Everyone is going to come along and tell you that this is terrible and hurts the neck and is bad for viewing, etc.

I do not agree. We have all of our TVs above our fireplaces and I don't ever, ever notice that they are high. We have tilt-down mechanisms on all three TVs but don't even use them because we don't have a problem with the TVs at the height they are at. We watch both sitting down and laying down and it doesn't bother us either way.

Here are ours so you can see the height we are dealing with:

The TV in our living room is above the fireplace. It is a non-issue, and I would do it all over again. If the room you are looking at is small, it might be an issue.... If it is large enough so that the viewing couch is back a ways, it's fine.

I agree. It doesn't bother me at all. I was a little nervous about it because so many people make such a big deal about it. I don't understand.

We just had ours mounted above the fireplace because it allows for the best furniture arrangement for the living room (and there is no family room or den). It is fine. I don't watch television much but dh says it is quite comfortable for him.

We had a company that specializes in doing this come and do ours so that there are no exposed wires. We plan to add the cover thing that makes it look like a mirror and a frame in the future. Our installer did tell us that the only problem he has ever run into is installing televisions over fireplaces with no mantel. Ours does not have a mantel, but we are not currently using the fireplace. We intend to have a custom mantel made sometime realtively soon.

We have ours over the fireplace. The bottom of the tv is 56 inches from the floor. The sofa sits about 10 feet back from the tv. The height has never been a problem for any of us and I can't imagine losing another wall to a tv cabinet or console, It really was the best placement for us.

Totally Confused

I have my tv over the fireplace too.

It was initially installed too high. We lowered it a bit, and also angled it downward - and it is now very comfortable for viewing. It is amazing how much a difference of just a few inches made, but the downward angle was really key for us.

I'm probably going to be branded as a heretic or something, but I LOVE it over the fireplace. It frees up floor space and and the entire room feels more open and flows better, in my space.

I now have a tv over my fireplace. I hesitated to do this because of the height and ergonomics. After living with it a short time, this became a non-issue and we are all used to it.

I think as long as your seating is 5 feet away or more from the wall with tv, it is fine. If your seating is too close to the tv and you are looking up, this is not ideal.

I designed a kitchen / great room combo as we have no family room or other home theatre. The tv in our great room is our main tv. When designing this space, because I did not want the tv above the mantle, I considered having tv built into my kitchen island. Decided that would be horrible. Next, my DH designed a ridiculous slanted wall which would protrude from one wall of our coat closet to hold the tv. It was the elephant in the design. I worked with an interior designer to find another solution, but no matter what we did, it was an eyesore. In the end, we decided the tv would go over the fireplace. No regrets.

Similiarly, we have an awkward shaped living room wherein the only place for a tv is over the fireplace or in the corner. I held off on buying the living room tv until I lived with the over the FP tv in the great room for a while. Now, I have no doubt that when I buy a tv for the living room, it will be over the fireplace, with nice trim as shown in some of the pics above. This allows for the best seating placement for the room. With the tv in the corner, the furniture placement is less than ideal. I've decided I will no longer let a tv dictate the furniture placement in a room.

Our isn't, we designed a large built-in on one wall in our family room that houses the TV. However, it wasn't because of the viewing height issue...it was a design issue for me. Even though I am not old (lol) I guess I am "old school" and traditional...no way in he!! was I going to stick a big ol TV on my pretty overmantle! :) When you walk in my front door...you have a direct view through to the family room and the FP is centered on that back wall between sets of French doors. It just wouldn't have looked right, IMO. We placed my dd's oil portrait up there.

I have mine over the fireplace too. We are not tv people so we went on the small side and it does not bother my neck at all. I loved freeing up the floor space as well. It use to be in a big unit and the only place for it to view before plasmas was blocking a window. I am so happy for skinny TVs:)!

As someone who has argued against it for years, I am glad to know that so many of you don't have a problem with the ergonomics.

So I will shut up about the height of the screen, and restrict my advice to aesthetics - and on those grounds I still resist unless the firebox is low, the scheme simple and modern, and the big black rectangle visually attractive on the wall.

I just don't like seeing the TV over a fireplace -- just seems wrong to me. Our bedroom TV is wall mounted in front of a seating area and it gets to my neck after a while. It would be better a few inches lower. But I think you learn to live what you have.

