DIY TV Wall Mount

When it comes to flat panel TV’s, wall mounting them seems to be quite popular.  There are a ton of TV wall mount kits available.  Some that swivel from left to right and some even telescope out from the wall.  Others merely hold the TV to the wall and tilt up or down.  My TV was to be mounted in my bedroom so all the fancy swiveling and tilting weren’t really necessary for my application and paying for a TV mount that has features I wasn’t going to use didn’t make much sense.  I wanted to see if I could make my own flat panel TV mount essentially from scraps I had lying around.  It was going to utilize a mounting technique known as a “french cleat”.  For you average hobbyist woodworker or DIY-er this a fairly simple project.  It just takes a couple of small pieces of plywood and pine.  What I came up with was quick, cheap & easy to make and I couldn’t be more happy.  So if you are looking at mounting a TV to the wall and don’t want to spend a ton of money and don’t need it to have all the fancy features, this is an option you should consider trying.  Thanks and good luck!

I started with some french cleats I already had from another project.  All a french cleat system is are 2 pieces of wood with 45° cut on the long edge.  When mounted they interlock nicely and hold a lot of weight.

I also had some wedges of pine left over from my simple wooden stool project.  The wedges aren’t necessary, I just wanted the TV to tilt down slightly at an angle.

Then I cut some 1/2″ plywood to a 5″ x 5″ square to be the mounting plate to the back of the TV.  Your plate size may differ depending on the size of your TV mounting hole.  I also cut the french cleats to length.  The one that would be mounted to the wall I made sure to make at least 18″ so I could mount it to the 16″ on center studs in the wall.  The shorter french cleat I made a couple inches longer than the plywood mounting plate.

Then glue and screw the mounting plate to the smaller french cleat.

Once I had all the pieces painted black to match the electronics, I picked out a suitable location to mount it to the wall.

One screw on either side of the french cleat screwed into wall studs with the optional wedge pieces sandwiched in between and I was almost complete.

When attaching the mounting plate to the TV I made a small mistake.  If at all possible get tapered head counter sink screws to mount the plate.  The screws I had were the pan head style and when they stuck out the mating cleat didn’t have enough clearance.  I had to remove the plate and counter-bore the screw holes. All in all it was  only a minor setback.

Then you can just hang the TV on the cleat mounted on the wall.

TV mounted to the wall.  If you get a commercial TV mount on sale you may not save enough to pay for juniors college education, but I had all the material on hand and well, I like making my own stuff.  If you’re interested I posted a complete how to video below.