Television stands serve more functions than holding the television. They can act as storage space for your entertainment equipment and accessories, and can save space in your house. This is especially important when the available space is limited as in large number of modern homes. They are also a major item of furniture in whatever room they are placed in. As such when you buy a TV stand you must evaluate their storage capacity and space saving ability in addition to their general appearance and quality.
TV stands can come in great many variations under different brands. They are also manufactured using several kinds of materials ranging from wood to MDF to glass. They assume many styles ranging from traditional to modern, so that they can fit in to any room. However generally we can divide them in to few broad categories based on their size and functionality. Some of these can be TV cabinets, Pedestal TV stands, Corner TV stands, Swiveling TV stands, Wall TV mounts, Plasma stands, Compact TV stands, and Entertainment Centers, among others. We will look at each, their features, and their storage and space saving capacity.
TV Stand Types
Basic or compact TV stands only have space for the TV and perhaps one or two drawers below it. Because they are small they do not take up much space, however since they do not offer space for other equipment, you will need to find space for them separately.
TV cabinets offer plenty of storage for other electronic equipment like DVD players, and sound systems, as well for accessories like CDs and DVDs by having several drawers. They are of moderate size generally. They do take up more space than basic TV stands and need to be centrally placed in order to allow access to their full functionality. Pedestal TV stands generally take up less space but offer less storage.
Corner TV stands can be quite helpful in saving space. They can be placed in an unused corner thus adding more space into the room. They have other space saving advantages as well; when the TV is placed in a corner it can be viewed from any other part of the room allowing much more efficient use of the room.
Swiveling TV stands allow the user to move TV's angle easily, thus making it possible to cover the room according to need.
Wall TV mounts literally mounts the TV on the wall allowing maximum possible space savings on the floor. Wall mounting is usually performed on flat screen TVs. Best wall mounts usually do not require power tools to mount them into walls so will not cause any damage to your walls. However you need to find space for rest of your equipment.
Plasma Stands are designed to hold plasma TVs which are generally wider than normal TVs. They are usually created in sleek designs to highlight the usually expensive plasma TV.
Finally there are Entertainment Centers which can hold the full variety of modern entertainment equipment. While they are large and take up space they also allow lot of storage. Generally they save space only when you have a large number of equipment, because to place each of them separately would take even more space. However, if you do not own the full complement of entertainment equipment, most of the storage in the Entertainment Center will be wasted and you will lose space in the room needlessly
Other considerations
When buying TV stands you should pay attention to the dimensions of your TV. A TV stand smaller than your TV, will be unusable, but one larger than your TV will waste space unnecessarily. Make sure that TV stand has the strength to bear the TV and other equipment you may plan to place on it.
There are several other features you should check for in a TV stand so that more space savings will be possible. You should get a stand with adjustable shelves so that you can make the best use of the storage space in it. TV stands with wheels allow them to be moved easily which can be useful if you want to temporary remove it to free space. A good TV stand will have appropriate and flexible openings in it for the required connecting cables. Without such flexibility your placement options for the TV stand will become limited.