In a perfect world I would much prefer a lovely piece of art, but we do not live in a perfect world or homes{{gwi:807}} so do what is best and what appeals most to you with what you have.

It certainly looks aestheticly fine in beagle's traditionally styled home:). Now mine is just sitting and not hung and I know the scale is off but I do not place a priority on big tvs and I have not found the right lamps or sconces yet and I know I need to add height to the mantel, so no, mine is not pretty now but it will be one day I believe.

Edited for I think I was a little snarky and I did not mean to be.

This post was edited by roarah on Mon, Apr 1, 13 at 11:28

Not everybody is addicted to tv and while we do watch it, I don't like seeing a tv when it isn't on. We have ours in a built in armoire and that's where it's going to stay. If I ever build another home, the tv will still remain hidden.
We do have room for a large wall tv if I wanted to go that route but choose not to.
The over the fireplace thing will never happen in my home, but to each his own.
I want more time to read, not watch.

Ours is over the fireplace in the great room, but the room is rather large so it's not an issue. DD2 has hers over her FP, and even though her room is much smaller, her mantel is not as high so it's fine.

I never turn the TV on, so I wanted it covered when not in use. Once DH is home, the panels are open until he goes to bed. lol I think I came up with a good solution that works well, is easy to open/close and fits in with the look of our home. Most that come to visit don't even realize the TV is back there unless we show them. Two panels are attached (slide to the left) and a single panel slides to the right.

The mantel is approx. 6ft tall.

Here is a link that might be useful: More pictures

Ours is over the mantle and it doesn,t bother us at all. With the way our room is built there just isn,t another place to put it that doesn,t totally screw up the natural flow of the room. I do miss the large oil painting we had up there rather than a black screen but I put more interesting things on the mantle and now I,m used to it.My freind Sues overly large big screen totally dominates her livingroom and thats why I didn,t buy a huge one after seeing hers. But we arent really tv people.

We just did built-ins around/over our fireplace to accommodate our TV. We are in the middle of renovating our entire main floor so pardon the mess, but here are our built-ins with the TV. We LOVE the coziness it creates and have no issues being uncomfortable watching TV this way. We are also planning on putting in a gas insert to avoid any soot from building up on our new white built-ins.

Ours is over the fireplace also. I could not wait to get it put up there. I love it! Ours has a mount that you can tilt downward. I do not have an issue even sitting up close.

*IF* I had a FP I wouldn't hesitate to place my TV above, as DD has her 60" LED there, and it looks great...We really like the look, and there is no issue watching it. That said, not everyone who has a TV prominently displayed is "addicted" to television.

It would be interesting to see how may people here have 60+ inch tvs and are they happy with them. I think so much depends on the home. Ours doesn,t have a family room with a seperate living room. So having something like a huge tv totally dominate the only community living space doesn,t work. I need the space to accomidate kids doing homework, dh doing bills and someone reading or on the computer. Having something with a moving screen take up half of a wall is too distracting for someone doing those other activitys to easily ignore.My home is a 1915 so bedrooms are tiny .

Our TV is 46" and DH wishes it were bigger. I don't. lol The lower level den has a 42" and sits on a chest. It's a tad bigger than I'd like to have sitting out. Other TVs in the house are all hidden.

DD1 has a 60" she loves. I think they are too big.

I want to chime in and say that this is not always ok. My coworker has pretty bad spondylitis and is pausing now to get the TV lowered. He watches a lot of sports.

What a relief to read these responses, I wasn't expecting so many liked TV over fireplaces! I never had a problem with the look of a TV over the fireplace, just the functionality of it. I think it is less distracting up there than on a cabinet where it may stand out more against a blank wall. Placed above a mantel it takes on the role of framed art. Kinda sort of, lol. Over the years I have toned down my dislike of the big black box. I used to do everything I could to hide a TV behind doors but it doesn't bother me as much anymore. May be the thinner depth, not protruding out into the room like they used to. They've become 2-dimensional rather than 3-dimensional. You do give up the ability to decorate the mantel when there's a TV just above it but I can live with that.

