Media walls

The Parkgate

from £4,800 Built in two days

The wall that takes the whole elevation. Panelling runs floor to ceiling and returns around both sides of the chimney breast, so the breast stops being a lump in the room and becomes the shape of the room. Fire, alcoves and storage as the Hoylake, with lighting on scenes.

Design my wall See the specification

Built in one to two days. Priced before we start.

A floor to ceiling panelled media wall wrapped around a chimney breast, with a fire, lit alcoves and storage below — Floor to ceiling, wrapped round the breast, scene lit.

What you get

What the Parkgate is.

Full height, wrapped, and lit in more than one way. This is the point where a media wall becomes the architecture of the room.

Wall width: Up to 5.0m
Height: Floor to ceiling, scribed to the cornice
Screen size: Up to 85 inch
Fire: Inset electric, 50 to 72 inch
Alcoves: Two, lit, with adjustable shelves
Lighting: Dimmable, on scenes, on its own switch
Build time: Two days on site

Included

Survey, measurements and a drawing before anything is made
Timber frame with the aperture built to the fire's clearances
Panelling floor to ceiling, returned around the breast
Scribing to the cornice and the skirting so there is no gap
Inset electric fire
Two lit display alcoves with adjustable shelves
Closed cupboards along the base
Dimmable scene lighting on its own switch
Cabling routed inside the wall, with an access panel
Making good and taking the waste away

Not included

The television, soundbar and their brackets
The electrical spur for the fire and the lighting circuit, which are booked in with an electrician
Removing a chimney breast, which is structural work

Going full height is what separates this from the walls below it. A panel that stops short of the ceiling always reads as furniture pushed against a wall. Taking it up to the cornice and scribing it in makes it read as part of the house, which is the whole reason to spend the difference.

Wrapping the panelling around the sides of the chimney breast does the same job in plan. The alcoves either side stop being leftover gaps and become part of one piece of joinery, and the room loses the stepped outline it has had since it was built.

Scene lighting means the wall has more than one setting. Fire and alcoves together for an evening, alcoves alone as a background, everything up when you are cleaning behind it.

Good questions

Questions people ask.

Does it have to go right to the ceiling?

That is what makes it a Parkgate. Stopping short is perfectly reasonable, it just makes it a Hoylake with a taller panel, and we would price it as one rather than charge you for a name.

What happens where the ceiling is not level?

It is scribed. The top of the panelling is cut to follow the actual line of the ceiling rather than to a straight line, which is why there is no wedge shaped gap along the top when we leave.

Can you panel around a bay or a door as well?

Yes, and it usually looks better if we do, because panelling that stops at an arbitrary point draws attention to where it stopped. That is a bespoke job rather than a Parkgate, so it is drawn and priced on its own.

Is the cornice going to survive?

Original cornice stays. The panelling is scribed up to it rather than cut into it, because taking out a run of Victorian cornice to fit joinery is not something you can undo.

Two days, really?

For most Parkgates, yes, because the panels are made in the workshop and the days on site are fixing, scribing and finishing. A room with a badly out of true wall or an awkward chimney breast can run into a third day, and we say so before we start rather than after.

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