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I really don't watch television in the kitchen and our family room is not visable from the kitchen (I love the separation and wouldn't have it any other way). And believe me, there is no other place to put the family room television other than over the fireplace. Since we like to watch television occasionally in the family room and our current television-over-the-fireplace placement works fine for us, that is all we care about - we are content with the arrangement and nothing needs to be fixed or changed. I don't want a console for the television - I think they are big and bulky and take up needed seating space (this is why I like flatscreens) - never would I have a console again.
Our lives are not, nor have ever been, centered around the television - we go days without watching it. We have a flat screen in our master (rarely watched) and another one in the basement and get streaming netflix on our tablet computers.....so a television over the fireplace is not the end of the world for us - mostly just nice when the grandkids come over or we want to watch a movie with friends....family rooms are the perfect places for televisions.
It's interesting that you also do not watch that much TV, which is the same at our house, days without watching it, sometimes weeks, even more so now that we might be watching on streaming instead of at the actual show times. (Don't watch enough to have DVR.) We do watch an occasional movie, but generally not every week. Thus, the rooms we spend time in every day have no TV. We have one TV for the house, and it's not in our bedroom, kitchen or main living space that we use the most often.
Faced with your room as you described, with the original built ins and such which of course I wouldn't want to change either, and sharing your watching habits, I would have looked for another room to use for TV instead. I did qualify that with maybe the house doesn't have any other suitable room. I don't really know what is so obnoxious about stating my thoughts on that, but if you say so. I meant it only to point out that my priority wouldn't be to shoehorn a TV into a room where it would be difficult to place one.
I also thought it was a valid and interesting point that a couple decades ago we didn't have this kind of choice, so wondering what kinds of choices we would have made then made perfect sense to me. Ah well. Perhaps I touched a nerve, sorry.
Maybe obnoxious is the wrong word...maybe ridiculous is the word I was searching for. How completely silly to think that because you don't like a flat screen television over a fireplace in a family room (the most appropriate place in the house to watch telelvision), that you would actually suggest that I not have one in the room at all. As I stated before - this is a situation that doesn't require anyone to "fix" it - it is fine the way it is - we are happy with our flat screen television over our fireplace.....just get over it everyone - there are those of us that like our flatscreens right where they are...honestly, I couldn't care less where you all put your television - do what is best for you and your situation.
I agree. For optimal viewing and to avoid injuries (don't laugh, it can be a repetitive motion issue), art should be hung at the average person's eye level from a standing position and television and computer screens should be placed at the average person's eye level seated. People who look up to watch TV hours at a time, or look down to see a laptop screen for hours at a time will have sore necks eventually.
Yep;if you do not want the flat screen too high as it will gie you the neck ache. I have seen plenty and they are a pian inno time.The only palce its works is in restaruants;bars and rooms where the perosn is watchig form pretty far away.There are site that give you height based o distance from the TV.
I don't want a console for the television - I think they are big and bulky and take up needed seating space (this is why I like flatscreens) - never would I have a console again.
You are missing the point. Nobody is saying you should get a console TV. The point is that if flat screens were never invented, you would have found another location for your TV. In other words, the fireplace can't truly be the only place to put a TV because you would have found another placement if flat screens didn't exist.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cattknap
As I stated before - this is a situation that doesn't require anyone to "fix" it - it is fine the way it is - we are happy with our flat screen television over our fireplace.....just get over it everyone - there are those of us that like our flatscreens right where they are...
Nobody is requiring you to fix it. People are just pointing out that you are chosing it for function, not style, since most people come to this forum for DECORATING advice. A flat screen over a fireplace isn't the most attractive style option. You, yourself, even admitted that you would prefer to have a beautiful picture hanging above your fireplace instead.
Not a fan. I know it's popular, but I don't like it. Or the message it sends. Sometimes, actually frequently, we turn the television off. I don't want it to be such a focal point.
I have art, a mirror that is part of the FLP, and it is surrounded by book shelves. The flat screan is off to the side.
I also don't like craning my neck. Bad placement and it seems as though you are showing off the television.
How completely silly to think that because you don't like a flat screen television over a fireplace in a family room (the most appropriate place in the house to watch telelvision), that you would actually suggest that I not have one in the room at all. As I stated before - this is a situation that doesn't require anyone to "fix" it - it is fine the way it is - we are happy with our flat screen television over our fireplace.....just get over it everyone - there are those of us that like our flatscreens right where they are...honestly, I couldn't care less where you all put your television - do what is best for you and your situation.
There is, at least from where I'm sitting, a difference between suggesting you should change what you have done in your house (which I didn't do) and presenting what I would have done in that scenario. Someone else may be faced with a similar scenario and wondering how they might proceed. Obviously if having the TV in the room is a priority, then there may be no other choice, but my own first choice would have been to look elsewhere for TV viewing. I may have even come back to your conclusion myself if there were no other suitable room in the house for the TV.
I am sorry if treating your room like a hypothetical feels like a personal attack or trying to "fix" your situation. Again that is not what the purpose of my remarks was. I was simply using your scenario as a jumping off point for further discussion on the idea of TVs above fireplaces. The purpose certainly is not to invalidate your happiness with your current setup. How could I do that if you're happy?
I am on the fence about this issue. I have seen this done well and badly. My neighbors have theirs over the fireplace but have the cords running along the top of mantel and down the side. Also they have a small tv so it doesn't look good to me. Then I have seen it done where a lot of care and effort was placed in the installation. My husband wants to put our tv over the fireplace. I have not agreed but in saying that, the placement of the tv over the fireplace would be better. Our family room is not that large and after just adding a sofa and a chair, the tv in the corner kind of interferes with the french door that leads out to the patio. I just don't know how I would like the tv being so high up. I rarely watch tv, its more of my husband's thing so I might cave at some point. I dunno. Haven't pulled the trigger yet.
You are missing the point. Nobody is saying you should get a console TV. The point is that if flat screens were never invented, you would have found another location for your TV. In other words, the fireplace can't truly be the only place to put a TV because you would have found another placement if flat screens didn't exist.
Some rooms are not designed to perfection. So to assume that a room was originally built to include a logical spot for a console or some other piece of furniture that would facilitate tasteful furniture placement and optimum television viewing is not valid. I know this to be true because I live in such a house. Maybe the original owners watched television in the big walk-out basement family room and never intended to have a television in the upstairs family room - who knows?
As stated before, the room is beautiful and full of art and lovely things - and as I said, a flat black retangle over the fireplace does not negate how nice the room is. Many of you have a problem with the fireplace/tv combo - we do not.
My BIL has the flat screen over the fireplace, the wires are hidden in the wall, but to me the TV is ridiculously large, (he is a bit of a show off,) It is actually wider than the fireplace and is level with the window frames..... It just does not look good. It is just way to large.
Now in the house he had lived in before, when the flat screens first came out, the TV was smaller than the width of the mantel shelf thing, and looked proportionate to the fireplace, it didn't overpower the fireplace and the room was bigger so it looked OK.
My decorating logic tells me that anything that would be over a fireplace be it a Flat screen, mirror or picture, the width should be smaller than the width of the fireplace, right???? Like is shouldn't extend the width of the fireplace....I hope I explained that right.
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