Will we ever get to the point where Fireplaces are no longer a feature buyers want in a home? In my city they frown on burning wood, "spare the air days" even forbid it. Many people have gone over to gas. Fireplaces cost so much to build yet serves little purpose other than decoration. Why do we continue to let this little used monstrocity take up so much valuable wall space? They are pretty but with TV's becoming "Smarter" they might just take the place of the fire box one of these days.

I love mine. It's high, but it's also a 55" TV, very thin, and can be angled down (which it is). The width of my room is about 14' or so. You have great sight lines from all of the seating areas without straining your neck (I've posted pictures of them so you can get an idea). (Obviously, you cannot see from the chair next to the fireplace, however.)

I can just about ditto everything Bumble said. I like my tv hidden. While we don't use it alot, I do not like the look of the big black box. The tv in our great room (rarely used) and our master br are both in armoires. I watch the tv in the kitchen more than any (while cooking/cleaning/etc.) and it sits out.

I have to disagree with you on fireplaces Flyingflower. While we are in a moderate climate - I LOVE having a fireplace and sitting in front of a fire. We don't use it alot because of our mild winters. Ours is gas and is wonderful if we happen to have a power outage - we can still get heat from the fireplace. We have also had wood burning. Also, hubby and I neither watch much tv, and would much prefer the ambiance of the fireplace. A cozy evening with a fire and a good book is something I enjoy. Monstrocity? I would never consider our fireplace a monstrocity!! I would never choose tv over a fireplace, but that's me. Others I am sure have different thoughts, and that is fine.

I love what Allison has done with their tv/fireplace. Function plus pretty!

tina

None of ours are over fireplaces because I was able to avoid that setup and prefer to have fireplaces be the definitive focal point. I also hate how televisions look in my house. My tastes are so traditional that tech-y things look out of place to me. DH was adamant that no T.V. be over a fireplace, yet he was also adamant that many of our rooms have T.V.s. Nine of our rooms are set up for T.V.s, which I thought was ludicrous. I suspect it's a "guy thing." The only exposed one is in the gameroom--61" and, as far as I am concerned, ugly as hell, but it's usually the guys who hang out there, so I don't have to confront it that often. I do watch movies in there, though.
Despite my personal proclivities, however, I do see times when a television over a fireplace is a very reasonable solution to design problems. In those instances, and depending upon the rest of the style of the room, I'd prefer they be covered when not in use. (I don't feel this way about kitchen appliances, though, or in sleek, contemporary looking rooms.)

Will we ever get to the point where Fireplaces are no longer a feature buyers want in a home? In my city they frown on burning wood, "spare the air days" even forbid it. Many people have gone over to gas. Fireplaces cost so much to build yet serves little purpose other than decoration. Why do we continue to let this little used monstrosity take up so much valuable wall space?

I so agree with you. I wonder how many people who place their TVs over their fireplaces use the fireplace.

Ours is over the fireplace too, like everyone else who posted. We use the fireplace almost every evening (the cat loves to stare into it), but it is gas, not wood burning. The TV is a 55". It's been up there about 2 years. No height issues. We like it.

I use my fireplace at the same time as the tv too. It is natural gas, and provides some nice heat during our cold winter months in NY.

I chose the tv size in relation to the fireplace - it is the same size as whatever art would need to be, if I had chosen to hang art work up there instead.

Honestly, in a perfect world - a tv over a fireplace wouldn't be my ideal choice either. But it works for me because it gives my room the best flow and so I do love it in my space.

If it's been mentioned in these posts, I've missed it, but we were told by a TV technician that the heat generated by a working fireplace can mess up the delicate electronics in TVs and that often in fine print it will say that the warranty will not apply if the television has been mounted over a fireplace.That was 5 yrs. ago when we were shopping for our big screen TV, so things may be different now.

I absolutely get that sometimes there's no other good spot for it, and I recognize that everyone is entitled to do whatever they like and enjoy in their own home. But I would never put a TV on my fireplace mantel. For me, it would spoil the beauty of the fireplace.

I guess after reading all these posts, it would depend on how you want to use the room. Our tv (55") over our fireplace is used in a functional room. Some people have what I call "non functional" rooms , used more for decoration. If you actually watch tv and don't have a 20 room house, you will probably love it up over the fireplace. It will free up room for other things. Just sayin~

I now live in a house in which the fireplaces were the heat when the house was built - and now only three remain, and none function.

