A light touch in an old town
Southwell is a minster town about ten miles north-east of our base in Mapperley, with historic districts around the Minster, Burgage Green, Westgate and the old hamlets of East Thorpe and West Thorpe. Its conservation area was first designated in 1968, and many owners of older homes here think twice before changing them. A media wall suits that kind of house well, because it stands on its own frame in front of the existing wall rather than being cut into it. The cables run in the gap behind the new boards, so there is no chasing into old plaster, and the original wall is left largely as it was. If your house is listed, internal changes need listed building consent from Newark and Sherwood District Council before anything is built.
Workers' cottages and Edwardian villas
Southwell's housing is more varied than its centre suggests. A 2022 council review proposed adding the 19th-century workers' housing on Dover Street and Chatham Street, and the Edwardian villas on Halam Road, to the conservation area. Those two types call for different designs. In a smaller cottage room, a slim wall built around the chimney breast, with a shallow recess for the TV and narrow lit niches, keeps the room usable. In a larger Edwardian room with a high ceiling, a full-height design with a deeper recess, an inset fire and tall alcoves either side can look completely at home. If the room has a cornice or picture rail, the media wall can be planned to stop neatly below it.
Fire, screen and cables
An inset electric fire goes into an opening sized from its installation instructions, with the clearances and ventilation they set out. The TV recess is sized to your screen and the height you want it at. Narrow vertical niches either side of the screen can hold books or a few pieces of pottery, and an LED strip along the top of each one lights them softly. Every cable route, whether for power, HDMI, aerial, a soundbar or LED channels, is planned inside the timber or metal frame before boarding, and a qualified electrician installs the sockets and makes the connections. The boarded frame is then beaded and skimmed ready for paint.
Get in touch
Photos of the room, a note of the ceiling height and pictures of any media walls you like are all useful. We cover the whole town, from Burgage Green to Westgate and East Thorpe. Call 07877 353120 or use the enquiry form, any day from 7am to 5pm.
