I like the flat panel TV above the mantle.
In my opinion, it is much better that way because you can tilt it slightly down for viewing comfortably from a couch (where you relax sitting back rather than crouching over to view the screen) while others who are standing in the room have it at eye level.

It works great and I love mine. I have a large firplace with a Mantle about 4.5 feet high. The 50" LG Plasma stand was too wide for the narrow 9" mantle so I had to come up with a better way to place it. I wanted to hang it to tilt over the fireplace , but I had a mirror built into the casework and did not want to drill or break the mirror. A sales guy at a local TV store gave me a great idea.
I bought some 1" x 10" oak boards at a local lumber store that I cut and screwed 3 of them vertically over the mirror, screwing into the studs and using the mirror trim as spacers. Then measured the bracket to determine where it should be mounted so that the TV covered the mirror and marked the drill holes on the boards. I then removed the boards and drilled the holes and used 1.5" machine screws with large washers coming through the holes from the back. Once I rescrewed the boards to the wall, I hung the bracket over the protruding screws and used washers and lockwashers, then the nuts. This worked very well and is very solid.
Once I hung the TV itself, I bought some black plexiglass at a local acrylic store and had 6" x 60" pieces cut. I used double stick foam tape on the mirror trim and a utility knife to cut the plexiglass to the correct lengths. Looks perfect and created a channel behind lower trim for cables. The mantle protects the TV from the heat of fireplace and it is very comfortable to watch. Good Luck

I am going to put a 50" Plasma above my fireplace. It's really the only spot that makes sense in the family room.
The room is 20' x 14' and the far corner of the room is a 8' diag wall. That whole wall is brick with the firebox in the middle.
I have been reading peoples posts and complaining about "looking up" I don't think it will be a big deal. I frequent bars all the time to watch games and such. they always have tv's up on the wall. I never heard anyone complain.

we have a 50" plasma over our fireplace in our family room and love it we have had no problems with neck pain with regular sofas but we are now in the process of buying sectional reclining seating because this is our ultimate comfy room

They did this on This Old House years ago. I think it was Tom Silver's (one of the guys from the show) house that caught fire and had severe damage. They basically redid the entire home. He had the television over a fire place and enclosed it with wood doors that folded or slid back can't remember which. He also had the speakers put into the mantle and covered with a mesh that was the same color as the mantle. It came out fantastic. Made me want to do it. This was all back when flat screens just came out. I'm sure the story is in their archives somewhere. If I ever get a flat screen I plan to have it recessed and covered. I don't have the tv I have now out in the open. I hate that.

These are photos of what we chose to design and do after research, debate, and consultation. We chose not to have a TV of any kind in our small living room - only in the family room off the kitchen, so we weren't interested in having to disguise it. Initially we were just going to have a granite surround on the fireplace and mount the TV (we chose a 46"), but thought the brackets and side of the TV would be too visible from the kitchen which looks right into the family room. We had a reputable local audio company work with us to design a custom built-in and addressed pre wiring for the TV, cable, etc, to another set of cabinets in the kitchen (we didnt want deep cabs that were necessary to hold the components in the family room), protecting the TV from heat, viewing, etc. The shelves on either side of the fireplace will be covered with custom doors...not sure how it will work just yet.

Lucy that looks very nice. We are looking to do something very similar but are debating how to design the fireplace. Could you tell me how high it is to the top of your mantle? Also how big is that room. Our room will be 19x26. I just don't want the TV to be too high.

Thanks,
CB

I'm going to hang a new 50" over the fireplace.

I took my wood mantle apart this weekend, removed the board that goes across it below the shelf and above the fireplace, then put the shelf up above the fireplace without the board. The mantle shelf is about 12" lower now and it looks great still. I now can hang the TV a foot lower. I measured it and it will be 8" higher then my current TV in the Armour next to the fireplace (blocking my window). So it shouldn't be that big of a difference.

My only issue is, I can't find the studs behind the wall (above the fireplace). I went from left to right with stud finder, no luck. Someone suggested today I go up and down as the studs might go across above the fireplace.

