Thanks for the replies. Right now my husband has done some rough sketching but maybe with some sweet talk I can get him to do better sketches so that I can post pics of them to give a better idea. I will definitely post pics. Especially now that I know people are interested.
As for the support of the unit. The wall that the unit is going in front of is concrete so we are planning on achoring it to the wall itself by drilling and placing achoring bolts.