New TV Project

The second week of January, Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha had a special after Christmas sale.  The sale was for technology that had been purchased after Thanksgiving and around Christmas.  Many items people bought, they took out of the box and used before returning them to the Mart.  NFM couldn't sell these already opened and used items for even cost so some of their items were less than what NFM purchased them for!  There were about 40 TVs, many laptops, iPads and iPods, Blu-ray players and many more tech toys.

Jon went up to Omaha the Tuesday morning that the store opened and waited in line outside the store. When the store opened at 10 a.m., Jon ran to the TV section.  We ended up purchasing a Vizio 42" smart TV (has a wifi receiver in it) for only $219!  Then Jon purchased a mounting kit for the TV for $79.  It was great to get a TV at a price that was way better than what Black Friday would have offered.

We had talked about getting a TV this thanksgiving and then mounting it on the wall in the basement and to buy a sectional couch to create a great family room/den area.

Once the weekend came, our close friends, Benjy and Aaron, helped Jon put the TV up in the basement.

First Jon needed to put the mounting braces on the back of the TV.

While Jon was working on the brackets, Benjy found the
correct tools we needed to put the TV up.

Also, we were able to give the TV stand seen above to our
good friends Kyle and Anglea as they were looking for a
bigger entertainment center.  We were glad we didn't have
to throw away the stand but that someone else could use it!

Jon beginning to drill into the stud.

Benjy double checking Jon's work.  :) 

Feeling like a real homeowner by getting to use the drill!

Benjy making sure the brace was centered on the wall. 

Almost done!

One thing that we also worked on was Benjy put in an outlet behind the wall.  Even though he isn't a "licensed" electrician, he did a great job pulling power from the back of our washer and dryer box (the white thing tucked behind Benjy's face in the picture below).  The reason why we wanted an outlet behind the wall was we were planning on having a clean and flush TV on the wall without seeing any cords.

Benjy putting in an outlet. 

Ace was usually in the way but Aaron did a
good keeping him entertained.  This photo
is great.  Ace stayed on Aaron's feet for a good
5 minutes.  Ace thought he was helping....

Here is the finished project.  The Blu-ray player we bought
also had its cords through the wall and then into the TV
and the outlet.  It looks great Benjy!  Thanks for your
supervision and expertise!

Picture looks great and the TV sits at the optimal viewing
height off the ground of 30" as concluded by the reviews on
Yahoo.com.  :)

Thanks again Benjy and Aaron!  This is the second of many projects where Jon ended up doing most of the work but Benjy was active in his assistance.  Thanks Benjy for MAKING Jon do all the work!  :)