Media Wall Design, Resolved Before We Build

Yes, always. Nothing is ordered or cut until you have seen and agreed the layout — proportions, screen and fire positions, shelving, materials and finish. The design stage is exactly where changes are cheap, so it is the right time to be fussy.

Micro-cement, venetian plaster, fluted and slatted timber, painted MDF, oak veneer and stone-effect, plus combinations. We bring physical samples to the house because material choices go wrong more often from screen colour than from anything else — a warm oak that looked perfect online can read orange under Cumbrian daylight.

It is less about the wall and more about the seating distance — a screen that dominates a small room is the single most common regret. The other half of it is height: mounted too high and you will feel it in your neck within a week. We set the centre line from where you actually sit, which usually means lower than people expect.

Yes, and it is worth doing. Consoles, routers, sound equipment and the cable spaghetti all need somewhere to live with ventilation and access. That gets designed in from the start — vented compartments, cable routes, and a way back in later when something needs replacing.

Concealed LED wall-wash behind the screen or under shelving is the usual choice, on a dimmer and a separate circuit from the room lighting. The thing to avoid is any light source that reflects off the screen, which rules out most downlights directly in front. Colour temperature matters too — we would normally suggest warm white in a Lakeland stone room and something cooler in a modern build.