Entertainment Center

My wife decided for me that I was going to make this. That was quite nice of her.

We were walking through a furniture store when she saw an entertainment center that she liked. She wanted to buy it despite it being an over priced piece of garbage. I told her that I could make her a similar piece but much better. So that is how this got started.

I made quite a few design changes to the unit both functional and cosmetic. One thing that always irked me about entertainment centers is that the cords for the a/v components are never accessible, and they are always a mess. I made several enhancements to remedy this. First the top is not attached. It is held in place by gravity, and kept from moving by the cleats on the bottom. (The cleats will also prevent any tendency for the top to cup.) The center component section has a false back. Behind the false back is where the power strip is stored. The power strip is clearly labled for each plug that goes to it. Both the right and left sections have holes in the sides that lead to the center section where the power strip is. So, all of the cords neatly meet up behind the false back of the center section. Each of the three sections have a back that is easily removed. They sit in grooves, and are held in place by a wooden clip at the top. The center back has 6 three inch holes that can be used as an escape for the power cord on the power strip and connection to the cable tv source. None of the holes are visible through the front because of the false back.

Another concern I had was the heat created by the receiver unit, so in the right section I installed a cooler- dual fan system. It automatically goes on when the thermometer hits 80 degrees. The fans make no sound at all. They were $70 total, but worth it in my eyes.

The wood is ebonized Ash. I originally intended to use Maple, but I could not get a consistent color no matter what stain formulation I used. This was my first experience using Ash. Wow what a great wood. It is cheap—about half the cost of Maple here in upstate NY. It stains great. It is excellent to work with, and holds nice crisp edges. In a natural state Ash is a bit bland, but is quite versatile when staining options are considered. (Hopefully the Emerald Ash Borer finds a quick extinction so our Ash supply won’t be threatened any longer.) I will definitely use Ash in future projects.