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Home Decorating Design Dilemma living room

How to decorate around cold air return.

3 years ago

I would like suggestions for hiding the cold air return on the wall in my great room.

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Comments (6)

ginger bennett
3 years ago
I think adding large pieces of art and adding more interest to the room would make the vent less noticeable. Its unfortunate that the mirror over the fireplace doubles the distraction but if you decorate the room, you are less likely to notice the vent.
decoenthusiaste
3 years ago
Surely with that lounge style sectional, you intend to have TV here. You appear to have a lot of free floor space, so I think a rearrangement of the seating is first on the agenda. May we see the entry and the wall opposite the one with the vent? What is on the left side of the fireplace? Get the furniture lined out first and you'll begin to solve your vent dilemma.
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So I guess the unit is in the attic and the supply and return vents are both in the ceiling and you want basically the same result as a basement install just flip flopped. The return area per cavity is not spectacular at around 50sq inches which is enough return area to roughly compensate for one 6" duct supply. The best results will come from having return air in every room other than kitchens and bathrooms which doesn't sound like an option. The next best is what you are working to achieve. The closer the return is to the center of the living area the better. You can build it out into the corner of a room or closet or right in a room and use the bumped out area for pictures or put a couple corner shelves on the sides. there are a lot of ways to make it look like it wasn't an afterthought. The garage would work and be much better than what you have now but you might look into an option to add two somewhat smaller returns using some other area of the house to make the air actually circulate to multiple areas. Be creative. As far as sealing the cavity it is a pain going in with duct mastic on a brush and different sized sticks to brush it in the corners through the small entrance hole to seal the cavity without panning it with metal. This is one other case of using your imagination and what you have on hand including using your hand. The good news is if you build the duct/ducts out you will have access to seal as you build. The comfort level with one return like you are planning will increase greatly and two in different areas would make it a lot more even. There is so much that depends on the size of the home and layout. A rather square home with one central return will have a whole different comfort level than a longer ranch style.
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An HRV is required by code on all new homes in the US. This is for ventilation air. I have one, works great. See link. Costs less than solar. An ERV will recover moisture too as well as heat. If you do not have a sealed combustion furnace (2 pipes, intake & exhaust) and have a gravity furnace, a combustion air duct is required to supply air for the furnace burner. You can create a "cold air trap" by placing a box on the floor and dropping the combustion air duct into the box (No top). You may also be able to connect the Combustion air duct to the return duct to the furnace (Check code). Attach duct at least 10'0" away from the furnace soas not to crack the heat exchanger with the cold air. Connecting to the return also creates a slight positive pressure in the house reducing infiltration/drafts. Stay Warm! Dan Martyn Here is a link that might be useful: Broan HRV
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Yes this house is pretty strange. Its an old farmhouse and when they put in the oil furnace (which we don't use) they just sort of slapped the registers here and there. We basically just stopped the cold air with batting and sealed it up with duck tape (neon pink). its already made quite a difference.
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Thanks for the reply. Sorry about the confusion. The old cold air return, is on the other side of the stud in the same left to right position but lower as it's in the stairs going down to the first floor. As I read up a bit on this, I found someone with the opinion that these supply & returns are like blood vessels, & should be the same. That seemed to make sense to me, however I did purchase a larger return register & could go with a larger hole. I guess I don't know for sure if same size is better or a little larger. Thanks again!
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happyleg
3 years ago
Yes pull the couch out to the under other end of the rug So it lines up with the fireplace more and the big window Input the TV on the vent wall
monthend8
Original Author
3 years ago
I was hoping to keep the couch on that side and put a tv opposite the couch. Here are pictures of the rest of the room. The blue tape on the wall is to show me what an 85” tv would look like.

Entryway
decoenthusiaste
3 years ago
What kind of TV: 1080p or 4K ultra? The distance you should sit from them for optimal viewing ranges from 7.1' to 17.7'. Once you've made that determination, I would consider turning the sectional so that the corner seat aligns with the vent on your wall, but the whole sofa may be pulled out quite a way from the wall, depending on the TV type and your measurements. Angle the lounge chair left of the fireplace by the window. Then with the vent and a gallery, paint the vent black or another main color from the art you will be using, and frame it in a frame that is similar to your other framed pieces. Make it appear as a piece of art. Center the entire gallery 5' above the floor and make sure the vent is surrounded by other pieces so it doesn't stick out. You can cover a great part of the wall if you have enough art to do so. Keeping the arrangement random will help the vent to disappear into the gallery. To fill the rest of the area, I would put a very large ficus in front of the window right of the fireplace. Here's an illustration. See the horizontal piece in a black frame just above the blue and white piece over the sofa. That would be your vent; painted and perhaps with a faux mat painted around it and then the frame around it. The more mixed your subject matter is, the less likely that the vent will stick out so much.

My Houzz: 1891 Queen Anne Home with a View · More Info
happyleg
3 years ago
The couch must be lined by fp. The best wall is vent wall. There us no interference with traffic of people.

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