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We love our beautiful wood mantle and matching built-in bookshelves and cabinets that fill a wall in our family room - very cozy and stately looking. We use our fireplace often during the winter - at least twice a week and often most of the day/evening....on a cold winter's day/evening, a fire in the fireplace is very appreciated...our family room becomes the perfect place to read, play games, relax and visit....the crackling fire is mesmerizing and really sets a nice mood.
^THIS^ is why homes are still designed around fire places. We love the IDEA of a family gathered around the hearth, whether or not it actually happens. While most families still gather around the TV, as a society, I don't think we want to admit the reality of the situation.
I have a FP in the LR, and rarely use it. But I still love it as a focal point, and for the character that it gives the room. There's no TV in there - it's in the den.
OP -- many people DO feel the way you do, and there ARE houses out there that meet your requirements. I hope you find one!
By that, I mean that, sure, the furniture is arranged to see the TV, but I usually try and put the TV on a wall that you don't see immediately when you walk into a room. I typically try and arrange things so that the TV is on the same wall you walk through to get into the room, so that you see everything else (all the furnishings and decor) and you only see the TV once you have entered the room and turned around.
To me, that's ideal; however, it's not reality in so many homes (like mine!) where you're at mercy of where the cable comes into the room, the length of the walls, windows, etc. And of course the cable entry can be moved, but that's not always practical, either.
I think I'd rather have a fireplace and no TV! LOL I can just watch TV from my laptop.
My newly built home had an optional corner fireplace (gas) with an alcove above it for the TV. The configuration looked great in the model. Once we were living here we decided it was flat uncomfortable looking up at the TV. We were getting sore necks watching TV.
As the fireplace and TV are in a corner I will be placing an entertainment center against the wall to the left of it and placing the TV at eye level. I may add shelves in the TV alcove and cover it with some type of simple door arrangement. I have also considered some large piece of wall art or mirror and simply cover the alcove. Someone has suggested a custom sized fabric type piece of wall art.
Please offer suggestion how to cover/hide this 45W x 40H alcove.
To me, that's ideal; however, it's not reality in so many homes (like mine!) where you're at mercy of where the cable comes into the room, the length of the walls, windows, etc. And of course the cable entry can be moved, but that's not always practical, either.
I think I'd rather have a fireplace and no TV! LOL I can just watch TV from my laptop.
Completely understand!
And our downstairs we definitely had to move it but we were lucky enough to be able to utilize the crawl space.
Here in the city of Chicago we have much smaller spaces. I often see condos with no suitable place to put a large TV at all.
Until 20 years ago or so, most people had a 25" inch max TV. If space was limited you had a 19". You didn't need six feet of floor space for the TV.
And to weigh in on the fireplace issue --- when we had a woodburning fireplace we rarely used it. Now we have a gas fireplace and use it all the time in winter. Easy when you just have to flip a switch.
When we were looking for homes, we checked the pictures online carefully to see if the living room was functional. For us, this meant that the tv would not have to go above the fireplace or in a window. I don't even like the alcoves next to a fireplace that are designed for media - that means you are trapped into that size for your furniture and electronics in the future.
The home we chose has a fireplace set between two windows on the wall you see when you first enter the room. The television is put on the wall to the left. Our furniture arrangement allows us to see the tv and the fireplace. I think it was a very well-designed living space.
When we were looking for homes, we checked the pictures online carefully to see if the living room was functional. For us, this meant that the tv would not have to go above the fireplace or in a window. I don't even like the alcoves next to a fireplace that are designed for media - that means you are trapped into that size for your furniture and electronics in the future.
That's one reason why I prefer older homes -- lots of walls, and the only alcove or niche will be an old one for the telephone.
See like the above picture in the post above mine , that fireplace is ugly, it takes up wall space that is needed, there is a socket above it, which looks awful, but it probably there for a TV to be plugged, yet where would the cables go.
I guess to each his own but that's real stone, it's not manufactured. I thinks it's gorgeous.
As for the recepatacle as I mentioned this is 1950's house so it's not for a TV. It's for lamps, clock etc. If you hung a painting over the mantle you use it illuminate it. If you wanted to run cable you could but it wouldn't be easy but I would never put a TV over a fireplace anyway.
And of course the cable entry can be moved, but that's not always practical, either.
That's something I don't need to worry about, I can put it anywhere I want. The TV/entertainemnt sytem is networked as well so I can watch home videos, pictures or play my tunes over the stereo.
Fact is that the average American watches five hours TV per day.
Not sure where you get this statistic. We limit our kids screen time to 1 hour per day and 3 hours per weekend day (usually, there are exceptions). The use most of that playing games or surfing the internet. That does not include watching a movie or tv show with us at bedtime. Most of our friends have similar restrictions. However I suppose if you have nine people who watch one hour a day, and one person who watched 20 hours a day, you could come up with an average close to 5 hours per person.
