for the mentioned entertainnent center contractors. Any PM's would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for the info!

Custom Entertainment Center
 

I own a kitchen and bath remodeling franchise business and can create custom entertainment centers as well. I will be in The Villages area next Friday (3/11) and Saturday (3/12) and would be happy to meet with you to discuss your needs and provide a free consultation and cost estimate. If you are interested, please contact me at 407-869-7733.

Update of Custom Entertainment Center
 

My apologies for not responding sooner. I have not been able to logon and after requesting help from the webmaster found that there was something wrong with my browser. It also prevented me from sending PM – my apologies for that also. It’s all fixed now and I can give an update.

Thanks to those who recommended Babette’s but spending about 2 hours at Babette’s is what caused this post in the first place. We went to Babbette’s had very good help, saw a number of items in our price range that were ‘close’ to what we wanted but in the end they fell a little short of what we wanted so we decided to look for custom.

We looked at 4 options:
‘Create More Space’ in Lady Lake uses various pieces and puts them together. They can refer you to someone to ‘customize’ but they do not do it themselves. We did not pursue them but I suspect they would easily be the least costly.

All three of the subsequent companies we worked with were very helpful and developed nice plans: ‘Town and Country All Wood Furniture’ in Inverness, Closet Works in Ocala, and Florida Closet (during the process they changed the name to Sam Schuyler Designs) in Ocala. I would not hesitate to work with any of them in the future.

Part way through the process I had a panic attack from the fear that I wasn’t paying enough attention to the wiring and connection issues in the design. That’s where one of the vendor’s strengths drove our choice. Sam Schulyer, Florida Closet, was very knowledgeable of audio and video components and had made several recommendations for speaker and component locations as well as wiring. The prices for all three were close enough that price had nothing to do with the decision. We went with Sam Schuyler Designs primarily based on the fine tuning of the design to accommodate audio and video.

The process taught me a lesson: There are many companies out there that can do a great job on closets and built-ins. However, entertainment centers, depending on your setup’s complexity bring in a host of issues that may be over the head of the best carpenters. Make sure you provide for proper support of your equipment. In my case, the designer we chose knew much more than I did where with the other vendors I was the expert - and that was the dangerous part.

It hasn’t been delivered yet so I don’t know how this story ends yet. I’ll post the results after it’s delivered.

Scout - First time I opened this thread. I hope your entertainment center turns out to your satisfaction.

FWIW: I got some feedback from the fellow who was doing the audio pre-wiring for our OH home regarding the depth of the enclosure that would be housing our electronics. He suggested getting a minimum depth of 20 inches (interior depth, not exterior measurement) for the cabinet. His rationale was that with all the glut of wiring that goes on with home theater, surround sound, etc., etc., more space depth-wise would be better than not enough. We found items we liked that could be customized a bit so we had the credenza section built 21" deep (interior) - standard depth would have been 16". It DOES make fiddling around/fitting things inside the cabinets easier. Again, FWIW.......

Bill

Depth was one of the issues
 

Bill,

That was one of the issues. When I first started I wasn't wasn't smart enough to watch for that and my first design was only 18 inches deep on the exterior. When I got to the builder I eventually selected, he spec'd 24 inches outside giving around 22 inches on the inside. That spec was specifically for wiring room.

Thanks for the tip.

Scout

Sounds like you've already got it addressed, scout. You'll be happy with that amount of space inside. :)

Bill

Hello Scout, I am contracting with SAM SCHUYLER DESIGNS INC for a shelving unit and window seat. How did your entertainment unit turn out?