The TV console is the anchor of your living room wall, but it's usually an afterthought — bought last, sized by guesswork. Get it right and the whole wall looks composed. Get it wrong and a too-small console leaves your TV stranded like an island, while a too-tall one puts the screen at neck-craning height. A few simple rules keep you out of trouble.
Length: wider than your TV, always
The single most common mistake is a console that's narrower than the television sitting on it. It looks top-heavy and unstable, even when it's perfectly safe. The fix is a simple ratio.
Height: where the screen should land
Comfort comes from eye level. When you're seated on the sofa, the centre of the screen should sit roughly at or just below your eye line — for most people that's around 100–110cm from the floor to the middle of the TV. Work backwards from there: with a standard sofa seat at about 40–45cm, a console top of 45–55cm puts the screen in the right zone. Taller consoles belong in bedrooms, where you watch lying down.
If you'd rather wall-mount the TV, the console stops being a stand and becomes pure storage — which frees you to pick a lower, longer piece that grounds the wall without dictating screen height.
Depth: the lever for a tight room
Standard consoles are 40–50cm deep. In a narrow living room, a slim console at 30–35cm gives you back 10–15cm of walkway in front of the sofa — often the difference between a room that feels cramped and one that breathes. The trade-off is shallower shelves, so check that your media box or soundbar actually fits before you commit.
Storage: open, closed, or both
- Closed cabinets hide the clutter — routers, game consoles, cables, the box of remotes nobody admits to. Best if your wall faces the front door and you want it tidy.
- Open shelving keeps things reachable and lets a soundbar breathe, but everything on display has to earn its place.
- A mix — closed below, open niche for the soundbar — is the most flexible for most homes.
- Ventilation matters: media boxes run warm. Make sure closed sections have a cable cut-out or vented back so nothing cooks.
Don't forget the cables
A beautiful console undone by a tangle of black cables is a sad thing. Look for a console with a rear cable cut-out or channel, plan where your power point sits before delivery, and run a single power strip inside the cabinet so only one cable leaves the unit. Five minutes of planning saves a permanent eyesore.
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