Family Room Entertainment Center

Our basement has a finished family room, and we chose to have a built-in Entertainment center done for the TV wall. And called again upon Cambridge Cabinetry here in Lee's Summit.

When we got the house there was a BIG hole built into the wall for a television and two of those built in component things - one on each side of the TV. We closed up the TV hole and one of the component holes, and it looked like this. (The only before picture I have is Christmas Day with the kids playing on the Wii.)

We decided to do away with the component hole all together and put the components inside the Entertainment center. We got another IR repeater, and of course I get to use it all with my Harmony Remote!

IR Repeaters - Keeping the components hidden

When we built the bar/entertainment cabinet in the Hearth Room, we wanted to hide the components, but we didn't want to use fabric in the cabinetry. The answer, an IR Repeater. Cost: around $100.



I was concerned because we had tried an el-cheapo version in the bedroom and the delay was so long it was painful. Ryan promised me this one would be better, and, yet again, he was right!


The components all go inside the cabinet.

Next, Ryan DRILLS A HOLE in our brand-new, custom-made, not-cheap cabinetry. He then installs the All-Seeing Eye This is where it gets technical.



Our son comes along and hooks up the ends of all these sticky wires to the blinky part of each component where the signal from the remote goes.



We shut the cabinet door. It works like a dream.
Not a component in site and ZERO delay!



AND I get another Harmony remote for this set up. SWOON!

TVs, or, REALLY, why I have allowed so many TVs in our household

We have a problem with televisions in our household. It's not the reception, and it's not even watching too much TV; it's the sheer number of TVs. We have Nine working TVs, with plans to add 3 more. And that is for a family for Four. The cable guy had to put some kind of booster/amplifier thing on the incoming line to get the signal to go to all the TVs.

And I blame Ryan.

For one of his milestone birthdays (40th..sorry, honey), he wanted a 60 inch TV. I thought it was ridiculous. First, to spend that much money, and second, I thought a TV that big was both ridiculous and wasteful.


So, 40th b-day rolls around, and we get one. And, once again, I was proven wrong. Wrong! So Wrong!

I love Ryan's TV. I mean, like, looooooooooove, Ryan's TV. And I love it in a sinful way. With the kind of love that should be saved for living things.

When we watch baseball on it (and I do not enjoy watching baseball), I love every minute of it! You can see every blade of grass in the outfield, and when the cameraman pans the crowd, if you were seated behind third base, I could point you out and text you what logo was on your hat.

And when we watch the Travel Channel, I no longer have the need to go to exotic locales because it's like I am there ALREADY! And my bathroom is nice and handy and (somewhat) clean.

Then marry that Sony WEGA up with my Harmony Remote. GLORY BE! Or I think I meant I want to marry Ryan's TV AND the Harmony Remote. A fantastic threesome and Happily Every After.