What We’d Hang Again
THE FLOATING STANDS
WORTH BUYING
We hang these for a living, so we see which ones turn up solid and which ones turn up as a bag of trouble. Two rules that decide it before you order, and three consoles we keep running into and would happily fit again.
How we make money here: the Wayfair links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through one, Wayfair pays us a small commission at no extra cost to you. It doesn’t change your price and it hasn’t changed the picks — we’re the ones carrying these up your stairs, so recommending a bad one costs us more than it pays.
Rule one: get the width right
This is the mistake we see most, and the one you can’t fix after delivery. A console narrower than the TV makes the screen look like it’s sliding off a ledge, and no amount of careful hanging rescues it.
A TV’s cabinet measures roughly 87% of its diagonal, so the screen is always wider than the number on the box suggests. Buy to these and you won’t regret it:
| Your TV | Actual width | Console width |
|---|---|---|
| 55″ | about 48″ | 55″+ |
| 65″ | about 57″ | 63″+ |
| 75″ | about 65″ | 71″+ |
| 85″ | about 74″ | 79″+ |
Going wider buys you something structural as well as visual: a 71-inch unit reaches four studs on standard 16-inch centres where a 47-inch one reaches three. That’s the difference between a console you can lean on and one you tiptoe around.
Rule two: check how it fixes to the wall
Every listing quotes a weight capacity, and every one of those numbers assumes the unit is bolted into structure. Into studs, 100 to 150 lb is real. Into drywall alone, treat anything over about 30 lb as a slow-motion accident whatever the box says.
So the useful question isn’t the rating, it’s the hardware. Three designs turn up:
A French cleat, or a steel rail
The best of the three, and what most good consoles use. A continuous strip screwed to the wall that the unit drops onto, so we fix into whatever framing is actually there rather than wherever the factory drilled.
Keyhole slots in the back panel
Workable, but the spacing is fixed and rarely lines up with your studs. Usually solved with a backing board behind the unit, which is a normal part of the job rather than a problem.
Through-holes in the back panel
The most flexible, as long as the panel is solid. If the back flexes when you press it, the wall isn’t the weak point — the furniture is, and no fixing saves it.
Read this before you click buy
The other half of choosing one is what it does with your gear and your cables — closed storage versus open shelves, the 14-inch depth minimum, remote sensors behind solid doors, ventilation, and what Chicago plaster and brick walls need. We wrote all of that up separately rather than repeat it here.
HOW TO PICK ONE THAT HIDES THE CORDS →Three we’d hang again
Wayfair rotates stock and prices constantly, so there are no prices printed here — check the current one on the day. What doesn’t change is the shape of these: wide enough for the TVs people actually buy, solid backs, and hardware that reaches framing.
Ebern Designs Sculley 71″ Floating TV Stand
71″ wide · listed for TVs up to 80″
71 inches is the width most people should be buying and hardly anyone does. It sits comfortably wider than a 75-inch screen, and at that length it reaches four studs on standard 16-inch centres — which is what makes a floating unit feel solid rather than something you learn to be careful around.
Two closed cabinets either side of an open middle bay is the right layout for a living room. The router and the boxes you never touch go behind doors; whatever needs to see a remote sits in the open bay.
Watch for: the open bay is shallow. Measure a full-size AV receiver before you count on it fitting.
Check the current price on Wayfair →Latitude Run Colima Floating TV Stand with Storage Cabinet
Listed for TVs up to 80″ · closed cabinet storage
The one to look at if the console is doing real work — games, controllers, the box of cables everyone has in a drawer. More enclosed volume than the open-shelf designs, which is the whole game: gear behind doors is gear you stop seeing.
Watch for: enclosed cabinets trap heat. If a games console or an amp is living in there, leave a door ajar or vent the back panel. We'll cut a vent while we're hanging it if you ask.
Check the current price on Wayfair →Wrought Studio Hamman 71″ Floating TV Stand
71″ wide · listed for TVs up to 80″
Flat fronts, no visible handles, nothing fussy. Under a wall-mounted TV with the cables run inside the wall, this is the setup people are picturing when they say they want it to look like the showroom.
Watch for: push-to-open doors on a floating unit are only as good as the fixings — every push loads them. Worth being fussy about hitting real framing on this one.
Check the current price on Wayfair →Or browse the whole range
None of those quite right? These are the category pages worth starting from, with the width rule above in mind.
All floating & wall-mounted TV stands →
What it costs to have us hang it
Hanging a floating console is $80/hour, and most take under an hour once we’re in the room. That covers finding the real framing, fixing into it properly for whatever your wall turns out to be, and levelling it — a floating unit a quarter-inch out reads as crooked from across the room in a way a legged cabinet never does.
Book it with the TV and it’s one visit. The mount is $100 flat at any size, and doing both together means the console height comes off the real screen position instead of a guess. Console first and TV weeks later is how people end up with a gap they stare at forever.
If it arrives damaged or short of hardware — which happens with flat-pack furniture from anyone — say so when we get there. We carry fixings for every wall type in the city and can usually finish the job regardless.
Common questions
How wide should a floating TV stand be?
At least as wide as the TV, and ideally wider. A TV's cabinet measures roughly 87% of its diagonal, so a 65-inch TV is about 57 inches wide and wants a 63-inch or wider console under it. A stand narrower than the screen makes the TV look like it is sliding off a ledge.
How much weight can a floating TV stand hold?
The number in the listing assumes it is bolted into studs. Fixed into framing, most floating consoles genuinely take 100 to 150 lb. Fixed into drywall alone, treat anything over about 30 lb as unsafe whatever the box claims. The limit is the wall, not the shelf.
What should I look for in how it mounts to the wall?
A French cleat or a steel mounting rail is the best of the three common designs, because you fix into whatever studs you find rather than wherever the manufacturer drilled. Keyhole slots and through-holes in the back panel both work too, as long as the back panel is solid rather than thin hardboard.
Do you install floating TV stands in Chicago?
Yes. Hanging a floating console is $80/hour and most take under an hour. Booked at the same time as a $100 TV mount it is a single visit, and we can set the console height off the real screen position instead of guessing.
Bought one? We’ll hang it.
Send a photo of the wall and the model when you book and we’ll turn up with the right fixings for it. $80/hour, or add it to a $100 TV mount and it’s one trip.
Furniture assembly & hanging · Soundbar installation · Full price list