Mona Ives I would suggest you store the media components across the room in another single entertainment console. Utilize RF (radio frequency) so that your remote does not have to be pointed at the coponents for them to work.

havarocky Interesting idea. I hadn't thought about that. I wonder if the verizon fios box comes with RF builtin. Otherwise, I am sure I could find an adapter.

Mint Design You can paint the wall with silver screen paint and use a projector. You may not even need a tv. I believe you can have your cable tv run directly to the projector as well as your xbox 360 or apple tv for streaming video. I am not an av specialist but my clients are having this sort of thing done and we plan to do the same shortly....whenever I have time to devote to my own home..it is like the cobbler whose children have no shoes! LOL! Any av specialists out there?

JAN MOYER Put the tv over the mantel. Put ALL components in a closet, or in any storage piece you want and it need NOT be near the tv. The I.R repeater takes care of that. The cable box can even go in the basement! Call a sound tech/electrician. You will need him in any case! I don't know what you mean when you say "tower".... newer tv's have speakers built in.

jwbarry I like the suggestion about hiding the components in a cabinet and using the RF for the controls.

lilyw Check out Seura, they have mirrors that change to TVs: http://www.seura.com/product/premier/

Joe Gates Construction, Inc. Recessing the TV into the wall is a good option and you may have room to do so. It would take a hole in the wall the determine, but looks so much sleeker than plopping a flat screen on the wall. You could also cover it with a sliding door or art piece when not in use.

JAN MOYER Flat screens have gotten so thin and sleek ... I am rather over the fact they are a part of daily life, and generally exposed all the time. We have been through the costly hide and seek, the armoires, pocket doors, built-ins, cubbies over a fireplace, "hidden" in book shelves.....and what have we learned? Television/technology keeps on evolving. Don't make a permanent and expensive alteration, to suit that which will LIKELY change yet again. Put it out there and enjoy. It's just a tv. And they are everywhere. Life isn't very formal these days; decorate for how you live!

havarocky Thanks everyone for the feedback....keep 'em coming. Just to re-iterate, my main issue is not with exposing the tv (though those mirror tvs are super cool). My problem is where to hide the components. By tower I had meant a cabinet/bookshelf to store the components. I see all these gorgeous family room pics online and wonder where others have put the cable box (at a minimum) and then other items like blueray/dvd etc. Thanks again for the comments.

glorfred With your tv wall mounted above the fireplace, perhaps you could utilize some shelving (with doors or screened to prevent reprogramming by small fingers) under the windows. You might be able to create a wrap around custom look to incorporate your fireplace. Wires could be buried in the wall. I've seen this done and it actually turned out nicely.

havarocky @glorfred - do you have any pictures to describe the shelves you are talking about. Would love ideas on how to incorporate shelves into the the fireplace....maybe even little benches to look out the window on top of these shelves/benches?

havarocky @glorfred - do you have any pictures to describe the shelves you are talking about. Would love ideas on how to incorporate shelves into the the fireplace....maybe even little benches to look out the window on top of these shelves/benches?

pattikite I dislike TVs over the fireplace. They are in competition with one another. Look at me, look at me. No!, look at me! Does your tv absolutely have to be in this room?

glorfred I will try to find some pictures. But you are on the right track...window seats would be awesome!

JAN MOYER Is it a slow news day? Show the rest of the room, and the furniture! Happy to recommend a cabinet to store the "box and dvd"... call the tech man/electrician, and show him where you will locate that. It really is that simple, and don't make a simple thing hard. Components will be hidden from sticky fingers, the tv will be in the best location for the room, and you can move on to bigger more important things.

valarie395 Your picture doesn't show your corners, but we had the same problem in our living room. We purchased a corner tv component stand and that worked out great. I dont know how that would work with your seating plan, but it might be worth a try.

Ladesic & Scott Builders I would recommend using a newer thin flat screen and have a carpenter make a nice picture frame for it. When the news or whatever you watch in bed isn't on you can program the TV to display a variety of art or family portraits on the screen. It will look like what you turned it into, A work of art.

havarocky I'm uploading 3 pics with floor plans with images of the house's main floor. We do not take occupancy of the house for a few months so this is the current owner's furniture set. We are in the market for new furniture that is family room friendly but our style is similar to that in the pictures.

We know we can put the tv in the corner as the current owners, but we find the viewing distance for the tv to be quite far. Also with toddler and a newborn we need wall space for toys, swings, bouncy chairs and stuff and think that the far wall (adjacent to the entranceway) is the best placement for these things ( though it does bother me that you will walk into the house and see toys right away. But it's the reality for us)

We can consider other layouts for couch so that the tv is not above the fireplace, but we are stumped. We dont want to put our couch back to the fireplace.

So ideas welcome!

