The Flat-Panel Mounting Shuffle

So, you finally made your decision on a new flat-panel Television for your apartment! Awesome!

Whether you went with the plasma or an LCD is now a conundrum of the past, only to be replaced with another troubling question:

Should I hang the television on the wall or put it on a stand?

While many would normally gravitate to the wonderful benefit and space saving positive exit of hanging your new precious mecca of entertainment on the wall, there are several things to consider before doing so.

First off, mounting a television to a wall will inevitably leave a few holes when you take it down. This becomes an additional challenge for you when you one day take the TV down because it will be up to you to patch up and paint over these holes. If you were to not patch them up, your apartment may end up charging you for the damage.

It's also important to keep in mind that although you are saving some space because the flat-panel is attached to your wall, you will still need a place to put your DVD player, Nintendo Wii, or old school VCR. Not only that, but you will also have all the appropriate cables running from these peripherals and into the TV. How are you going to hide the cables? You can try with a tall plant or a dresser, but then you'll be saving much floorspace after all, will ya?

With all of these things in mind, I personally made the decision to go with a nice looking TV stand to hold the TV and all all of the peripheries beneath. It still looks great, was very close in price to a wall mount, and is not near the size of an entertainment center and the best part is that I can move it around anytime I want without drills, screws, and holes in the wall !

For an Apartmentite, it seems to me that the choice is obvious … go with a stand.