Mike answers:

Strikes me that whatever you do will be a bit of a kludge. With a four foot deep cupboard and a TV sitting across the front face, you’re going to be wasting a lot of space. Short of structural work on your house, I can’t see what you can do about that. What I can see as an option is to have a support box made that fits inside your recess and takes a VESA mount or similar.

The Sony TV you linked relies on most of the weight being in the base and, it seems, on the screen being slightly back from the front edge. If you attach a large screen so that it sticks out in front of the support, you need to prevent the whole thing falling over by either screwing the support down or by having the support be heavy. Depending on how far forward you want the screen to be, you’d be looking for the base to weight about the same as the screen.

What I suggest you do is have an open back, triangular-sided support box made that sits inside you existing TV recess and presents a vertical face towards the room. This is basically a “wall” on which you mount your screen. On this vertical face attach a wall-mounting bracket that is compatible with your screen. Most large screen have one form of VESA mount, I believe.

It is hard to explain here what the box might look like. Structurally, it would be similar to a counterfort retaining wall.

Http://osp.mans.edu.eg/sfoundation/ret.files/image008.jpg

http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete/poured_concrete_retaining_walls/images/scrap2.gif

The images above might give you an idea, but you’ll want something simpler, made of flat sheets. Imagine a rectangular box that is cut in half along the diagonal of one face and you might see what I mean. The triangular pieces are very important: the weight of the screen will tend to make the vertical face rotate about the joint with the base, and the triangular pieces will be in tension to prevent this, so they need to be very well fastened at either end. If you are doing this in timber, I’d suggest something like 25mm birch face plywood for strength with screws not nails for the fixing. Chipboard will be too friable for screws in tension., it will just shred along the threads eventually. You could then stain this a dark colour to match your existing wood, and put felt pads on the underside so it doesn’t scratch the existing wood. Make the support box wide, maybe two-thirds to three-quarters of the width of the recess, and have triangular bracing inside as well as at the outer edges.

The bracing could be effected by cutting triangular blocks of ply, or more simply by getting very large shelf brackets from a hardware store. Basically, you would then be joining together two large, thick “shelves” at right angles to form a foot and a wall. The brackets are there to stop it bending outwards. If you use shelf brackets, do not attach them with screws from the “underside” in the way you would with a normal shelf, as the brackets are there to resist tension and there is a danger that the screws would pull out. In normal shelves, the brackets are there to resist compression. Instead, I suggest you drill through the “shelves” and use large-diameter bolts. Consider sinking the bolt heads in to recesses in the material – on the vertical face this shouldn’t matter as you have some clearance because of the mount, but on the base the heads will act like feet, which you might not want.

A jobbing carpenter could probably knock this up for you in a couple of hours, if you don’t want to tackle it yourself.

Finally, you’ll need to make the whole thing stable. You can do this best by screwing the support frame down to your built-in cupboard. If you don’t want to do that, you’ll need to add enough weight to the base to keep the whole thing stable. Some dry sand in a box would be suitable.

Hope this helps. Sorry it’s a bit long winded.

Mike answers:

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cheers…………

Mike answers:

For the time being, mix 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 3 parts water – dip a Q-tip into the solution a couple times a day and keep those sutures from crusting over. After that – the MOST important thing is to keep high SPF sunblock on that area. If he’ll wear a hat outdoors, do that as well. Sun exposure is the WORST thing for scars. You can use Mederma as well. But he’s young, and his skin will heal well. This advice is from the plastic surgeon (2 of them actually!) following an awful dog bite my young daughter suffered last year (on her face.) Best wishes to you and your little one!

Mike answers:

IKEA… You can find EVERYTHING!

Mike answers:

THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC

Our story begins in the London flat shared by the famed Scotland Yard detective, Sherlock Bones and his companion, Dr. Watkins.

“Oh! I say, Bones, I thoroughly enjoyed that write up about you in the magazine section of the Sunday ‘London Times‘,” gushed Dr. Watkins. “It’s about time too! You definitely are the MOST INTERESTING CHARACTER I know!”

“Such is the PRICE OF FAME, I’m afraid,” said Bones dismissively. “I‘d rather keep a low profile. When the author first approached me about doing a story, I declined the offer, so he snuck around behind my back interviewing people that barely knew me, and based the article entirely on MISTAKEN IDENTITY, innuendo and faulty recollections.”

“For instance, that hack said I was a PART-TIME GENIUS,” Bones complained patronizingly. “Clearly, I couldn’t solve my cases just by using deductive reasoning if I wasn’t a full-time genius; unlike that twit, Jessica Fletcher. C’mon, what do we really know about her?”

