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Why Getting Your TV Unit Size Right Matters

A TV unit is one of the few pieces of furniture in a Sydney living room that has to do three jobs at once: hold the television at the right height, store the gear underneath it (streaming boxes, game consoles, a soundbar, the modem that never seems to have a home), and anchor the whole room visually. Get the proportions wrong and even an expensive TV can look awkward - perched on a console that's too narrow, or dwarfed by one that's too bulky for an apartment living room. This guide walks through sizing, materials and placement so you can shop for a TV unit with confidence rather than guesswork.

Match Your TV Unit Width to Your Screen Size

The most common sizing mistake is buying a unit that's narrower than the television that sits on it. As a rule of thumb, your TV unit should be at least as wide as your screen, and ideally 20-40cm wider in total (10-20cm of overhang on each side) so the TV doesn't look like it's about to topple off the edges. Here's how that translates for the screen sizes most common in Australian living rooms:

• 55-inch TV - screen width around 122cm, so look for a unit at least 140-160cm wide.
• 65-inch TV - screen width around 144cm, so look for a unit at least 160-180cm wide.
• 75-inch TV - screen width around 166cm, so look for a unit at least 180-200cm wide.
• 85-inch TV - screen width around 188cm, so look for a unit at least 200-220cm wide.

Screen sizes are always measured on the diagonal rather than the width, which is where a lot of the confusion comes from when comparing specs online - screen size measurement conventions are worth understanding before you shop. If your room is on the smaller side, a wall-mounted or floating TV unit that's slightly narrower than the screen can still work well, since the wall itself (not the console) is doing the visual job of "framing" the TV.

How Far Should You Sit? Viewing Distance Basics

Sizing your TV unit isn't just about the console - it's tied to how far your sofa sits from the screen. With modern 4K televisions, most people are comfortable sitting somewhere between 1.5 and 2.5 times the screen's diagonal measurement. In practical terms, that's roughly 2-3.3 metres for a 65-inch TV, 2.3-3.8 metres for a 75-inch TV, and 2.6-4.3 metres for an 85-inch TV. If your living or media room is narrow, it's often better to size down the TV (and the unit beneath it) rather than sit closer than is comfortable for extended viewing.

Choosing a Material: Marble, Glass, Stainless Steel or Timber

The material and base of your TV unit affects both the look of your living room furniture and how practical it is day to day:

• Marble-top units with a stainless steel base bring a glamorous, hotel-lobby feel and pair beautifully with gold or silver hardware elsewhere in the room. Marble is heat- and scratch-resistant but can chip on sharp corner impacts, so it suits households without small children constantly climbing on furniture.
• Tempered glass tops give a sleek, low-profile look that works well in compact or modern apartments, since the glass "disappears" visually and doesn't add bulk to the room. The trade-off is that glass shows dust and fingerprints more readily and needs a quick wipe-down more often.
• Timber or engineered wood units with storage are the most practical option for families - closed cabinets and drawers hide cables, remotes and the ever-growing pile of streaming devices completely out of sight. Timber is generally the most affordable of the three and adds warmth to a room that has a lot of stone, marble or glass elsewhere.
• Wall-mounted "floating" units in any of the above materials free up floor space entirely, which is a genuine advantage in smaller Sydney apartments and rentals where every square metre of floor counts.

Storage and Cable Management

Before you buy, count what actually needs to live under or beside the television: a streaming box, a games console, a Foxtel or Fetch box, a soundbar, and often a router. A soundbar in particular needs either an open shelf in front of the TV unit or a specific cut-out, since sitting it on a high shelf or inside a closed cabinet will muffle the sound and block the remote sensor. Units with at least one open shelf plus a closed cabinet or drawer tend to be the most liveable long-term, because open gear stays accessible while cables and chargers get hidden away. Look for a cable management hole at the back if you want to keep the whole setup tidy against the wall.

Height and Placement

For most standard sofas (seat height around 40-45cm), the centre of the TV screen sits most comfortably at eye level when seated, which usually works out to a TV unit height of around 40-55cm off the floor. If you're mounting the TV on the wall above a lower console rather than sitting it directly on top, aim to keep the screen centre in that same eye-level band rather than mounting it higher "for the look" - a TV mounted too high is one of the most common causes of neck strain in a home theatre setup. Leave at least 5-10cm of clearance above the unit's cabinet top for ventilation if the TV will sit directly on it, particularly with older LED or plasma-style units that run warmer.

Styling It With the Rest of the Room

A TV unit rarely stands alone - it usually needs to visually work with a coffee table in front of the sofa and, in open-plan living areas, a console table nearby in the entry or hallway. Matching metal finishes (all gold, or all stainless steel/silver) across the TV unit, coffee table and console table is the easiest way to make separate pieces feel like one considered scheme, even when they're bought at different times. If you're furnishing a living room from scratch, it's worth checking our new arrivals regularly, since TV units, coffee tables and console tables are often released in matching collections with the same marble veining or base finish.

Final Thoughts

The right TV unit comes down to three checks: is it wide enough for your screen (with a little overhang either side), does it have the right mix of open and closed storage for your devices, and does its material and finish fit the rest of the room. Get those three things right and the TV unit stops being an afterthought and starts doing real work as a piece of furniture in its own right.