I've been holding out on you. For Christmas (I know I know, Christmas?!) Charlie and I decided to go smaller on the gifts for each other, and focus on doing something "bigger" for the house. Enter the basement entertainment center.
It's the Ikea Besta system, and we love it. I drove myself half insane over Christmas break scouring the web for a system we liked that was stylish and fit within out budget. I considered everything from converting kitchen cabinetry and bathroom vanities, having one custom built, and even sawing apart Ikea components to make one along the lines of this:
Obviously, ours is different. But you get the gist. I'd basically decided I didn't like the Ikea one, but it fit our budget and size requirements, so we took a trip there anyway just to make sure it wasn't the right one for us. Turns out they had it set up in the store, it looked a billion times better in person, and we immediately collected our components and drove home.
On a side note, we bought the wrong drawer fronts the first time around. This ultimately lead to the untimely death of our beloved Saturn Vue, a new car for us (Saturn Outlook), and for me a total, utter aversion to driving in any sort of snow.
On the trip to exchange the fronts, my car spun out on ice/snow in five lanes of traffic, skidded over two of them, and smashed head on into a concrete median going 60 mph. It was terrifying, but miraculously I, and another driver involved in the accident, were totally okay. Jesus so clearly was there and kept me safe, even though I thought I might be going to see Him a lot sooner than anticipated just seconds before I hit the median. It's been a comfort to know that He knows and has planned all my days and has good works for me to walk in still. I'm glad He's not done with me yet :)
Very rationally, after I hit the median and realized that not only was I alive with all limbs in tact and no blood to be spoken for, maybe I could just keep going on my merry way to Ikea. Such devotion and dedication you never did see. (This obliviously didn't happen- I didn't realize my car looked like THAT!).
ANYWAYS. I just had to insert that little side story that went into the coming together of the entertainment center. Those new drawer fronts better be darn grateful.
I'm loving the slim profile. So Besta now lives in our basement, and we love it. There's a lot more storage and room for display stuff.
One of my favorite parts is the drawers. Maybe because we only have three of them in our kitchen and I feel drawer deprived?
I guess I like decorating with books. Can you tell? A lot of them are from Goodwill.
Also, a few minor basement updates. I went in to Joann Fabric for interfacing, and came out with this fabric instead. I love the colors and pattern.
I also decided to take down the two floating shelves by the mirror wall. It seemed too cluttery with the entertainment center.
That's all, folks.
hi, can you tell me which combination of units you used to make your media center, it looks great!
ReplyDeleteThank you! We used the Besta components from Ikea.There's actually an online tool (www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/rooms_ideas/planner_bestauppleva/) where you can virtually design your unit. We did this at the store (you could do it at home too), and then it gives you a list of all of the parts that you need. For ours, we used two 75" tall shelf units, a 47" wide x 25" tall shelf unit, and a 47" wide x 15" tall shelf unit. Then we customized with legs, drawer fronts (Vassbo, I think), glass doors (Vassbo), and hardware. Hope this helps!
DeleteMy understanding is that the center piece (above tv) hangs on the wall. If so, how does it sit flush with the side pieces? Did you have to remove the baseboards? My husband is convinced that it will not work unless we remove the baseboards. Your set up looks beautiful by the way!
ReplyDeleteHello! Yes, the center piece above the TV does hang on the wall, and it's flush with the side pieces. We didn't have to remove any trim- if you look (really closely! :) at the side view, the legs on the unit are positioned forward just a hair so that the unit can be flush with the wall. However, we have pretty thin trim- probably no more than 3/8". Hope this helps!
ReplyDeleteThanks SO much for the reply. Unfortunately, our baseboards are thick and tall...great for everywhere else in the house, but not for this application. :( We think we might attach 2x4's (or something similar) on the wall and then attach the center piece to that so it's flush with the side pieces...fingers crossed! One last question, was it difficult to attach the drawer pulls? That area of the drawer seems thin for a pull or a knob. Thanks again for helping us out!
ReplyDeleteHi! The drawer pulls were easy to install. Although they are attached to the thinner part of the drawer, they by no means feel flimsy. The only "hard" part of attaching them was getting the holes exactly centered. We figured we'd probably mess up a couple, and did. I'd buy a few extra drawer fronts, just to have some wiggle room.
ReplyDeleteI have been searching and visiting every store in my area for options for our TV unit. I found the Besta units this April, but they were re-designing the line so I had to wait till June to see all the new options.
ReplyDeleteThis is by far the best Besta configuration I have ever seen! I just sent this to my husband and if he approves I think we will buy this weekend. I just need to make the center one drawer/cabinet wider to fit our TV.
I love the baskets. Where did you get them?
Thank you! We actually saw the configuration you're wanting to do on the Ikea showroom (one drawer/cabinet wider) and liked it so much we copied it, with our size requirements. And, all of the baskets are from Home Goods. They always seem to have similar ones to the ones we used!
DeleteLove this design! We are looking to do something very similar, also on carpet. My husband is worried about the feet sinking in over time and messing with the alignment of the suspended center unit. How are your tall units secured? Have you had any issues with it settling over time?
ReplyDeleteHello! We haven't had any issues with this, and the unit has been in place for three years. Both of the side units and the middle upper unit are bolted to the walls (with the stuff provided by IKEA). I just looked up top, and everything looks pretty nice and aligned from that vantage point, too! :) Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteI know this post is four years old but I need help! I've been using your set up as my inspiration, but i needed to make it a bit bigger. I've built the darn thing and now I don't now what order to screw it all to the wall or each other to get everything flush. Can you tell me, did you attach the tall end cabinets to the wall? or just to the upper cabinets (which must be attached to the wall). And how did you get your lower cabinets flush?
ReplyDeleteHello! The tall side units as well as the upper unit are attached to the wall, but not the bottom one (we just pushed it in as far as we could.) It sticks out maybe 1/2", but it's not noticeable at all. None of the units are attached to each other, just the wall. We hung the top unit first, then both sides, and then pushed in the bottom one. I hope this helps!
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