Why TV setup on a home build really matters — and forgetting about it ruins good design

You can spend months obsessing over lighting layouts, bespoke joinery, flooring, kitchen finishes and furniture… but if you treat the TV setup on a home build as an after-thought, you risk undoing all of that good work in one ugly decision. A small, budget TV on a flimsy stand or a bulky TV mounted on the wall. Wires hanging visibly. Poor positioning. It cheapens the entire look of the room instantly.

And yet, this happens constantly — even in some of the most beautifully designed homes we see shared by estate agents and architects. That’s exactly why TV setup on a home build should never be an after-thought. It should be part of the design brief from the very beginning.

Because here’s the reality — recent data from Ofcom and TAM Ireland suggests that in North & South of the border in Ireland, on average we watch about 2 hours and 45 minutes of TV a day. That’s not background noise. That’s a meaningful part of daily life. So why is the one thing we spend hours staring at treated like it doesn’t matter?

The common mistake we see everywhere: a gorgeous home ruined by a “naked TV”

Scroll through any property listing or architect’s project showcase and you’ll quickly notice the pattern. Stunning space. Elegant finishes. Thoughtful lighting. And then… a tiny, mis-positioned TV awkwardly perched on a cheap cabinet, or the wrong type of TV mounted on a wall with cables dangling like an apology.

It’s jarring. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

 

People invest serious money into their homes — yet the TV, one of the most dominant visual elements in a living space, gets treated like an inconvenience rather than a design feature. The result? A room that should feel intentional and polished instead feels unfinished.

And worse — because the TV was never planned for properly, the seating layout is compromised, glare from windows is ignored, and sound is an after-thought too. The room might look beautiful in photos, but it doesn’t live beautifully.

What proper TV and AV integration actually does for your home

When TV and AV are considered during the design and build stage — not bolted on at the end — everything changes:

• Correct proportions – the TV size suits the scale of the room, not the budget leftover
• Invisible cabling – all wiring recessed, hidden and future-proofed
• Perfect viewing height – no craning your neck or mounting too high
• No glare issues – lighting and window positioning work with the screen, not against it
• Built-in joinery & media walls – the TV becomes part of the architecture, not an awkward add-on

The result? A space that feels intentional. Finished. Premium. Effortless.

Why AV should be treated as part of the design — not a bolt-on

For most projects, the cost difference between “sticking a TV in later” and planning it properly from the start is surprisingly small — especially compared to the overall build or renovation budget. Yet the impact on the finished result is enormous.

The best homes aren’t just beautifully built — they’re beautifully used. And if you’re spending nearly three hours a day watching TV, that experience deserves to be:

• Comfortable
• Visually balanced
• Technically excellent
• And design-led

Ignoring that reality doesn’t save money in the long run — it just guarantees compromise.

The honest truth (no sugar-coating)

A poorly planned TV setup makes even the most expensive homes look cheap.
There — it needed saying.

You can’t carefully curate every surface, texture, colour and light source… then surprise yourself with a budget box on a wobbly stand and expect the room to still look premium. It doesn’t work. Ever.

And once you’ve lived with it, retrofitting a proper solution is always:

• More expensive
• More disruptive
• And far more limited than if it had been planned from the start

How we help — whatever your budget

We don’t believe that good TV integration is only for ultra-high-end homes. Whether your project is modest or fully bespoke, we help you:

• Choose the right screen size for the space
• Plan concealed wiring and power properly
• Integrate the TV into joinery, feature walls or cabinetry
• Consider sound, seating, lighting and viewing angles together
• Future-proof your setup for the years ahead

So, your home doesn’t just look beautiful when it’s photographed — it functions beautifully every single day.

 

Final Thought

If you’re planning a new build, renovation or interior redesign — don’t leave the TV until the end. It isn’t a finishing accessory. It’s one of the most visually dominant and most-used elements in your home.

Plan it early. Design it properly. And don’t let a naked TV undo months of good design.

If you’d like help planning your TV and AV setup properly — at any budget level — we’d love to help.