QUESTION: Anyone know what to use to run the wires through the wall next to a fireplace? I mean do I need a insulated tube to leave in the wall so the wires dont get hot? Do I just leave the bare wires in there? Anyone know?

Thanks, TheGymKid

We are going to remove a section of the brick above the fireplace,frame it out for the tv and then cover the brick w/ drywall/paint (so that the tv is somewhat recessed). Our contractor will use 3" pvc pipe to channel the wires to an adjacent cabinet we're having installed. The botton cabinet will be 21" deep to accomodate components and will have doors that will close when not in use. We will also use the mounts that allow the tv to tilt & swivel. We are working with our appliance dealer on installation, etc. Also, we are not doing a plasma tv, just an LCD.

This is a look in the Fall Pottery Barn Magazine. I agree with other people about not hiding your TV. Most everyone has one so why hide it. But I do love, love the look of the framed screen. I am not sure what screen size small, med, and lg fit so you would have to do research.

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/p8176/index.cfm?pkey=cfurabstvs

anyone have any guesses as to how large that family room is in the picture. am redoing a family room myself which is 21x16. would like to do the same look as that, but am thinking that room is a little wider than 16feet.

Lucy7280: I think this is going to look great when completed. Can you share some updated photo's when done?

Thanks in advance.

Someone in the home decorating forum had a great idea for sliding screens installed over her flatscreen TV. The result looks like a sculpture installed over the fireplace

Years ago I hung a gold framed mirror over my fireplace and it DID discolor.

Right now I have my plasma hung over another TV (hubby's idea, NOT mine)

Before

42in plasma

50in plasma

Sorry 'toni_princess' BUT it appears you do not have any friends...who would sue their co-worker, family member or so called friend for a sore neck from watching TV?! Please, was this a JAWS marathon? I don't and I am sure no one else believes this.

As for eye level installation; how many people set at 'eye level' when attending a movie at your local theater, there may only be a couple rows of seats at 'eye level' and it would have to be at a newer theater, anyone ever been to a drive-in movie? NO one there is eye level.

Sound; ear level... come on; again rarely are speakers at 'ear level'; if you have a decent sound system there will be no problems, who has all the speakers in their home mounted at 'ear level'? Hope all your friends, family and visitors are all the same height.

Fireplace mounting, as mentioned by many, just check the radiating temperature from behind the TV and make sure the flue is operating correctly, as well as having your chimney cleaned to insure proper air flow.

With today's tilting mounts, if you have a focal point fireplace in the same room as your TV, it makes perfect sense to mount it there. Also as mentioned, you can have a continuous slide show of your favorite pictures, music videos or actually watch sports and movies at the perfect postion; everyones view will be unobstructed.

I would avoid using a 'shadow box' application, where the TV is recessed into the wall, unless you are very handy at installing ventilation at the top of the box (similar to a bath room vent)and small fan(s) below to move the heat. Plasma TVs generate a large amount of heat that requires adequate ventilation.

catiecupcake; SWEET SETUP!
I can see you have a real man, a man's man; just kidding, I myself had a similar setup with actually 2 smaller TVs on top in our game room; "pictures ON A picture" is much better than those small PIPs and even the 'picture by picture' mode, 3 games or different sports at a time, THAT'S What I'm talking about! My wife says at least I'm not the Sports Bar'.

We've mounted our TV over our fireplace. The height seems right for watching from a recliner or the way we both slouch on our couch....The fireplace is a fake one...We got an articulated mount off eBay for about $100 that tilts up and down and also swings side to side. The construction of the mount's articulated mechanism allows the tv to be pulled straight out several inches which gives access to the back for the cables. For the picture, I slid the power strip out from behind the TV. Everything but the cable box plugs into it to allow us to shut down the 'vampire loads' while not watching. The blasted cable box takes too long to restart when powered off to let us do it too. BTW, can someone tell me how to include a pix on my post? I have one to include but can't figure out how to attach it...Thanks, Gary.

we are in the process of replacing fireplace with gas direct vent and would like to hang flat screen tv over fireplace. i had noted there were quite a few entries about this from the winter and there was a lot of interest and comments on a design for screening submitted by allison. i am now unable to find. i was not able to view any of the actual photos. can anyone help?