That will be remedied soon, but we will use gas instead of wood. Which is still a slight disappointment, as I love the whole process of bringing in the wood, building the fire, lighting it, feeding it, poking it, and then watching it die down. Well, I like watching DH do those things ... but it's a sacrifice worth making for cleaner air.

The old ways, like gathering around a fire, are often calming and peaceful, and connect us to the house and the people in it. Television does the opposite - and the research bears that out.

I love sitting in my chair by the fire at the end of the day, with a drink or a cup of something, a book in my hand, a cat in my lap, a little Chopin or Miles Davis on the stereo, and my husband on the other side of the hearth in his chair. I can't imagine that pleasure becoming obsolete.

Calling a fireplace a monstrocity is not the right word, that has too much of a negative conotation, implying hideously ugly. Fireplaces can be beautiful and they do add to the aesthtic...other times they are so outdated they detract. I am fine with it in the room just as long as they don't "take over". In my present house its the fireplace that has dictated where furniture and TV can be placed and I don't like that. To make matters worse it is on a diagonal wall which is a problem in itself...don't get me started on those diagonal walls! lol

Not to just pick on fireplaces...I also have issues with windows in the wrong place..or too large/too many. IMO architects don't think enough about furniture placement when they design floorplans.

"I love sitting in my chair by the fire at the end of the day, with a drink or a cup of something, a book in my hand, a cat in my lap, a little Chopin or Miles Davis on the stereo, and my husband on the other side of the hearth in his chair. I can't imagine that pleasure becoming obsolete." Bronnie - I hear you! What a beautiful picture those words paint. I love that myself!

FF - this is funny - but our fireplace is on a diagonal wall - at our request/choice! We had our house built. Chose floorplans and made changes that we wanted. I felt like using the diagonal wall gave me more choices for furniture. Ours has worked out well, although I cannot move my furniture around too many different ways. Windows were very important too (lots of light and bring the outside in!!) - so we are willing to make the adjustments. So many things architects don't think of. We walked through many times in picking the placement of ac/heat duct openings, register, light switches, outlets, etc., etc., etc.!!

If I had my way our fireplace would be repositioned into a non-focal point area. I don't think people really huddle around a fireplace anymore for warmth. We turn our fireplace on in the early morning/off season/during a storm/for ambience -- mostly for a few minutes until the chill is off the house. It's there in case the elec goes out, which, thankfully, it never does for more than a few minutes. I really think (scream at me if you will, but) the TV is the focal point in today's households. We position our comfy furniture around it, we put it in front of our beds; we put it in our kitchens and we put it in our guest rooms and we carry it around with us on our Ipads, etc. I don't want it over my fireplace; I want my fireplace in the background, providing ambience, quiet warmth, an additional place to be -- if you don't want to watch TV.

Thank you, Tinam61.

We rarely burn our gas fireplace. They are wood burning, but we have gas logs. We live in the south.

I guess we are dinosaurs ... we have a big (40-something inches) flat television, but only one, in the den/library, and we do watch it fairly often, but only a few channels, some sports things, and things we get from Apple TV and Netflix. No television in the living room or the bedroom. I would sometimes like a small one in the kitchen, but am not willing to give up the space.

And that's not a value judgement. It's just what works for us.

I refuse to have a tv in any room but the livingroom and dh insisted on putting one in the bedroom when i was preggers and supposed to be on bed rest. It goes months without getting turned on and is hanging above the door at ceiling height. Nothing againt what anyone else does but I don,t want the tv raising my kids . I live on a farm and I want them out playing and when in the house doing crafts and reading as much as possible. I think it makes for a better rounded person. When the kids are in school I don,t even turn the thing on.

I have a working wood burning fireplace that I use to help heat the house during our long cold winters outside of Buffalo, NY. I burn 5 cords of wood every winter.

I do not have my TV over my fireplace, and never would ... I don't ever want my TV to be the focus of any room.

"TV is the focal point in today's households."

Not all of them!

