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We had an old TV sitting on the cabinet, and I wanted to reclaim some of that space. I finally found the time to mount it on the wall and thought I’d share a few tips with the community. The whole process took about 90 minutes, including a quick trip to Bunnings for some extra screws. Mounting the TV really opened up the cabinet space and gives the room a much cleaner look.
Materials
- TV Mount Kit. These kits should have everything you need
- Ramset Plasterboard Hollow Wall Anchor
Tools
- Level
- Screwdriver
- Impact drill with drill bits
- Tape measure
- Stud Finder
- Wrench Set with Ratchet
Steps
Step 1
Buy the correct TV mounting kit and make sure it fits your TV. Most of these kits use VESA sizing. For us we got the Mounting Dream Tilt TV Wall Mount Bracket for 42-84 Inch TVs. The kit had all the fittings and a wall template which is very useful.
Step 2
The first step was attaching the brackets to the back of the TV. There are usually four screws already in place - remove these, align the bracket with the holes, and then reattach the bracket using the same screws. Once that was done, I placed the mount onto the bracket to get a sense of how it all fit together.
Step 3
“Measure twice, drill once”—I love that saying, and it couldn’t be more true here. Deciding where to position the wall bracket took some time.
The first step is to find the center of the wall. In our case, we had an air conditioner on the wall, so we measured the center and drew a vertical line down the middle.
We wanted the TV to sit about 150mm above the cabinet. You will also need to know the distance from the bottom of the TV to the bottom of the mount—this is easy to measure now, since you've already attached the mount to the TV in the previous step.
For us, that distance was 200mm. Adding both measurements gave us 350mm. We then measured 350mm up from the cabinet and marked a horizontal line across the wall—this line marks the bottom of the wall mount.
Step 4
Now align the bottom edge of the mounting template with the horizontal line you marked earlier, and make sure it’s centered. Use sticky tape to hold the template in place.
Next, use a stud finder to locate the wall studs and mark their positions. Drill pilot holes at the appropriate mounting points. Our mount had six attachment points—two on the left, two in the middle, and two on the right. The left and middle sections had studs behind them, but the right side was just plasterboard.
For the right-hand side, I used plasterboard hollow wall anchors rated for 10kg each to ensure secure support. Once the pilot holes were marked, I drilled into the studs using a larger drill bit and attached the mount securely with their supplied wood screws.
Step 5
In the this step, make sure the wall mount is level before attaching the TV, make any adjustment if required. It is also important to plan ahead for cable access. If your input ports are located in the center of the TV, they may be difficult or impossible to reach once the TV is mounted, so connect any necessary cables beforehand. Luckily, for us our input slots were on the side, so we didn’t have any issues with access.
Step 6
You will need two people to mount the TV. It is an easy process but take it slow and don't put any pressure on the panel, hold the TV at the top and bottom. Gently place the top bracket onto the mount and the bottom bracket should click into place. If the TV is not centre, just move it along the mount until you are happy. Be careful and don't slide it off the mount.
Step 7
Hiding your cables.
You can use a proper cable management kit to hide your cables, but we just hid ours behind the Xbox. Using cable ties to compact the cables make it easier to hide as well. Instead of a xbox, you could also use a vase or something similar. There is still a little bit of cable showing just under the TV, but it’s not too bad and it saved me from having to drill more holes in the wall.
Great job and looks good.
Here I am way back in 2012 when my older daughter just bought her first home. Still moving in and already wants the Soniq 50" out of the way.
My dog Holly guarding the tools. Do not approach!
Came back later to tidy up and back then there wasn't much around like cable management kits.