“Mrs. Fletcher is allegedly a substitute English teacher, who writes mystery books, and dabbles in solving crimes on the side,” Bones continued. “Did ya ever notice, no matter where she goes, there is always a murder? How convenient!! For God’s sake–I’m surprised there are any people left in her home town! I think what she’s really dabbling in is VOODOO MAGIC!”

“Watkins, Did you make an appointment for us with THE HYPNOTIST so we can quit smoking?” asked Bones, as he picked an imaginary piece of lint off his jacket. “Yep! First thing in the morning,” answered Watkins obligingly.

“You did book us with a real doctor that deals with medical or psychological disorders–not one of those street hypnotists–right?” verified Bones. “We don’t want the paparazzi to catch us clucking like a chicken, or buzzing like a bee–with film at 11:00 p.m. On Wassup Britain?!!”

“Speaking of that, what‘s up for us tonight?” asked Watkins, as he lit up his pipe. “Naughty, naughty, Watkins!” chastised Bones. “We‘re trying to quit smoking remember?” …. “I’m tapering off.” replied Watkins, with a guilty look. “Put your pipe away,” directed Bones sternly.

“Now to answer your question,” said Bones, “we are spending the night at THE HAUNTED HOUSE at the edge of Rottingham Forest.”

“OMG!! I’d rather spend A NIGHT IN THE WOODS than in that creepy old place!!” complained Watkins. “Whose hair-brained idea was this anyway?” Bones started gathering his coat and deerstalker hat together, as he replied, “Lestride wants us to check the place out. He suspects paranormal activity. The haunted house might actually be haunted! Go figure!!” …. ”Some things are better off left alone!” grumbled Watkins.

Later–Bones and Watkins have just arrived at the haunted house, and are walking up the steps to the front porch. “I see there are candles burning inside, and at the windows.” said Bones. “Yes, even I could deduce that,” observed Watkins sarcastically.

As Bones and Watkins walked up the front steps, the creaking front door opened slowly, as a tall dark figure stood there ominously. “Good evening,“ he intoned in a voice tinged with a slight Italian accent. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Count Alucard. I have recently returned from my travels to my ancestral home.”

“This is Dr. Watkins, and I am Sherlock Bones,” answered Bones. “We saw the lights and wondered if anyone was in the house. I heard it had been empty for at least 100 years.” ….. “Yes, it is a little dusty!” replied Count Alucard with a slight chuckle. “Do come in.”

“Have you met my special guest, Mrs. Fletcher?” Count Alucard continued. “She is an American writer in London on a book signing tour. I met her in the city tonight, and we got to talking. Jessica told me, among other things, she wanted to do research on an older home for an upcoming book, so I invited her to visit mine.”

‘What a coincidence!“ responded Bones, as he shook Jessica’s hand. “Watkins and I were just talking about you only this afternoon.“ …. “That must have been why my ears were burning,” answered Jessica, blushing slightly. “Either that or a hot flash!!” muttered Bones, under his breath, to Watkins.

“Excuse me??” asked Jessica. “I didn’t quite catch what you said.” …. “Oh! I was just wondering if your publisher sent you over here for the book signing on the theory that THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER, on the other side of the pond, as far as book sales go.

“Isn’t she just TDF?” asked Count Alucard admiringly. “What do you mean TDF?” asked Watkins. “To die for, simply to die for!!” replied the count. “Exactly!” exclaimed Bones.

“Care for an hors de oeuvre?” asked Count Alucard. I’d love one,” answered Watkins as he reached for one. Bones shook his head, “No,“ and gave Watkins “the look.” …. “Oh! I just remembered I’m supposed to be watching my diet,” said Watkins rather unconvincingly. “No, you wanted to step outside for a smoke,” lied Bones. “I did?? …. Oh! Yes! That was it! I knew I wanted to do something–just forgot what it was,” answered the flustered Watkins.

“Confound it Bones!” complained Watkins, as they stepped outside. “You made me look like an idiot in there. Besides, you wouldn’t let me smoke before. Why now?” ….. “Help me quietly push the car away from the house so they won’t hear it when we start the car,” directed Bones. “We must get away from here if we value our lives.”

“I noticed Count Alucard cast no reflection on THE BROKEN WINDOW, next to the front door, so that tells me he is a vampire,” Bones informed Watkins. “My powers of deduction at work!… TA! DA!”

“Now, we also know Mrs. Fletcher can’t be anywhere for very long before someone is killed, and the same thing can be said for a vampire,” Bones explained to Watkins, as they started driving back to London. “My odds are on Jessica. I figure ‘Voodoo Woman’ can take of Alucard with some of her black magic!! The candles are already lit!!”