Madeyna - I hear ya on the tv in the bedroom. We didn't have one for years in the bedroom. We usually turn it on when we are getting ready for work. I like it when hubby is traveling or working the occasional night. I am not really afraid, but the
noise is comforting. LOL

My sister's first house had a tv over the fireplace and I found it very uncomfortable to view. I guess it depends on how high, how size of the room and how much it will be used.

But it really comes down to personal preference and if it's okay with you then that is all that matters.

After losing power due to an ice storm for almost a month (it was Spring before we got power back), we decided to remodel and add on a room with a giant woodburning cooking FP. We do gather around the fire on cold days. We even built a rock bench connected to the (corner) FP for extra seating and to get warm.

BTW, a corner FP is the best place for one, it frees up 3 walls for seating areas.

If there is absolutely no place else for a TV, then put it on the mantel. But if you do use the FP, either gas or wood, it's just not right. lol.

I don't know if I'm contributing to air pollution or not living in the country, but nothing compares to wood.

Unless a TV stands out like a sore thumb I don't even notice them in people's homes anymore. Now don't be mad, but what does stand out like a sore thumb is seeing a beautiful FP with no sign of it ever being used. lol

Some fireplaces are deserving of being called a monstrosity. Our old one certainly was. Bellsmom on the kitchen forum enhanced the monster so you can see it better:

We considered putting the TV over the fireplace in the remodel, but we wanted wood burning and the low emissions fireplaces are all quite tall. Also, I didn't feel it would be comfortable for me that high and the hood might block some of the viewing area from the kitchen.

Post remodel we have a tamed fireplace, definitely not a monstrosity:

The new fireplace takes just a small bit at one side of the wall leaving the center to our - horror of horrors! - 60" flat screen TV. We like the size because it makes it easier to read the screen when using it as an internet browser. The large size is also very nice when viewing from the kitchen which is over 20' from the screen:

The new fireplace is an EPA Phase II wood burning fireplace. It runs efficiently and produces minimal particulates. Convection air flow around the firebox heats the room nicely and the intake air control allows control of how quickly the fuel burns.

We live in an area with cool winters - enough that the additional warmth in the evening is nice since we usually keep our thermostats low. It heats the family room and kitchen nicely and the room is still comfy in the morning. Because it is EPA phase II, it's legal to use on most "No Burn" days. So far we haven't had to buy wood. Our yard and tree trimmers of neighbor's trees have supplied enough.

I don't mind tvs mounted over fireplaces in photos. But I don't think it would look good in my house.
We also enjoy gathering around the wood burning fireplace on cold evenings.

Our TV is over the fireplace. The fireplace is used regularly and wood burning. It's been set up that way for 6 years and no problems for our 50" with heat. We have a corner fireplace and I personally don't care for it with the way the rest of the room is laid out. If we had the fireplace as the focal point then we got aches in our neck from trying to watch TV. If the TV was the focal point we didn't get to enjoy the pretty fire. We compromised and they both became the focal point.

We don't watch a huge amount of TV but the reality of it is we do watch it and it's not worth hiding it to me.

I'd post a picture but I can't seem to find one.

I had the same concern about mounting my TV about my fireplace. We lived for 2-3 years in front of the fireplace over concerns about viewing angle etc and I think I've posted here and other places look for solutions.

In the end we used the TV mount from www.dynamicmounting.com to get it so we could pull it down to address the viewing angle problem and put it up to make it look good.

Here are a few pictures

The shipping company dinged mine up and the company was quick to help fix it, and the room feels a lot bigger now so I'm quite pleased with it.

Hope that helps

I have a giant mirror above my fireplace which made the only place to mount the TV way up near the ceiling. This is obviously not the optimal place for viewing so I set out on a long search for a solution to find a TV mount that would let me lower the screen to eye level when viewing but raise back up to it's home on the wall when not in use. Finally, after about a month of searching, I also found the The Down and Out Swivel Mount from Dynamic Mounting http://www.dynamicmounting.com/swivelmount.php. This was exactly what I was looking for. Check it out. If you have a similar issue you'll be happy you found this product.

@onedog3cats - Do you have plans for your fireplace mantel that you could share or where to start? Our mantel is exactly like that with doors on each side and not much room to work with. I saw photos of your mantel in another post and loved it. Thanks!