In a Nairobi living room, the wall unit is the piece around the TV. It holds the TV and the decoder, the speakers, the books and the things you keep on show. It is often the largest piece of furniture in the room, and one of the hardest to get a clear price for.
This is how to plan one, with three layouts and what each costs.
What does a wall unit have to hold?
Start with a list, not a picture. The TV, and whether it stands on its feet or hangs on the wall. The decoder, the router and any speakers, with their cables. Books, if you have them. Photographs, plants and the pieces you want seen.
Then decide what should be on show and what should not. That settles most of the design.
How wide for your wall and your TV?
Measure the wall, then the TV. A TV is sold by the diagonal of its screen, not its width.
Roughly, a 43-inch screen is about 95 cm wide, a 55-inch about 122 cm and a 65-inch about 144 cm. These are approximate, so check your TV's own specification. Our post on how wide a TV stand should be has the full list.
Most of our wall units are about 2 m or 3.00 m long. Leave a little wall showing at each end, so the unit reads as furniture and not as a built-in.
Three layouts that work
The TV on a deep low base, with a tower beside it. The High-Low, in Sage, is 1.97 m wide and 1.63 m tall, Ksh 51,000. Its low part is 142 cm wide and 45 cm deep, so a TV on its own feet has room. The tower takes books and baskets.
A shallower version is The Stepped Display, in Marine, 1.99 m wide, Ksh 46,000. The TV goes on a three-tier unit 72 cm tall, beside a tower 1.93 m tall. Its tops are 28 cm deep, so measure the TV's feet first, or ask us.
The TV between two stacks. Two tall stacks stand either side, with a low unit between them for the TV. The Versatile Stack is 98 cm wide and 1.63 m tall in Sage, Ksh 28,500 each. You can put the whole wall together in our builder, which prices it as you go.
The TV above a long low run. Three Starters in a row, in Charcoal, make a run 3.00 m wide and 42 cm tall, Ksh 19,500. The TV hangs on the wall above, and the long top takes the decoder, the speakers and a few books.
What do wall units cost in Kenya?
Wall units are often quoted only after a visit, which makes them hard to plan for.
Ours, each priced on our site:
- Three Starters in a row, 3.00 m wide, Ksh 19,500
- The Double Bay, 1.99 m wide and 1.33 m tall, Ksh 46,000
- The Stepped Display, 1.99 m wide, Ksh 46,000
- The High-Low, 1.97 m wide, Ksh 51,000
- The Triple Bay, 3.00 m wide and 1.33 m tall, Ksh 69,000
The Double Bay and The Triple Bay suit a TV that hangs on the wall or has its own stand, with the shelves beside it. The price is the same for everyone. We deliver within Nairobi, assembled, within a week of payment. Delivery is charged by area, and we tell you the fee before you pay.
Open shelves or doors?
Doors hide dust and clutter, and open shelves do not. Plan for that. Our units have no back, so cables drop down behind them instead of through holes. Baskets on the lower shelves take the remotes, chargers and papers. The decoder stays in the open, where the remote can reach it.
What open shelves give back is light. A wall of open steel shelving looks lighter than a cabinet of the same size.
A wall unit you can take with you
Our shelves are modular, which means they are made of separate parts that stack together. The units stack with no tools, stand on adjustable feet and come apart to move. When you move house the wall unit comes with you, which a built-in wall does not.
See it on your wall first
Every design has its own page. Open it on your phone and you can stand the shelf against your wall at its real size, through the camera, before you decide. Open the link in Chrome or Safari, because Instagram's own browser cannot use the camera for this.
We make every unit in our workshop at Dagoretti Corner. There is no showroom, but a visit to the workshop can be arranged.