JAN MOYER You do have another spot! Float the sofa perpendicular to hearth to define living from dining area. Put the tv flat on the shared powder room wall. Buy a shallow cabinet considerably wider than the television to support the tv, and hold components, and kid junk. Opposite the sofa, you will have room for a comfy chair/ ottoman or even two chairs. This will avoid a visual "wall" near the entry. Your living room is twelve feet in width, so a slightly shorter sofa , less bulky would be best. You will have a nice view of both tv and fire, and it will keep the living area from feeling as a hallway.

summilux low height cabinets for audio equipment under both windows. You can have them made with glass doors to address the kids issue. The TV can go on the wall above the fireplace. If you're up for drywall alterations, by making a recessed opening you can put some of the cables behind the drywall. If you want to hook up the TV to external speakers, it may be worth the mess. Yes, there are wireless speakers, but the sound quality compared to cable connection is not there yet.

etr111 We moved into a new home just a few months ago and had the very same situation. We weren't crazy about the TV over the fireplace either, but it was really our only option. The home is new construction and the builder had already installed a conduit over the fireplace that ran into the adjacent master bedroom where we have our media closet. We had a tech install the TV and HDMI cables (one to cable box and one to the BluRay) and a RF component. They programmed everything to work with our cable remote. No wires or components in the room. We had another contractor (friend) frame out the area above the fireplace so it wouldn't just look like another TV hung on the wall (it's basically the focal point of our great room). Here is a photo before the TV was installed (sorry, it's the only photo I have right now - though happy to send one of the finished product).

havarocky @janmoyer - i did a mockup of what I think you are describing. Please see attached and confirm?

havarocky @etr111 - thanks for sharing. would love to see the finished product. I see that the wall is very similar to ours with the windows on either side of the fireplace. Ours also is a newish construction (but we are not the first owners). The wiring for TV also is above the fireplace as well.

JAN MOYER Hi havarocky. Listen, even just the sofa and ONE chair and ottoman, and a large round coffee table (no sharp corners) You have an infant and a toddler. Don't clutter the place with too many small storage pieces, and find a home for coats other than the front hall closet. I think you will need that for toys, books, toddler stuff. This is a wide open space, and your challenge is not the tv. It is how to live in it with very small children, and not trip over the inevitable kiddie stuff.When you add a rug to the living area... make it large enough, so all seating fits on it. You can do amazing things with broadloom, made just the area rug size you want... lots of great stuff out there. Think crawling babies.....

pinkmama Hi, we have pretty much the same set up in our living room. We hung the tv over the fireplace and we have components on another wall entirely. We hired someone to wire the tv to the components on the other wall. It wasn't cheap (around $600) but it was worth it to not have wires and components exposed. Good luck!

JAN MOYER ps.... that spot where they have the gigantic plasma tv is a good wall for a tall storage piece. Use it for toy clutter !

mamadoots If you don't want to see the TV when you aren't watching it, build a frame around it and hang shutters , small doors, or something similar on the frame (think window frame). The shutters can be opened and closed when needed. If done right, this can look like a really cool piece of artwork.

nancymckinnis I have the same dilemma - can electrician move wires/etc. or do you need a special audio/visual person?

Theresa's Interiors I like Jan's solution, however, depending on the intensity of light from the window there will be glare, which can be controlled by your wood blinds. If you choose to have cabinets under the window, which I like also, there is a mechanical device that is a scissor lift fitted in the cabinet, it can be controlled with a remote, and can lift up and down. A solution depending on the dimensions under the window for the size of your existing tv or new. If you use the cabinets for your components, storage and seating, frame the tv surround, install flat cabinet doors and have someone come in and paint the fronts of the doors artistically, a scene, a phrase, etc. One drawback is to physically open the doors when viewing, and we are so spoiled....This was done in our bedroom over the fireplace, and it totally disappeared which was the goal, but... "good exercise" when already in bed and decided to watch tv. So, either way, you will have to get up to close the blinds or open the cabinets, or let the scissor lift do the work. Your cabinet man will be able to provide the lift and install, if you go that route. Fun decisions!!

Theresa's Interiors Another thought is to build out from window to window a cabinet that houses, collections, childrens toys, (hidden), books? etc. this will really make it all organized and disappear, think ahead, of what storage needs you will have as your family grows.

valarie395 I agree about floating the furniture. Your room is plenty big to do that. It will help with freeing up wall space also. Then the corner idea might just work.

pinkmama We used an audio/visual company to do the wiring and to hang the tv.

nancymckinnis Thank you

miacometlady I would build a boxed seat' under each window that you can put a cushion on top and shelving underneath for the componants. I had 4 under four myself so i know what it is like to try to child proof your home. A good carpenter good build doors that open and recess back into the unit so you do not have to worry about sharp edges of doors. The kids will like looking out the window (although nose juice is inevitable). Also put the child locks on the window that do not allow them to open them more than you want.

havarocky @miacometlady - our dog also would appreciate the window seat!

bellman I put my tv on the wall and components in a near by closet and ran the wires under the floor behind the walls. They have remote controls that work thru walls. Anyway that is what I did and it works fine and leaves me with valuable floor space that would otherwise be taken up by components.

jackake Seating in two locations. The window for one place to enjoy the fireplace and then the sectional for the TV area. I am sure the chairs could be pulled up when extra seating is needed.

barbkool CORRECTION:The box seats on both sides, or one side, . Install the bottom of box seat on one side with the controls, THE OTHER SIDE WITH COMPONENTS. You can use glass, smoke, others, doors of choice to close from kids., The remote is helpful in comfort with this set up, it is simple and easy. You could put your tv inside the wall or get flat screen: on the left wall from the couch area, put tv there and put couches facing that on the other side of fire place, you have both views. Use that wall for more than chairs. You coul d also make two sections of space in that area, it look large, turning some couches different views. Use a room divider for certain area if possible. Use shelves over fireplace for other needs. Work with it. I see it now. Barb in Oceanside.