Any electronics geeks out there care to give a lady a hand?

I'm buying my first house as a single person, and will be moving in during the month of April. I need some help setting up media and computer things for the place, and I'm hoping some of you TAM folks can tell me if a.) what I want is even possible, and if so, b.) what I need and how to do it. I don't currently have a TV or cable/satellite. I have a desktop computer, and really only watch things on DVD or sometimes Hulu, YouTube, etc. My music is also all stored on my computer. This is what I'm looking for: I'd like to get a larger monitor (current one is 19") to put in the living room, and use as both a TV and a monitor. My thought is to put the desktop CPU in the LR, and disguise it as much as possible. To use it more as a media player/server, but still have it connected to the web via wireless network in my house. I know I'd need to get some type of converter to be able to watch my local TV channels -- can I do that, and does it need to be done through a computer, or can it be directly to the monitor? I do work part of my day at home, so the desktop I have already has pretty new Blu-ray drive in it. That's been replaced since I moved out. Ex built this computer, so I don't know all of the specs. It is getting full of DS' Minecraft downloads, but I'll have to make other arrangements for that, lol. Getting rid of all of Ex's music and his photos will also free up a lot of space. :smthumbup: Before I moved out, we had a set-up where we could send stuff from the computer to a second monitor using a ... my mind goes blank here...I don't remember what it was called, but I can picture it. It was made by Western Digital, and it sat on the coffee table, lol. It's been almost 2 years, but IIRC, it allowed us to watch DVD's from our stand-alone DVD player, or something on a USB, or something sent from online or stored on the computer hard drive. We used Windows Media Center to switch between. Would I need something like that? Would I be able to broadcast to speakers in other parts of the house with something like this? Aesthetics are also an issue, as I want to decorate in 50-60's Mid-century modern. I'd like to camouflage the electronics as much as possible. So, there is the main puzzle I'm trying to figure out. How to reuse parts of what I already have, but do more with them, without coughing up too much money. Any help you all can give (explained as plainly as possible, and with links to what you're describing) would be hugely appreciated!! Ex would be able to figure this out in a half hour, but well, I don't want to trouble him. haha.

Put the internet to work for you. via Personal Recipe 2629979