Homeowners tune in to TVs throughout the house

COURTESY PHOTOS throughout the house Aquavision Televisions

Television reception just keeps getting better.

Once an ordinary staple, the television has reached a zenith in household prominence. In the living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom — people want their TV. The count adds up, easily 10 or more sets in spacious homes. Kristina Backhaus, designer and showcase manager of the Paul Erwin Design Studio at the International Design Center in Estero, recalls a Virginia client who had a TV in every room, including the closet.

Some homeowners even want a TV on the refrigerator. Some side-by-side models come with a 13-inch television next to the ice dispenser on the freezer door.

Certainly, the television's presence in the kitchen has grown. The Clive Christian showroom in the IDC features an Aquavision television in its kitchen display. "It's got a real wow factor," the showrooms's Jacki Ellis says about the waterproof television designed to rest flush with a surface.

Made in the United Kingdom, the Aquavision ranges from 10½ inches, which is a rare model, to 40 inches, Ellis says. The 17-inch model can cost from $2,500 to $3,000 and is the standard kitchen variety, suitable for installation in cupboards.

If it's not a single 17-inch TV in the kitchen, then homeowners mount one or two small screens, similar to those in waiting rooms, for viewing from counter seating.

Its waterproof screen makes the Aquavision ideal for bathroom installations, too. A similar television in quality and appearance is the Envirovision, Ellis says, adding, "It's always good to price more than one."

Although the TV now is a feature throughout the house, many homeowners are not so forthright to display it front-and-center in living areas such as the great room, designer Backhaus says. "Everyone's trying to get more and more creative on how to hide the TV and yet make it easy to access," she says. "People are very connected these days to their medium. They're no longer just putting it on a stand."

An option of disguise is a faux front using a sliding door, Backhaus says. A Cape Coral client is planning to position two side-by-side paintings over the TV on the wall in her vacation condo. One painting will slide to the right, the other to the left, for TV viewing.

Bookshelves, too, conceal television sets. "There's this new mechanism where you can actually have the TV swivel around," Backhaus says, revealing the TV at viewing times and the bookshelf at non-viewing periods.

In the bedroom, rather than a mounted television on the wall, the set can be concealed in an armoire at the foot of the bed and pop up with the touch of a button.

Cherie Clark of Cherie Clark Interiors, LLC, in Cape Coral says she framed a TV in the Cape Harbour vacation rental office to make it more attractive.