With the stay at home orders in place for the pandemic, we found ourselves waiting for supplies to arrive by delivery. Not to worry though, while some projects were at a standstill, there are always others to be done. We decided to tackle a project that we have been excited to get going for a while now - our entertainment center and fireplace cabinet.
We were gifted the Touchstone Recessed Electric Fireplace for our wedding and have been using it inside the house. It kept us nice and cozy during the cold Midwest winter nights so we have no doubt it will do the same in our tiny house on wheels. We were inspired by other bus conversion/RV renovation designs who had built in an electric fireplace with a TV lift behind it. This design is perfect for our needs, to hide the TV during the day and not the views out the window yet have a TV accessible for Movie nights or as a monitor for a standing desk.
Big thanks to our friends at Touchstone for collaborating with us and sending us the SRV 32800 Pro TV Lift to make our dream entertainment center in our dream tiny home. It holds up to a 50" TV and up to to 175 lb. It has a safety stop to detect if there is an obstruction, so your TV will never get damaged by accident, and extends just over 55 inches by using I of the 3 remotes provided.
Don used the 3D modeling software Fusion 360 to design our cabinets. It’s definitely not an easy program to learn but very helpful. Using this software, he made a very elaborate document breaking down the cabinet into modular parts and a detailed cut list. Sign up below to download the Tv Lift and Fireplace Cabinet Blueprint PDF if you’d like to copy our entertainment center.We are thrilled with how the cabinet came out and are feeling much more confident now as we plan to make all our kitchen cabinets, murphy bed and wardrobe ourselves too. To finish the cabinet cabinet, we plan to make the face of the entertainment center match our kitchen cabinets. We also plan to have a seemless countertop that expands from our Tv Lift/Fireplace cabinet across our kitchen cabinets as well . Once we have finished our walls in the bus we will bring the cabinet inside, mount it to the bus walls and complete the finished look. So let’s get those walls built!
Up Next
In order to get our walls and ceiling built, we need to make some decisions on insulation. The one gift this pandemic has given us, is lots of time to research the options.
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Touchstone Pro TV Lift
For 50-inch TVs and smaller. Full extended height: 55.125 inches. Advanced technology including RS232, soft start and stop, safety stop up and down, and 3 remotes (wired & wireless RF and IR).
Touchstone Recessed Electric Fireplace
The Sideline 40 allows you to change the heat, flame intensity and color using your electric fireplace remote. It is simple to set up, easy to use and has kept us warm so far during a Midwest Winter living in a basement!
I enjoy watching your RV videos as you fix up your bus. I decided to retire and live full time in a 40′ 2004 Monico Diplomat RV with my pup, cat & African Grey parrot. Just a few things I have compleated since I bought my RV affectionally named my 401K lol– on my RV roof(5) 280 Watt Solar panels, 80 amp outback charge controller, & Xantrex 3,000 watt pure sign wave inverter. My RV fridge went out for the last time and I elected to pay a visit to Home Depot purchased a Magic Chef 10.1 residential Fridge got it all framed in got hard ice cream now! I Removed all the nasty carpeting and ceramic tile replaced it with barn board laminate flooring from Home Depot. After seeing Eric’s TV lift & fireplace cabinet from his web site mountain modern life. I too got a great discount from Touchtone bought a TV lift for a 65″ TV & 36″ insert fireplace even through I’m in West coast of Florida we still get a few weeks during winter it gets a bit chilly the fire place is a nice touch in the cooler weather.
Like you guys I try to do much of this DIY myself being on a retirement fixed income. I have a 40′ fiberglass spider beam mast that my wire antenna sits up on and enjoy making Amature Radio contacts in the evening my call sign is AA1RM and enjoy the hobby. I have entered my info name & email still haven’t received your PDF cabinet plans. I have removed an old couch and plan next week start on building the media cabinet. Fun part is trying to figure out how to rewire power & my Dish Network Satellite antenna cable into the slide out/media cabinet. I’ve enjoyed your videos and often stay up until 2AM watching them lol. Best of luck with your ongoing Bus renovation’s Have a Blessed day Rich Port Richey Florida….
Your web site may have a glitch I requested your cabinet PDF plans 2x’s
after it gives will send a email link to verify your address Sigh ! nothing
HI Rich! Glad you have been enjoying the videos! Check your spam folder, maybe the confirmation email went there? If not, email us so we have your email and we will send to you directly. Sorry, not sure what happened as it seems to have worked for others.