Living rooms & offices · Muswell Hill, North London · 2004

A lounge wall that hides the AV kit

One continuous unit across a lounge, hiding the AV kit and DVDs behind push-to-open fronts, with curved ends.

Long white unit running across the lounge under the fireplace, lit from underneath

WhereLounge in Muswell Hill, around 2004

Made forFriends of friends

MaterialsMDF and timber, painted by hand

Worth knowingBuilt off site as four units

A couple in Muswell Hill, friends of friends, had just had a new fireplace put in and had a picture in their heads of furniture running the full width of their lounge, right up to the window. They needed somewhere for the video and DVD players and a home for their DVDs, without the room looking like a cabinet showroom.

The unit frames going in on site around the fireplace — Going in on site.

Timber frame for the top fixed onto the units — The top frame going on.

I went up, measured, and we talked it through. What we landed on was one continuous unit with full flat fronts that push to open, DVD storage in the middle, and curved ends that turn the corner rather than stopping dead. There was something on the wall that needed to stay reachable, so I built an access hatch into it. It sits down into the carpet, and an LED rope light, the best option back then, lit it up.

The flap doors dropped open along the unit — Push to open: the flaps drop down on stays.

The rounded end of the unit — The curved end.

I made it off site as four units with the tops going on afterwards, so on the day it went together like a big set of Lego. The planning was mostly about not giving myself problems on site: deciding upfront what might need cutting down and finishing everything else in the workshop. It's MDF and standard timber, painted by hand.

The curved end with the LED rope light glowing underneath — Lit from underneath.

The full unit and fireplace with the lights on — Finished, with the lights on.

It blended right into the room, and they were really happy with it. It's one I'm still proud of.

Got a space like this one?

Send me a couple of photos and rough measurements of the space that isn't working, and we can talk it through on a short video call.

Start a project