PLANNING FOR BUILT-IN BOOKCASES ~ a glimpse into the future

I told you last week that we bought a whole set of cabinets from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. We're planning to use the bottom cabinets to make a wall of built-in bookcases in our family room.

Here is the before picture of the family room wall where the bookcases will go.

You can read about our family room here.

We also got a whole set of upper cabinets which we plan to use in our laundry room ~ another project for another day (or year!)

We've been moving the cabinets around trying to figure out the configuration that looks best. We came up with this set up.

The desk will not stay there. We're just using it for reference. We will place an IKEA butcher block on top of the cabinets all the way across from wall to wall with a gap in the cabinets that will make a desk area. We will stain it the same color as our kitchen island. Say "hi" to our puppy Jules!

I will paint the cabinets white and add some pretty knobs. We will then build open back bookcases above the cabinets all the way up to the ceiling.

Now to the problem. We have a tv niche above the fireplace in our family room. We don't like it! We are in the process of closing it up. Click on the link to read all about it.

We bought a beautiful very large new television to place into the bookcase. Did I say it is VERY LARGE? I was watching a football game and got a little nauseous. That's how big it is…or what a whimp I am. Not sure which!

The LOML did his research (WAY TOO MUCH research in my ADD opinion) and found this Samsung 46" LED at Tiger Direct.

I want to figure out a way to have the television be a part of the bookcase. I'm not sure how to do that. Any ideas?? HELP!! Here are some ideas I got from Pinterest.