Stylish TV stands and media units to buy now

Thanks to technological advancements, the past few decades have seen us change the way we style our living space. Rather than configuring our furniture to welcome in conversation, we now point our furniture at our TVs. Whilst this may sound a little sad, as if we are losing out on interaction, communal TV and film watching is actually a wonderful bonding experience. Instead of skulking off to different rooms, we tend to stay all together now. Sitting on the sofa, feet up on our coffee tables or ottomans and sharing in whatever emotions the programme provokes.

Despite this, the way that we display our TVs tends not to reflect their significance in our lives. It's all too easy to create makeshift solutions or buy a stand as a purely functional purchase, and they often become an eyesore in the living room. ‘No longer!’, we declare.

With flat screen TVs, our home entertainment areas are much less cumbersome than they used to be. We still have large TVs, but they are lighter and more minimalist than before. Due to this, the options for display are endless: there's a whole world of stylish TV stands and media units out there, from vintage inspired wall mounts and smart trolleys to colourful sideboards and discreet cabinets with hidden storage space and cable management, all of which will blend in beautifully with the rest of your living room furniture (and, thankfully, hide those remote controls and pesky game consoles!). Read on for our top picks.

Amira AV Unit, oak

Verona Wide AV Unit, walnut

Denali Sideboard

Low Cabinet

Kinship Rattan Terracotta TV Cabinet

Evander TV Stand

New-Shaker Sideboard in Appleterre

Enfold Sideboard

Lennon Sideboard

Lommarp TV bench, dark blue-green

Lyra Media Unit

Otto Media Console

Febee Aged Metal TV Stand

Bisley Fern TV Cabby, Olive Green

Pillar Low Console, by Huw Evans

Deep Yellow Plywood TV Stand

Viggo TV Unit

Classon Sideboard, by Jason Miller for De La Espada

John Lewis + Swoon Mendel TV Stand Sideboard

Bond Credenza

Quaderna Console

Price on request

Buy Now at SCP

Vitra ESU Shelving Orange/Red

Stitched Sideboard, ash and natural

Price on request

Buy Now at The New Craftsmen

The Standard, butter

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of TV stand options to consider, which makes deciding what to buy a little overwhelming. The first way to narrow things down is to decide whether you want a built in unit with shelves and a wall mounted TV or if you want a 'table top' style unit. If you're renting, and creating a built in piece of furniture isn't possible, fear not because you can still make a really stylish focal point within your room. A corner TV stand or corner TV unit is a great option in a smaller room, where space is at a premium. A glass TV stand can be a lovely, modern addition to a room but do bear in mind you will likely be able to see cables sticking out behind it.

Your TV stand should undoubtedly be wider than your TV, otherwise the whole space will look too top heavy. In order to avoid this, be sure to measure the width of your TV before committing to a particular media unit or TV stand–especially if you're buying from an online furniture shop, where it's more difficult to gauge size. We recommend adding 10 or so centimetres on either side to get figure out the ideal width of the unit.

For the most part, our TVs look very similar these days, with the screen size being the main variation. But while many of us have a TV in common, our living rooms have infinite variation in size, shape and decoration. So although, as described above, the type of TV stand is important in terms of size requirements for the TV itself, the key question to think about regarding style of unit is how it will fit in the room surrounding it. If you're in a new build or your home is decorated in a clean-lined, modern way, one of the blocky, wooden mid-century styles seen above could feel right at home. If you live in a white, boxy rented property, a fun pop of colour with something like the Mustard Made cabinet would work well, and the piece could easily be repurposed for storage elsewhere in the home in the future. For more traditionally styled rooms, a unit like Pilgrim's New Shaker Sideboard would be ideal.