I talked in this post about my struggle to find a dresser that could work as a TV cabinet for my space. Nothing was the right size and things that were didn’t do the things I wanted.

But then I saw this glorious dresser at Pier One:

It, also, isn’t the right size, but the idea was the best I had found in a long time. So, I’ve decided to make my own. Knowing next to nothing about carpentry, I decided the best option was to make a mock up of what I wanted and show it to people who do know a lot about it.

At first, I came up with something like this:

It’s 24″ tall and 55″ across. I was in love with my invention.

But then I actually used a measuring tape near my current TV arrangement and realized that 24″ really isn’t a lot.

So, what’s great about this initial drawing is that there’s definitely enough support that the middle on top won’t bow, and there’s buckets of DVD storage (each cubby hole fits a DVD sized bin).

Yeah… I forgot that I was also hoping to find a home for books… Smooth move, A. Rose.

So, it was back to the drawing board… which in this case is actually just Excel.

First, though, I did a quick search of how high a TV should actually be. Houzz has a great, though complicated, explanation of how to determine how high your TV should be. According to this, that 24″ is correct. BUT, there’s that section about “Trade Offs” that says that style can trump function, which I’m definitely good with the idea of!

I found these adorable bins at Target that would be so cute, so I used them to start to figure out the math: if the bins are 13″, I need to make a hole that is at least 13.5″ all the way around. This will allow for both the larger bins and books. So, I increased the height and added larger bin storage and increased the DVD storage. Here’s what it looked like after some tinkering:

It looks giant, but it’s actually just slightly over three feet tall! There’s still tons of DVD storage, and spots for up to four bins, plus a shelf for the PlayStation, etc.!

But then I started thinking… Each DVD bin should be able to comfortably hold 35 DVD’s. With this current arrangement, that means this unit can hold 540 DVD’s. I don’t really need that. I just need to move the DVD’s in my dresser out of my dresser. The bigger priority is the stacks of books.

So, I started thinking… what if I added another bin spot, and lengthened some of the DVD boxes to make book shelves? Would I lose too much DVD storage?

That’s still room for 210 DVD’s. The height of each of the three shelves on the bottom (stacked on top of each other) is 5 inches. That’s not really enough for books. Hmmm…

This could work, though. This could definitely work.

I’m going to leave it up to you though! Which option do you like the best? One, two, or three?