Because of the TV...

After 16 years, our TV is dying. This is our spare TV that was upstairs in the loft. (Our original Sony 27" that was downstairs died awhile ago.) It is a Sanyo 21". There is a loud buzzing noise that goes on while the TV is on. There is nothing wrong with the picture so we just turn up the volume so it overrides the buzzing noise. Sometimes we get so used to it we don't notice the buzzing. But it's still there.

So we've been looking at new TVs. And they sure have become real fancy these days: flat, thin, rectangular and real colorful and bright! We've never had a TV bigger than 27". Apparently that's considered tiny these days.

But before we get a TV we need to make room for a larger than 27" TV. You see, our furniture currently cannot accommodate a TV larger than 32".

When we first moved into the house , our family room was quite cozy and large enough for the two of us.

We furnished it with a nice L-shaped sofa, Matthew's stereo system, a coffee table and a nice Crate & Barrel TV stand (both wedding gifts) and our 27" Sony TV.

Then I got into scrapbooking and I needed a place for all of this:

So we got nice IKEA shelves to store all of my albums, ...

(Sorry for the picture.. it was the only one I could find that shows how the shelves looked.)

... our old traditional photo albums...

... and our DVD collection.

But that original TV space was not large enough to fit a new 'large' TV so we had to get rid of all of those shelves.

We headed to good ol' IKEA.. and got literally a ton of stuff. It took us 4 trips to get all that we needed to build a new entertainment /storage unit in the family room. Of course, everything from IKEA comes in pieces.

We also replaced some bookshelves upstairs, added a shelf unit in the loft...

 ...and under the stairs ...

Before it was my homeschool reading corner...

Now it's storage for Hannah's toys.

 ...and above the new desk in the office.

This is the finished product in the family room...our current TV looks so little in that space.

Now to find the perfect TV... what do you all suggest?