Ugly House Photos

Custom-made entertainment niches or media centers were very popular in Phoenix in the 1990s.

They quickly became dust collectors and excuses for hoarding.  Gotta fill every cubby hole with stuff!

Entertainment centers as furniture soon became too small for modern television sets.  So rather than get rid of the entertainment center (very hard to sell at garage sales nowadays, especially the tall TV armoires), people are putting new TVs on top!  Which leads to neck strain after looking up for hours at a time.

Here’s one that’s too small for modern TVs.  Now what do you do with it?

The problem is 20% solved.

What likely happened in this house was:  they removed the coat closet next to the front door and removed the closet in the bedroom.

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Entertainment center/media niche with mold and mildew.  We rate it one star.

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Timeless entertainment center in Campbellsville, Kentucky.

Media niche/entertainment center in Phoenix.

And they also built this media niche in the next room.

The media niche is now outdated for today’s televisions.  So you mount the television over it!

Or you can stick with a small TV until you move.

Check out this monster!

Media niches are very practical.  For collecting souvenirs and dust.

Built back when TV sets were 2 feet deep.  Now functionally obsolete.

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Entertainment centers/media niches were popular ten years ago in the Phoenix area.  Nowadays?

Adobe style on peyote?

Too small for TVs; just right for fish tanks.

Their new TV is too big for the media niche (see the TV on the right?).  Or…all their knick-knacks took over the space and kicked out the TV.

They are great for collecting dust and random items.

Penguins & more!

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Here’s the new set for the remake of the TV show The Golden Girls, in Homosassas, Florida.  The palm tree light is a nice touch.

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Four entertainment niches, media centers, or TV armoire cabinets that appear outdated today.

Remember these?  Armoires for your TV?

How about this media center?

Homes built in the mid- to late-1990s and early 2000s added entertainment niches for those big deep TV sets.  Now they are outdated and functionally obsolete.  They are a turn-off to younger buyers.

Do-it-yourself entertainment centers were very popular in Phoenix.  Not popular nowadays with wider, thinner TV sets.

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Custom-built media niches were all the rage in the Phoenix area in the 1990s and early 2000s.  But then TVs changed in style and size.  Oops.

They soon become used for displaying personal items.  Collected items collect dust.

See all the shelves on the right?  That’s for electronic equipment.  But only one electric outlet.  And what about ventilation and cooling for the equipment?

Again, one electric outlet.  What about wires and cables?

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We’ve seen worse.  Here are seven more entertainment centers/media niches.

When you want to dominate an entire room.

They take up a lot of space.  And today’s TVs aren’t as deep.  I have buyers turn up their noses at these monsters; they don’t like them.  “How can we get rid of them?”, they ask.  With a sledgehammer.

These media niches were built to old specifications for TVs.  Now you’re forced to use a different niche for today’s TVs and hope the TV doesn’t fall down.

Lots of wasted space.

Functionally obsolete.  Can’t even work with today’s TVs.  Now it becomes a knick-knack display case.

Who has a TV that narrow, that tall, and that deep anymore?

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Amateur entertainment centers or media niches are/were popular in the Phoenix area.  Not very practical though.

They can dominate a room.

They eat up a lot of floor space.

They can be functionally obsolete, where they no long fit the proper size for today’s televisions.  Then you have to get creative with TV placement.  And hope it doesn’t tip over.

Seems like an excuse to hoard and display items.

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Let’s look at five homemade entertainment centers and/or media niches.

The Laugh In Wall.  Ruth Buzzi is in the upper left opening.  Goldie Hawn in the lower right.

The Clam Shell.

The Dominator.  Makes the fireplace look puny.

The Fireplace Surround.  Just what electronic equipment needs: more heat.

The Plug & Play.

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