The Hard Rock TV Wall Mount

During a stay at the Hard Rock hotel in Las Vegas, I noticed that the TVs in the rooms were mounted to fake "walls" so that that cables and the TV bracket could be hidden. The fake walls were then mounted to the real walls and covered to make them a feature.

As I'd just bought a big flatscreen TV and was daunted by drilling massive holes in my rented house, I thought I'd have a crack at making one. 

As I had a fireplace and a picture rail in the room, I decided that I would fit the frame between the two. This would also mean that as long as the frame was secured to the real wall to stop it from moving, all of the weight of the TV would be transferred down on to the solid fireplace.

The frame was made from Homebase's pre-plained Spruce to save on some of the elbow-work. Each piece was but-jointed to the next and screwed in place.

The frame was test fitted and screwed to the wall using only four long screws in each corner. The horizontal bracing was fitted at the correct width to take the TV bracket.

The low profile TV bracket was fitted to the horizontal supports and then several hardboard panels were cut to size and test fitted to the frame. You can also see the small entry hole under the bracket where the cables would slot inside the frame behind the TV.

At this point I realised that although I had made an entry hole for the cables, I had forgotten to make an exit hole.....

After adding the exit hole, the cables were run and the frame was then re-screwed to the wall so the TV could be test hung.

Following the original idea that had inspired the frame, I wanted the panels to be covered to look like the ones in the Hard Rock. To achieve this, each panel was covered in inch-thick foam and then wrapped in fake leather, stapled from the rear to keep it all in place. The rear of the panels were fitted with incredibly strong 2-inch wide velcro so that they could be easily removed should I need to run any more cables in the future.

Once the panels were covered, they were of course thicker. As such, when I refitted the TV, I was unable to angle it down to get a good viewing angle. A quick removal of the panels (thank you velcro) and a 20 minute cut job meant that the brackets on the rear of the TV could then sink inside the now thicker panels.

Finally, screw the frame to the wall, fit the panels, hang the TV and congratulate yourself on successfully mixing business with leather (sorry....).

All in all the frame took just three nights to build and cost me £80 as I was able to get everything from either ebay stores or B&Q.