The receiver eye for the remote signals is on the front, so if it's not facing you it MAY have trouble receiving remote signals. As far as 'interaction with the TV' all it needs is a cable from one to the other, so it may have to be longer, but other than that you can put it anywhere. Will the hearth stick out into the room so there are side walls on it? If so you could hang it vertically on the side wall, so the front of the unit faces the room. Not invisible but out of the way.

Hello LoLauren-Hope you post photos of the finished project!I love a fireplace flanked by bookcases also.Beveled glass cabinets in a simple design would be gorgeous, but if you are trying to hide stored items then you could do wood cabinet doors with a darker antiqued glaze for interest as you have alot of wood. You didn't mention what your style is -white painted wood, rustic, traditional? Pamelak

If you do put the equipment in a cabinet or closet you will need a way of controlling them. Furnlite makes an infared repeater that controls six pieces of equipment. The infared eye is very small. Only requires a 1/2" hole. I don't think they show on their website yet. Sligh Furniture, http://www.sligh.com/sligh.php, uses them on their entertainment pieces. Here is a link that might be useful: FurnLite

That's great you have some help. I was thinking about your office today because I am working on mine and we have a few similarities as far as size and furniture - except I don't have all the great closet space you have! I think once you have the additional furniture in there you can play with where the desk should be. The good thing is you can shuffle it around as much as you need to until you find a look that feels right. If you don't already have some, you should pick up some of those sliders that you place under furniture to help move it around - they make it really easy for one person to move things around to try various configurations. I have several sets and they have been invaluable! In some rooms, we lived with those darn sliders under our furniture for weeks as we tried, lived with, and then changed up where certain pieces of furniture went.