Where to put the TV in the family room?

11 years ago

Hi all, I need your help! We just bought a new house and below is a picture of our new family room. I was wondering if anyone could suggest where to put our 52" TV. The wall you see adjacent to the fireplace faces a bay window. It'd be a little weird to place couches up against the bay window. We thought maybe we'd lower the mantle and mount the TV on the wall, then build shelves in the wall to put the electronics. What do you think? Any ideas?

Looking into the family room:

Looking out of the family room, facing the other way:

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Comments (9)

mvastian
11 years ago
Either what you said, or puting a wardrobe that will hide the entertainment center when not in use in the corner between the fireplace and the bay window. From what I see, the couch cannot face any other way.

Maria in Chios, Greece
mvastian
11 years ago
...another thought. The mantel is a bit too high and I suspect the corner might be too tight for a wardrobe, so I would suggest what you can see on the link below

Here is a link that might be useful: a lower mantel with shelves on both sides
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I have one over a fireplace, and I love it. the rest of that wall is windows, so it was the only spot. My fireplace is gas, and there are clear guidlines about the clearence from combustibles and the like. There are heat concerns. It's commonly stated that you can't have the TV on when the temp there is 95 degrees. Easy for me to monitor, I just keep the fireplace remote there, sometimes programed to turn off the fire when the area hits that. If the fireplace is woodburning, controling the heat could be a problem and you might simply have to turn the tv off sometimes. I suspect that the 95 is a purely random number, though. Lots of homes get that hot, and we haven't heard many reports in the media about flat screens failing from it. To me, watching the fire or watching the tv are different activities that I rarely want to do at the same time. I love having the fire on for conversation, reading, playing a game, and those are times I'd rather have the TV off anyway. We do burn the fire to take the chill off the room on movie nights, but at a pretty low level. As to veiwing angle: it's about 5 ft above the floor, and the seating is about 12 feet back. It seems a little odd if you are used to a conventional set just inches off the floor, but you quickly adapt. It isn't at all uncomfortable for me or any of my family [so far as anyone has ever mentioned], and the kids and dogs don't block the screen everytime they walk by. Overall, I think its a good solution for many rooms. Just be sure to plan for power and signal up there: you don't want a lot of visible wires.
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I understand wanting the TV in that room. I don't know if it is a finished room yet, but if it is a gas fireplace (minimalistic) the TV would be fine above it. If it is a wood burning fireplace, I would not put a TV above it. Then it should go in the to the right or in the corner. Because technology changes so fast, I would not build any cabinets to fit it. Just decide on a TV and buy a media center console to hold it. We had a 20 X 24 foot room, and we put a TV in the fireplace spot (over it in your case), had a couch directly facing the fireplace, a loveseat across the top, and two chairs on the lower edge. An L sectional could work nicely too. Enjoy your TV from the kitchen too!
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IMO the wall where the setional is in the plan is where the TV has to go We need the new floor plan done to scale and yes the measurements of the sectional too Are you open to getting new furniture ? from the drawing the sectional in too big for the space .It also shows a different sectional that what you have so a to scale floor plan all meaurements clearly marked and the sizes of all the furniture you have .
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The current sofa looks comfy. I understand your thinking about the wall, but imo the tv really doesn’t need its own big wall... or its own big house... :) If possible, I’d just wall mount the tv on the small wall, with some type of floating tv console/shelf. You could mount the tv with an adjustable arm, if that feature might also be useful for you - and if the tv wouldn’t present an obstacle being slightly extended at times in that spot. And you could do something else with your current console/area. In this first view, I used plug-in wall sconces:
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camlan
11 years ago
What are the issues with where the TV is now?

Before you mount the TV over the fireplace, make sure that you have a comfortable viewing angle from the sectional. If the TV is too high or the sofa isn't in a good place, you may have to tilt your head up to watch TV--if you are watching a long movie, that can get tiring.

I kind of like the TV where it is now. You have a "focal wall" instead of a focal point, so to speak. Depending on the amount of room in that corner, I'd look for a corner TV stand that would make the best use of the space.

Right now, with the TV in the corner, everyone sitting on the sectional has a decent view of the screen. If you keep the sectional where it is and mount the TV over the fireplace, at least half of the sectional will be at right angles to the screen and people sitting there would have to turn their heads awkwardly to see it. Not an issue if you only ever have two people watching TV at a time. More of an issue if several people use that room to watch TV on a daily basis.
LuAnn_in_PA
11 years ago
"What are the issues with where the TV is now? "

Same thought I had....

That corner works well with all the seats of the sectional.
Wendy Schmitz
Original Author
11 years ago
This is the previous owner's stuff you see in the pictures. My TV is 52", so it will not fit in a corner the way the TV in the picture is. To give you some perspective, I believe that TV is about 45". I may be able to mount the TV above the fireplace without lowering the mantle, but it will be a tight fit. However I think it will make the room look clustered because that wall will be packed floor to ceiling.

I like mvastian's suggestion on pinterest. It's very nice looking. :) Wonder how much it will cost to reno the room to look like that.
camlan
11 years ago
Citress, don't completely rule out putting the TV in that corner, if having it there would make the room work for you. My brother had a 48" TV on a corner stand. He upgraded it recently (in time for the Super Bowl) to a 60" screen. He had to pull the corner stand out a bit from the corner, but it still looks fine and the TV fits easily. He uses the speakers to hide the gaps between the stand and the walls, but you could put plants there or just leave it alone. If you are going to do a built-in anyway, you could have a corner shelving unit built that would hold the TV and assorted electronics.

However, if you really just don't want the TV in the corner, you can just ignore me.
graywings123
11 years ago
Depending on the size of the room and your furniture, you may be able to place the TV on the long wall where the sofa is and float the furniture - backs facing the bay window but leaving room to walk behind them.

You might want to post this on the Home Decorating forum. There are lots of good furniture arrangers over there. And could you post a photo of your furniture so we can see what you are working with?
sherwoodva
11 years ago
Citress, if you plan to use your fireplace, it might not be good for the TV to be above it. I like the corner idea as well.
bulldinkie
11 years ago
We had ours above mantle we couldnt stand it any longer your neck ached,So we went from a 42 to 70"tv,I had to reaarange my room totally but like it now.
My suggestion would be swing the sectional around facing big wall,put tv on a stand.Would that work?

Where to put the TV in the family room?

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mvastian

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Where to put the TV in the family room?

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