Probably most people never use their fireplace. Fireplaces are not even an efficient way to heat a house.
I know no one who never uses their fireplace. Some people use them rarely. Some people use them a lot. Where we live oyu can smell woodsmoke 24/7 during the winter. Someone is always using one. We use ours a lot. Define efficient? Our fireplaces heat out house for free. Seems pretty efficient to me.
I think its better to accept who you are and just build your house around that lifestyle then to cater to a lifestyle you imagine but don't practice.
We frequently sit near a fireplace and read, or mess with a computer, or sleep, pet a dog or cat etc. It is one of the positive things about winter. TVs are ugly no make that UGLY. We have one in one parlor. It is hidden inside a pretty antique armoire. We try to keep the doors to the armoire closed. The other parlor does not have one. There is a big ugly (UGLY) projection TV in the game room in the basement and one in our bedroom. The one in our bedroom gets the most use. We often watch a movie with the kids before going to bed.
When I am in the house I use the TV a lot. And even if I did want to sit around and read or have a conversation with my wife, a TV on the wall would not stop me. I have not used a fireplace in over ten years. And certainly don't feel its necessary to have a conversation or read a book.
A TV on the wall woudl not stop you, but it is UGLY and it may distract you. In our relationship, we find that it IS necessary to have conversations. reading a book is not often necessary, but neither is watching TV. Reading a book is more entertaining because the TV cannot show you anything near what your imagination can and books do not have commercials. Plus with a book you control when you start and stop, you can take breaks and not miss anything and you stop and have a conversation without missing anything. Plus books do not wake anyone else up or keep them awake.
Here in the city of Chicago we have much smaller spaces. I often see condos with no suitable place to put a large TV at all. When I look at many real estate listings there is no TV anywhere in the house because their is not a suitable spot to put one.
You really do not need a large TV. That is just compensation. With a large TV you sit further away, with a small tv you sit closer. Otherwise there really is not difference. If you frequently have more than four people watching tv at once it may be impractical to sit closer so then you would need a large TV. IT cracks me up when people put a huge 72" TV in a small living room. It certainly expresses their life priority well. But why do they get such a big TV? Bigger does not make it better. In fact if it is too big and the room too small it is difficult to sit far enough away to view it properly.
When I look at real estate listings first thing I do is figure out how I can place a sofa and a chair or two and a 50 inch TV. And I want that TV room to be my main living room and really want it off the kitchen. Here in the city you are really unlikely to have more than one living room anyways, but if it were some suburban house with multiple spaces I insist that it be the main living space. If I can't make those basics work then the house is out.
Wow. I woudl never want a 50 inch tv in my livingroom unless it was well hidden. While a small TV is ugly, a giant one is big ugly. You have to have a good sized room to get far enough away from that to view it comfortably. I will stick with a small TV and spend the extra money on a trampoline, or a bicycle, or a canoe. . . . maybe a horse. For several years we simply evicted the TVs from ourhouse and had none. Those were great years. We played games a lot, read, did more outside, had little parties, made up songs and stories, kids did puppet shows, we listened to music and danced a lot, sometimes we even just watched the fish in the aquarium and made up stories about them. I woudl go back to that again in an instant, however iI am not sure the fmaily would agree to it, especially the no Xbox problem.
Am I obsessed with TV? No, not at all. I probably watch significantly less than the average american and don't even have cable. Yet I realize there is no chance I am not having a TV, so I am going to have to put it somewhere and would prefer it not to look goofy. And I realize that since I am only spending 5 or 6 free hours in the house, a good portion of that is in front of the TV and I want my house to make that work.
Kind of sounds like it from my perspective, but that is a matter of subjective evaluation. Try getting rid of your TV for a month or two. Just put it in storage. If you hate it, after a month or two, bring it back out, but set a reasonably long time to try it so you do not pull it out while you are still in withdrawal. Commit to at least four weeks and stick to it no matter what. Best way to have it not look goofy is to hide it. A friend of mine builds custom cabinets with an electric lift that brings the TV up from the base of the cabinet when you want to watch it and it sinks down when not in use. That is pretty neat but pricey.
But the end result that I often see is that the TV is mounted in a way that does not fit into the room at all and ends up looking dumb.
TV are ugly. unless you hide them, there is not way to include them so the do not look dumb. Maybe you could build the TV into a wall and hide it behind a painting or a scrim.
This is because builder and buyer failed to incorporate a TV spot into the floorplan. Or there is a second room and the family spends the majority of the time there, ignoring the much more costly and prominent primary living space. Both of those end results seem dumb to me. I would much rather build a room around sofa and TV and then see if I can fit in a fireplace.
Our rooms center around the fireplaces. The various couches and chairs are set up for conversation and mostly orient ont he fireplace. The TV in the one parlor is off to the side. Most people in our family lie on the floor when watching TV anyway. WE mostly use the furniture when reading or socializing.
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