Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The fireplace in most living/family rooms is a focal point for the design of the room. Its taste specific, but I think having a TV over it is ugly. I'd rather it be off the side, maybe in the built-in where it can be tucked away or hidden from view.
If you have a fireplace tucked away and hidden from view, why have a fireplace at all? Unless it is wood burning, then you can heat the house without gas. If you have a gas fireplace, just turn your heater on.
Or are you talking about the TV tucked away and hidden from view. If that's the case, how are you supposed to watch the TV?
To the OP, I don't mind TV's above the fireplace. For some, this leaves extra room for a loveseat or something, where normally you would have the entertainment center or TV stand. Of course, for those that have their TV above a fireplace and the couch 5 feet away, no wonder your necks are starting to hurt. You want to be comfortable when you watch TV, not wear a neck brace.
I was referring to placing the TV off to the side, perhaps in a built-in cabinet. You watch TV by opening the panel that covers the TV and turning it on.
Last edited by aus1ander; 01-13-2015 at 07:13 PM..
I did it... My seating is at least 5 feet from the TV. The TV is large 54 inches and my fireplace mantle is rather low... Maybe 4 feet from ground. My tv takes up all the empty space above my fireplace.
I like it. Never had a problem with neck strain. That's like saying that if you glance your eyes down to the dashboard of your car for speedometer versus head up windshield display. The difference in level is do inconsequential.
I personally hate TVs over fireplaces for the functional reasons (bad for the TV, tough on the neck to watch it). It also places the focus of the room on an ugly TV instead of your furniture and decorations. We purposely placed our furniture in an orientation that draws your eyes to the fireplace (and an art piece above the fireplace) and away from the TV, which is off to the side.
I agree with this. I personally don't like the look of it and the majority of fireplace mantles are at a level that would make it awkward to watch. Many new homes I've looked at recently have little to no wall space for a television, and show the TV above the fireplace. For me, it's a big negative when looking at homes.
A week ago my husband and I moved our furniture around in the family room to see how it would feel to look up at a TV above the fireplace. It just didnt work. I could tell we were going to end up with neck aches. I personally don't care for the look but have seen it done well (frame around the TV or something that slides over it to hide it when not in use). Our family room is fairly small and we were trying to drum up an idea of adding an extra chair in the room. We thought putting the TV over the fireplace might work. I love having a fireplace but if I would have built this house, I would have had the fireplace installed in the living room freeing up the largest wall in the family room for a really nice built-in entertainment center. I think we are just going to have to live with the fact we can only fit a sofa and one chair in our family room.
I'm not a fan aesthetically (think it looks very, Very bad), especially when you realize that it's a building fad based on the styles of older homes where the fireplace was the center-place of the room. But I have a 1930's built home, my options are over the fireplace, blocking a door or blocking a window (seriously, I have 4 door, 2 of which are double/fench, and 6 full sized windows in this room), so I opted for over the fireplace. The height is bad, but with a downward-tilting mount, it's not "crick in the neck" bad.
My fireplace is decorative (originally a coal burner), so no help on the heat issue just yet. Plans are to put a gas insert in there Sometime, but we can just turn it off should things get too warm.
If you have Any other option for the TV, I'd take it. Use the fireplace as a center-point and put the TV in a different room, or in a different Section of that room.
1920s house here but same problem. I have my TV right now sitting on my sewing table. We do have a wall mount and considered over the fireplace BUT with plaster walls............WATCH OUT BELOW!!!!
If the fireplace is the focal point of the room, which is often the case, then putting the TV above the mantle/hearth creates a big gaping black hole. Not a good look or feel.
If at all possible, find another place.
I wouldn't do it. I don't think it looks nice and is not in a realistic position for viewing. For those who wear "progressive lenses", it could be a problem having to look upward, since the bottom portion of the lenses are a reading level, not distance.
My TV is in a unit directly across the room at eye-level, so it is easy to view. When comes time for something new, I will still want to have one at that level, on one of those low cabinets, where the TV is situated on top. The idea that a TV was constructed to be mounted upon a wall is poor, and is especially inappropriate in connected housing where the sound can radiate to other units.
1920s house here but same problem. I have my TV right now sitting on my sewing table. We do have a wall mount and considered over the fireplace BUT with plaster walls............WATCH OUT BELOW!!!!
Lol, I hear you there. I probably wouldn't have done it had the mount not already been installed. As it was, I removed another one (bedroom, yuck!) and repaired the plaster.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kcam213
That's like saying that if you glance your eyes down to the dashboard of your car for speedometer versus head up windshield display. The difference in level is do inconsequential.
Sorry, but a glance down (using eye movement only) vs an extended time looking above horizon are 2 Very different things. If one were to look above horizon All the time, day in and day out, it would be no big deal.. natural. But as it is, we humans don't do that and it's Not natural, thus pain, discomfort, unpleasantness.
This I disagree. It frees up space to put more furniture and decorations
actually not really,
for it is the fireplace that is basically substituting where the TV would go.
Before flat screens came out, we all had a place for our televisions, no one ever had a problem. But now fireplaces for some reason are the rage in newer homes, and they are really where the TV would go....so now that we have flat screens and no console furniture TV's, someone came up with the idea of the TV over the FP.
While is does give it a place, it does look ugly in most homes and is not really comfortbale in most homes.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
