For twenty years the brief was the same: hide the television. Cabinet doors, lift mechanisms, mirrored glass. Almost none of it survived contact with how people actually watch, and most of it aged badly.
The better approach is to stop treating the screen as an embarrassment and design the wall it sits on. Once the wall is composed — proportion, material, lighting — a black rectangle reads as one element in a considered arrangement instead of an intrusion.
Give the screen a frame, not a hiding place
A shallow recess of 40–60 mm, lined in the same veneer as the surrounding joinery, does more for a room than any lift mechanism. The screen sits flush, the cables disappear, and the recess casts a soft shadow line that reads deliberately.
If the wall is right, the television stops being the first thing you see when you walk in.
Light the wall, not the screen
Contrast fatigue comes from a bright rectangle in a dark room. A low-output wash on the wall behind the screen — dimmable, warm, ideally on its own circuit — reduces eye strain and makes the whole composition feel intentional after dark.
Plan the cables before the plaster
Two conduits, one spare, and a ventilated void behind the screen. It costs almost nothing at first fix and saves an ugly compromise three years later when the equipment changes.