Floating Shelf / Hidden Drawer in progress

I've been playing with different ideas on how to mount my blu-ray player / home theater amp. Since I mounted the TV on a nice floating arm, I thought doing something similar for the electronics would be nice. The problem is, where do you put all of the cables, power strips, etc? I don't have the option of putting everything inside of the wall cavity since the wall I'm mounting it to is brick.

After seeing some nice floating shelves for books, I thought a neat solution would be to construct a floating shelf, and conceal all the unsightly bits within the floating shelf. To provide access to the storage space, I used some ball bearing drawer slides to create a "inside-out" drawer. The "cabinet" moves, and the blu-ray player will sit on top. The power strips and cables will remain concealed inside of the stationary "drawer" which will be rigidly bolted to the wall. My work in progress is pictured below. Note I do not yet have the front of the shelf attached. I'll sand, prime and paint it once complete to match the fireplace mantle color. It should be rock solid when complete. Every joint is both glued and screwed or nailed together. The interior structural components (in particular the joint between the wall plate and the drawer sides) are all screwed and glued. The visible cosmetic joints are nailed and glued.

Materials used:

• 3/4" oak veneer plywood for exterior shelf components
• 3/4" sanded plywood for interior drawer components
• 14" ball bearing drawer slides
• misc. screws, finish nails, and wood glue

Floating shelf as closed (front is not yet attached)

Floating Shelf as open

The ball bearing slides are quite nice and reasonably priced. $11 or so at Home Depot. There is very little slop in them- I think they might be suitable for use in a home CNC machine as inexpensive ways.