It depends. What style fireplace? What is your style of furnishings? How large is the firebox? Will there be a hearth? How large is the room and how far away from the TV will there be comfortable seating?

This is when floor plans and pictures would really help.

48 inches is too low for a mantle in general and really low if you're lucky enough to have 10 ft ceilings. My fireplace mantle is 54 inches from the floor and I have 8 ft ceilings with a 50 inch TV above.

Why would you say it’s too low? Do you enjoy the height of your tv or does it seem too high?

Also here is the floor plan:

It seems low (out of scale) with 10 ft ceilings. It also seems from the drawings that you will have a 16 inch high hearth. That doesn't leave much space between the hearth and the mantel. I have no issues with the TV at the current height. The more room you have between the TV and the couch the higher the TV can go without neck strain. It seems you have a nice large space.

This is our set up. Height is perfect but we do have it mounted on an arm that tilts and comes out etc. We never shift it though.

Things I would do differently are to make sure the fireplace insert is the same width or longer as the tv. We messed this up and didn’t realize until too far in to change it.

We also have nine foot ceilings and the mantel height is exactly 48 inches from the floor.

Our couch is 12.5 feet from the TV.

This looks great AS. What size tv is that? I think the use of space works well there granted we will have a foot more above.

Maybe I will ask them for the mantel to be 54” from the floor.

Design girl - yes we have a nice open floor plan so we will be able to set the couches back as far as needed. My concern is just the look of a too highly mounted tv. But it seems if I am in the 48-60” range from floor to mantel I should be able to make it work. Thanks.

TV is 55”

Chase Dawson - Whatever works for you. The photos posted above look very out of scale to my eye. IMO, Mantle too low and not enough room separating the hearth and the mantle. In that scenario, the TV dominates the space, not the fireplace. What does your architect recommend?

There are building code regulations about the minimum distance between the top of the firebox and the mantel. And the depth of the mantel can also enter into it. Ask your builder where he plans to place the mantel.

I think if we had a wider fireplace insert it would make a big difference overall. That is something I stated was a misstep already.

Our TV is recessed in alcove. The mantel and surrounding materials are approved for fireplace. It’s true there was significant work needed to have this meet code.

I actually can’t imagine the mantel any higher as it is already at my chest height when I am near it.

It really is so personal. The only thing I would shift is our fireplace insert size.

Yes exactly. The bottom should be bigger. The tv should be smaller. This was our fault as we went off script from the design plan and bought a bigger tv. Oops Perhaps next new build...or not!

It still works. Last question. Is that mantel 48” from the blond looking hardwood or that white shelf area? Hard for me to imagine it being only 4 feet from the actual floor but could be perspective of the picture.

48” from top of mantel to floor.

Thank you. This is good info.