Bonus rooms over garages are notorious for having slanted walls, angled ceilings and other structural abnormalities. With flat surfaces in short supply, it can be difficult to find a good spot for a plasma or LCD TV. Audio Input of Joplin, MO, devised a clever solution to this common problem while designing an entertainment system for a bonus room-turned-guest suite.

The best location for a TV in a bedroom is typically the wall directly across from the bed. Unfortunately, in this project that particular wall sat at a 45-degree angle, which would put the TV in an uncomfortable viewing position. To get the 42-inch Runco plamsa TV to face directly at the bed, Audio Input attached it to a motorized mount from Media Decor.

The setup also includes a piece of motorized artwork from Media Décor. Painted on canvas, the abstract covers the surface of the display when it’s not being used. On command from a Crestron touchpanel, the canvas retracts into a housing hidden within a wooden frame around the TV cavity, and the mount pulls out the display and swivels it into a preset position. The mount can also aim the TV toward the sitting area, if the guest prefers.

Once the display is set, a guest can use the touchpanel to choose a movie from the homeowners’ extensive library of DVDs. The movies are stored on the hard disk drive of a Kaleidescape media server in the family room. A Crestron video distribution system transmits the movie from the server to a Kaleidescape receiver stowed with a digital tuner and DVD player in a closet near the guest bedroom.

The closet was modified so that there’s still plenty of room for guests to store their luggage and other personal belongings. Instead of stealing shelf space, the rack of components was placed in a cabinet built into the wall behind the shelving. The cabinet is closed off with a wooden panel, so that none of the gear is visible.

“The only thing you see are two vents that provide ventilation for the equipment,” says Perry Workman, president at Audio Input.

Another slick feature of the space is the motion-activated lighting. When someone walks into the room, the lights automatically turn on.

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About the Author:
Lisa Montgomery - Contributing Writer

Lisa Montgomery has been writing about home technology for 15 years, with a focus on the impact of electronics on a modern lifestyle.