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. Seated on a sofa, most people's eyes are around 100–110cm from the floor, and the centre of the screen should sit at or a little below that. Work backwards from there: with a standard sofa seat at about 40–45cm, a console top of around 45–55cm usually puts a TV on its stand in the right zone. Taller consoles suit bedrooms, where you watch from higher up in bed.
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 (some are only around 30cm high) 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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