How to Make a TV Easel

ByCharlotte Smith Published on Updated on

Psssst… this post *might* contain affiliate links: see my disclosure here.

How to Turn an Art Easel into a Television Easel

We had big plans to mount our TV over the mantel in the new house. I even pulled out the built in corner cabinet that was in there so that our floor guys could sand and refinish the floor underneath. And then we moved in and realized that the area over the mantel was… solid concrete. Could we have mounted the TV? Sure… but it was a little high, there was no power box and… we didn’t trust ourselves to safely deal with all of this. I started going down the road of finding a piece of furniture to hold the TV but they all just felt big. Restoration Hardware makes TV easels that are amazing but also… like a LOT of money. So I spent a fraction of that to MacGyver our own tv easel and it works GREAT. Here’s how I did it.

retrofitting a TV easel

Retrofitting an Art Easel to Fit Our TV 

Note: I was dealing with a broken camera at the time, so there are process shots missing, but hopefully you can still see how I did it and apply the same logic to whatever easel you try to retrofit!

Shop my favorites!

Shop Now

Originally I searched Craigslist and FB marketplace for an old vintage easel. I found a couple that would have been amazing but they were a little pricey (like a couple hundred dollars) and they were BIG. Like the stand alone was 3+ feet wide. Just for sh*ts and giggles I searched online and found one on sale for just under $100. (I got this one here.) One of the reasons I was confident with this plan was that we have a VERY skinny TV. When we moved, we cut the cord and now have YouTube TV so no cable box or anything which makes this much easier. You can still see the cord down the back of the easel but I don’t really notice it.

plain wooden art easel

Build out the support tray for Underneath the Television

The one and only step is to build out the tray that will support the TV on the bottom, and the brace that will hold the TV in place on the top. Your easel may look different, but for mine, I used poplar craft boards because they were about the same width as the other boards of the easel. I started with one board deep enough to accommodate the TV. With wood glue and brad nails, I attached another board to the front to stop the TV from sliding off. Lastly, I glued another piece of poplar on the bottom so that this rig would fit snuggly onto the easel tray.  Once this was all dry I was able to screw it in place down onto the tray of the easel.

Support below television easel

tray under the easel

Our television has the sensor right on the bottom so I had to cut away a few inches of the wood support. If I’d noticed this at the beginning I would have just used two separate pieces of wood for the front edge.

Build a Top Brace for the Television

Just as I built the bottom brace to hold the TV in place, I build a similar brace for the top of the TV using wood glue and brad nails. I screwed it in place and it was able to slide back over the easel as intended but now with the added piece.

brace for the top of the easel brace for the top of the easel

Support the Bottom of the Easel Tray

The easel is adjustable and has metal grooves that hold it in place. But it’s designed to hold a canvas so I didn’t want to risk this giving out. I added L brackets underneath the the tray to give it some extra support.

support tray for under the easel

You can see in these pictures that the wood I added didn’t match the wood of the original easel. It’s possible I could have sanded the poplar and tried to match the stain of the easel, but… I actually didn’t love the way the stain of the easel looked with the color of our floors.  I also believe in ‘going big or going home’ especially when it’s with something like a $100 easel. This blue is the same blue as our living room ceiling and one of my favorites: Jet Ski by Behr.  

close up of TV easel assembly

I love that the television easel props up the TV just like we needed, but it doesn’t feel like a big piece of furniture in the corner. In fact, it’s not on wheels, but it can easily be angled or moved back into the corner as needed.

diy television easel

diy television easel

Apologies the process photos aren’t better. I’ll be saving all the steps to a highlight on my Instagram feed where you can get another glimpse of the construction.

pin this image to pinterest

Don’t Miss Out

Become An Insider!

Signup for exclusive tips, and tricks from Charlotte’s House!

Let’s chat!

I love comments from you, so feel free to leave your thoughts and ideas below! And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram for even more!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

43 Comments

      1. Wow ! Creative and beaUtiful idea. Two ideas to add to your Tv and easel: how about Make a frame for Tv like a picture frame? Add command strip for attach frame to tv. And use command strip for the Wires to hide them ?

        Reply

  17. I have a question about your tv easel. We have a flat screen tv that doesn’t have any kind of “frame” around it. Would/should we mount the tv to a slightly larger piece of thin plywood to protect the top and bottom edges of the tv’s “glass”? edges?

    I bought a gently used RH tv easel stand which I’m trying to adapt to use with our Sony Bravia. Kind of freaked out that I might damage the screen.

    Good going on your easel stand!

    Reply

  18. I just found your site and I’m so happy to have things in common. The love of color and DIY projects, plus we live in the same state (I’m in Norwalk). The easel for the TV stand is such a cool idea!!!!!

    Reply

  19. Hi I love this project!! We have a similar issue above our fireplace so this is a life saver. Just out of curiosity, what is the size of the TV on the stand? I’d like to maximize our TV size without making it look lop-sided.

    Reply