A couple more ideas:

{{gwi:1538127}}

{{gwi:1538130}}

Randita,
Thanks for posting the pictures. Can you tell where you got the first picture. I love this idea.

Thanks

kendeb, I got the picture from the photo gallery at donaldgardner.com. He is a home designer and has a photo gallery of finished homes on his website as well as house plans you can purchase. The photo gallery is sorted by rooms and I believe that picture was under the Great Room category. I like the idea very much as well and will probably do something similar in the new home we will be building in a few years (retirement).

We have what you would call a 'small house' or bungalow out here in California. Great house, but limited areas to put a new TV.

After looking at some of the projects on this forum, we worked with a local finishing contractor to build a combination mantle & bookcase to surround our fireplace. With the mantle building up to a decent size, any heat from the fireplace below will deflect away from the new TV mounted above. Then again...who can still burn wood now with air restrictions in winter?

Long story short, this setup is great. The TV is a Sony Bravia 40" TV. More than that, the hidden wires and raised-panel bookcases look amazing. With the TV sitting about 48" off the ground, nobody has to crane their necks up too far either. So far, so good.

Once I figure out how to post photos, I have the perfect before and after shots to show how this turned out.

Pedar

Here is the photo of our completed mantle, bookcases, cabinets and TV. We love it!

Our TV is in the living room, and we wanted it concealed. It's a 37" LCD and is in the same cabinet that we had our 32" CRT TV in...It's more important to me to have it in a cabinet than it is to have a huge TV, so this is just fine. Also, the audio is good enough out of the TV that I don't feel the need to have speakers all over the living room, which was also a criteria for us.

-Roger

My neighbor has her's over the fire place and you can see the picture just fine, but I hate that thing. Just watching for 30 minutes and my neck is sore. She doesn't mind because she lays back for neck support and ends up going to sleep. LOL I wanted mine the same level that we have watched for years. I don't like all the stacks on each side, so I bought a long TV stand with drawers and doors to hide the DVD player and my Nintendo.

Npsacto... How high is your TV from the floor? We are trying to figure out the lowest possible height for the TV over the fireplace and I think yours looks good. Thanks!

How should I handle the cables/wires from the back of the TV into the area above the fireplace and back out the side of fireplace to the myriad of audio/video boxes. Should I put in some kind of fireproof pipe? wrap them in insulation?

lucy, could you email me your pics. directly? I would like to show them to my carpenter. Thanks Tom. ( yomaz3@aol.com )

Just took this pic. minutes ago from my recliner, in our media room, would not want Tv's any lower as we view them kicked back in our recliners, try looking down holding head chin tucked in...talk about a crick in the neck...it all depends on what you sit on to view TV. our Tv in master Br. is high as is Tv in guest room to be viewed from bed.

Here's the pic.:

I am concerned with the TV being overheated from the rear venting pipe for a heat and glow direct vent gas fireplace. I am looking to recess the tv (LED/LCD or Plasma) over my fireplace. Has anyone had issues regarding the tv overheating or melting?

I want to mount a new 55" LED over my fireplace. I've read every post here. I have brick wall with, from left to right, a window with seating area, fireplace, door to back yard (the door is in drywall, the rest is brick). The idea: tilt mount for TV. Problems: too heavy for mount and TV to hang in brick and where do all those wires go, where do the components go (dvd, hd box, sound system, etc)? Thought of building boxes on the seating area below the window to house components, run wires. Suggestion so far: find the studs behind the brick above the fireplace, drill into them for the support required to hold the TV and mount. Make sure not to go cheap on the mount. Use a wireless HD router for all the equipment. Now the only wire to worry about is the one that supplies electricity. So, here's the real issue, after checking for heating of the TV from the fireplace, finding the money to do all this... there seems to be no freakin' way to find the studs behind the brick above the fireplace. Grrrrr.... Suggestions?

We're looking to install a flat panel TV in a recess above our fireplace and wanted to conceal it behind a picture when not in use.

We already have a large framed picture that would be perfect but can't find a reasonably priced slide system.

Motorized with a remote would be ideal but motorized with a wall switch would be nearly as good and even manual slides would work. All the kits I've seen cost well more than the TV itself. Its not that complex. Does anyone know of a reasonably priced solution?

