Hey Guys David Here and I’ve been looking to update my home theatre setup for a while
now.
While a nice big tv or new speakers are the obvious upgrades to the setup.
I’m going to start with a new TV stand instead.
IKEA has several different great tv stands options available such as the Stockholm which
looks really nice but it’s a little outside of my price range.
Or there’s the cost effective Lack Bench but I wanted a closed design to minimize the
amount of dust that collects.
And then there’s super customizable Besta system which was my top pick but is only available
in 120 or 180cm in lengths which are just a little too short or too long for my room.
So the unit that I ended up getting was the Ikea Byas TV stand.
So let’s look at the basic features of this media console and how it works out for me.
The length of the unit is 160cm so that perfect for fitting something like a Samsung 55”
TV (KU6300) that measures at about 124cm long so room on the sides to fit some speakers
if I need to.
The depth is just under 42cm and is plenty of room to fit a typical flat panel tv stand
but not too deep that it ends up taking a bunch of room.
The center storage area is open and is perfect for a receiver or cable box that need line
of sight for your remote.
Or a center speaker for a nice 5.1 setup.
The shelf in the middle is also adjustable so you can move it up or down or just remove
it entirely.
There is about 35 by 51cm of space in here so measure your devices accordingly to see
if they will fit.
To the sides of the unit are slide out drawers and this is perfect for keeping devices from
gathering dust.
Again the shelving unit is completely adjustable in here and I find these drawers perfect for
storing gaming consoles like my PS4 with all my controllers.
The back of the unit is not fully enclosed so your devices or gaming systems will get
some ventilation even when doors are closed but I’ll probably open the drawers when
playing on my ps4 just to help with air flow.
The gaps on the back also allow for decent amount of wires to be routed around and you
can choose to hide the bulk of cables in one of the side drawers away and out of sight.
The frame construction is similar to most entry level IKEA products using particle board
as the core and with a thin layer of paint and plastic to give it its white glossy finish.While
the white plastic layer is a little thin and you’ll notice it chip away when assembling.
the more heavily used areas like the top and the shelves have an extra layer of fiberboard
so hopefully they’re much more resistant to damage.
The overall assembly of the unit is fairly simple only requiring a hammer for a couple
plastic nails and a screwdriver for the rest of the screws and locks.
The edges of all the panels are also covered with some protective tape that’s always
ultra-satisfying to remove.
Overall a pretty nice well designed unit for the price.
While the IKEA Byas only comes in one color, glossy white, you may have noticed that my
unit has a wooden top instead and this is not a default configuration but a modification
I made.
There are a couple different ways you accomplish something like this.
The more elegant way of doing this is cutting a piece of wood or something like an IKEA
countertop down to the right size and reusing the screws to swap out the default white top
but I’m always looking for low cost but effective ways to replicate the same look.
So instead I used contact paper to apply a wood vinyl on the top piece to give it the
same kind of effect.
Just as a warning if you’ve never used contact or vinyl paper before be aware that applying
it is incredibly frustration to avoid bubbles.
So if you do plan on using contact paper, test it on a smaller project first so you
know what you’re getting yourself into.
So after swapping out the all white top to the dark wood design, the IKEA Byas becomes
what I think is a very modern design tv stand that is super functional for keeping a clean
system and all at a great price.
But what do you think?
Hope you guys enjoy this one.
You know what to do.
And I’ll see you in the next video.