How to Make a Wooden TV Stand--Measure and Cut

Building your own wooden TV stand is an inexpensive project that can result in a neat storage facility to cover the actual television set in your room. In fact, rectangular TV stands are not only aesthetically pleasing, but they go well with any type of furniture you have in your room. They also provide an open-box space to hold your television so you can cover the backside of the monitor and all the attached wires and apparatuses. In this article, you will learn how to take measurements and cut your wood for the stand.

Step 1 - Measure Up

The first thing you need to do is to measure your television set. LCD televisions are thinner in width than older televisions which tend to have huge back sides. Therefore you need to take into consideration the actual width of your television before starting work on your stand. Once you have established which television set you are putting in your stand you can take measurements of the television’s length, height and width by using a measuring tape. Note them down on a piece of paper because you will be using them to measure up the wood pieces for the stand.

Step 2 - Calculate the Dimensions Of Your Wood Panels

Once you have taken down the measurements of your TV set you can start measuring up the wood for your tv stand. Remember to add at least three inches to all your measurements before marking them on your wood. This will create a bit of an extra framing space between the television set and the television stand so the TV will fit in nicely. This will also help you later on as you will be easily able to dust around the television when needed.

You can start by marking the top and bottom panels for your stand on the first sheet. Get the length measurement of your TV and add three inches to it, and make markings on the wood lengthwise. Once the length has been marked, add the width or depth of the panels and mark them accordingly on the sheet.

Then move on to the side panels. Get the second sheet of wood and mark on it the height and width or depth of your TV set, plus the usual extra three inches. Keep in mind that the horizontal and vertical panels are meant to be in pairs, so make sure they are of the same exact measurements.

Step 3 - Measure and Mark the Supports

Your TV stand will need four supports or legs for it to stand on. Get the four 1½-inch thick wood pieces and measure them to four feet in height. This is the ideal height for your TV set to stand at, but you can increase or decrease this height. These four feet of free space can later serve as storage space with shelves if needed.

Step 4 - Cut and Sand the Wood

At this point, you should have two marked pairs of wood panels for your television stand (top and bottom of the same measurements, left and right side panels or the same height) and four wood pieces of the same marked height that will act as legs or supports for your TV stand. Therefore, you should have two sheets with four marked rectangles and four blocks that will act as legs.

At this point, you can start cutting down the wood to the marked sizes. Take your circular saw and cut them down to have four panels and four blocks. Once you have cut them down, you can sand the rough edges to have neat panels and blocks.