When will builders, architechts, and designers finally figure out that in today's homes, the TV is as important or more important to home owners than a fireplace, and start designing rooms to have the TV the focal point instead of the fireplace? Or, perhpas better yet, design rooms to integrate both the TV and the fireplace, perhaps next to each other, so that both can be enjoyed equally?

How high are you people hanging these TV's? Mine is mounted and it is very comfortable to watch. My neck has never been sore. As for smoke from the fireplace, be careful? How much smoke is billowing into your room? Any smoke created in my FP is sent up the chimney, where it's supposed to go, not onto the tv. It also never gets hot enough up near the tv. I would like to put something around it, at least on the mantle. However, framing it and such just seems like a hassle. Put things around it to make it look nicer if you ask me.

We have our 42" plasma over the fireplace. For the past four years I've dealt with all of the wires sticking out everywhere. It was a mess. I found a few ideas for a mantle that would hide all of the wires and components. I got together with our carpenter and we designed the perfect mantle. We left enough room so that when hubby wants to upgrade to a larger tv we will have enough room. I never thought I would like the tv above the fireplace, but now I can't imagine it anywhere else.

Here are a couple of pics. They aren't the best...taken with iPhone.

Geez people, how high is your fireplace? I put mine above the fireplace and it's fine. I have no sore neck. Mantles aren't that high up.

Off course it is.

our problem is that we are building a home that has a 5-sided living area so the tv almost has to be mounted in a corner above a fireplace. so am looking for ideas (and pictures) of a tv mounted in a corner above corner fireplace. thanks.

I have my TV over the fireplace, but we don't use the fireplace...It does seem dangerous. Especially with the wires going through the walls.

Here's what we did. There was no other place to put the TV because of windows and doorways. We love this room!

Components for TV and sound, router for Sonos, etc. are all hidden in a cabinet across the room.

Good luck with your project.

You should not keep it near fire place as it would be dangerous and it will be on very high you could not watch it comfortably especially when you sit near your fire place and enjoying its warmness.

You cheapest, and possibly best solution?
Have a pretty shawl or scarf over the damn thing.
Thus:

thanks for this massage

Here is a pic of my install. Mounted it on a flatscreen mount capable of tilting up to 10 degrees. I was worried about the viewing angle beforehand but quickly found that it isn't an issue at all. Especially when kicked back on the couch or recliner. I ran all my low voltage wires (HDMI, Cat5e, center channel speaker) into the fireplace in 1.5 inch electrical conduit. I ran a separate conduit for power If it's new construction, it would make things easier to mount some 2x10's behind where you plan to mount the tv. It will give you something to screw the mounting plate onto without having to worry about finding a stud.

Mine is mounted above a fireplace too.

I understand if people don't like that for aesthetic reasons, but it was the only place in the room that worked for me.

I had it mounted as low as possible and have it angled downward. It is comfortable for viewing, I don't have a sore neck watching it, and the heat from the fireplace has never been an issue.

Again, I get that people may not like the look - but it works great for me.

But it won't look nice over there..!! You can fix it somewhere else.

I needed to mount a TV above the fireplace because it was really the only place in the room it could be viewed by everyone and not in the way. The mantel of our fireplace is rather high (almost 6 feet) which would put the center of the TV well above a comfortable viewing angle. I spent months searching for a TV mount that could lower the TV to a decent height. I quickly discovered that anything motorized would cost several times what I paid for the TV. Beyond that, there were 2 options: Omnimount or Down and Out by Dynamic Mounting (http://www.dynamicmounting.com/index.php). The Omnimount is cheaper ($200-$300 vs. $400-$500) but an inferior product for my purposes. The Down and Out mount is much thinner (protrudes ~4 inches from the wall) and can lower the TV much farther (~30 inches!). I should also say that I have engineering degrees and tend to do all my own work. I thought about making my own mount but was a bit surprised at both the cost and level of difficulty. The Down and Out was fairly simple to mount on the wall and works VERY well.

Mounting a T.V above fireplace and that of 6 feet, I think it will not look good and also you will not be able to enjoy the T.V so go for the other option.