When Mel and Dave moved into their new home in Sedgeberrow, there was one room they simply couldn’t get comfortable with.
It was a large, square lounge with bifold doors overlooking the garden and a wood-burning stove tucked into one corner. But the position of the stove, a large wall-mounted television and the views outside created several competing focal points, and they couldn’t find a furniture arrangement that made the room feel right.
They had already spoken to several companies about a bespoke media wall, but nothing they had seen really excited them. By the time they contacted us, Mel described it as
“The worst room in the house”
What they needed wasn’t simply somewhere to put the television. They needed the room itself to make sense.
PROJECT AT A GLANCE
Project
Bespoke media wall and living-room layout
Location
Sedgeberrow
Completed
August 2026
The Challenge
Bringing balance to a large new-build lounge with an awkwardly positioned log burner.
The Solution
Four-metre floating cabinetry, bespoke display shelving, soundbar shelf and integrated lighting.
The problem: a room with too many focal points
The television sat in the middle of a large blank wall, with a small oak media cabinet beneath it and the wood-burning stove to one side.
But this wasn’t really a storage problem. Mel and Dave have plenty of storage elsewhere in the house. What they wanted was character, somewhere to display artwork and objects collected on their travels, and a way of bringing the television and stove together without either dominating the room.
Before: the television, log burner and garden views created competing focal points, while the existing furniture arrangement made the room difficult to settle into.
Understanding how Mel & Dave wanted to use the room
Our first conversation quickly moved beyond what a media unit might look like.
We talked instead about how Mel and Dave actually wanted to use the space. The adjoining kitchen and living area already gave them somewhere to enjoy the garden views, so this room could have a different purpose – somewhere to get comfortable and watch television.
That also led us to reconsider the furniture layout. Their two sofas had previously sat opposite one another, perpendicular to the TV. It looked good when entering the room, but didn’t work particularly well for watching it.
We suggested an L-shaped arrangement instead. Mel and Dave were initially unsure about seeing the back of a sofa as they entered, but trying the layout changed their minds. It made much better use of the room and created space for the armchair Mel had wanted.
The cabinetry could then be designed around what the room was actually for.
Designing an asymmetric media wall around the log burner
The position of the stove meant symmetry was never really an option, so rather than fight the asymmetry, we used it.
We designed a floating cabinet approximately four metres long, leaving deliberate space between the cabinetry and the stove and stopping it short of the opposite wall so that it genuinely appeared to float within the room.
To the left of the television, we introduced a tall timber-effect panel with three floating shelves. Its position was carefully considered: the space between the panel and television mirrors the visual space between the opposite side of the television and the end of the base cabinet.
The panel also introduces height opposite the stove and flue. It doesn’t try to replicate them, but gives the eye another vertical element and brings the whole composition into balance.
The aim wasn’t to make an asymmetric room symmetrical. It was to make it feel balanced.
Display shelving designed around the things that matter
The shelves weren’t designed to a predetermined set of dimensions.
We sat down with Mel and Dave and the actual pieces they wanted to display, working through the position of individual objects and adjusting the shelf heights until both the practical spacing and the overall composition felt right.
There was quite a lot of sitting on the floor, moving things around and questioning a few millimetres here and there.
That might seem excessive for three shelves, but it is precisely the point of making something bespoke. The cabinetry was being designed for their room and their possessions, rather than asking them to fit their lives around a standard product.
The Finsa Roble Poema panel sits slightly forward from the wall to create a shadow gap and conceal the cabling behind it. Each double-thickness floating shelf incorporates warm 3000K dimmable lighting within a routed angled profile, positioned to spread light across the display while reducing glare when viewed from the sofas.
Even the dimmer control disappears into the design, operated through an invisible touch sensor within the panel.
The details you shouldn’t really notice
The four-drawer base cabinet is made from Finsa Hidrofugo moisture-resistant MDF and spray finished in a Sayerlack water-based finish, colour matched to Little Greene Clay – Mid.
There are no handles and no push-to-open catches. Instead, the drawer fronts and side panels extend slightly below the cabinet to create a discreet integrated pull. It keeps the elevation clean, avoids fingerprints from repeatedly pushing painted fronts and conceals the lighting beneath the unit.
The soundbar created another small but important problem. Its existing position was too low, while part of the television bracket remained visible beneath the screen.
We designed a separate floating shelf specifically for it, projecting just far enough to conceal the bracket without making the shelf unnecessarily deep. Curved corners soften the form, while concealed brackets fixed back into the blockwork provide the support needed for its weight.
The finished detail looks simple. Getting it to look that simple is the difficult bit.
Making a four-meter floating media wall look effortless
The base unit was manufactured as two cabinets before being joined during installation to read as one continuous four-metre piece.
Everything had first been worked through in SketchUp, allowing us to refine not only the overall proportions but tiny adjustments to the cabinetry itself.
Sometimes that means two supposedly identical drawer fronts aren’t actually identical. Making one just two millimetres narrower can allow the visible gaps around all four drawers to remain consistent once the construction is taken into account.
Nobody will spot the two-millimetre difference. They probably would notice if the gaps looked wrong.
The feature panel is also mounted on a concealed French cleat, so it can be removed in future should the lighting driver or cabling ever need attention.
Installing floating cabinetry on a not-so-straight wall
Installation turned out to be the most challenging part of the project.
A four-metre floating cabinet needs an extremely accurate mounting surface. Despite this being a relatively new property, the wall was neither flat nor truly vertical. Across that length, even small variations would have been obvious in the finished cabinetry.
Sections of plasterboard had to be opened up to create solid fixing points, before the concealed French cleats were carefully packed and shimmed to create a true, level mounting plane.
What had looked like a straightforward one-day installation became two.
Creating a true mounting plane for the concealed French Cleat was essential. Across four meteres, even small variations in the wall would have been visible in the finished cabinetry.
None of that work is visible now, and that’s exactly as it should be.
The result: from worst room to favourite room
Once the cabinetry was installed, Mel and Dave’s reaction went well beyond being pleased with a new piece of furniture.
They couldn’t believe how much it had changed the room.
By the time we left, the objects collected on their travels were finding their places on the shelves, they had bought new artwork and were asking our advice on how to arrange it. The armchair was on order, along with a new rug, and the room they had struggled to imagine themselves using was finally coming together.
When Shaun returned to the house shortly afterwards, Dave asked him to pass a message back to me:
The worst room in the house had become their favourite.
From start to finish, our experience with Zoe and Shaun from No54 has been both a revelation and exceptional. The room we once struggled with has now become our absolute favourite.
Although our project was small compared to many of their commissions, their personal approach made us feel genuinely valued. Zoe took the time to understand our needs and guided us through a thoughtful, enjoyable design process. The quality of their workmanship is beautiful, and it’s clear how much care and passion they put into everything they do.
Bespoke media walls designed around your home
Every No.54 project starts with the room, the people who use it and the problem we’re trying to solve. From there, we design and make the cabinetry in our own Worcestershire workshop, resolving the details right through to installation.
If you have a room that doesn’t quite work and you’re not sure what the answer is yet, that’s absolutely fine. Your project can start with a conversation.