As long as you have that big niche already - I'd use a portion of it for a soundbar so that it sits back and appears flush with the drywall. (Then drywall over the rest of it for the TV to hang there like you planned.) I think enclosed cabinets with doors on the bottom of the bookshelf would look nice as well! It might be a nice way to balance everything along that wall with the fireplace.

You can't place a TV on a cabinet that is more narrow than the TV below. Keep the niche.

BeverlyFLADeziner, I'm going to dry wall over the opening and hang the TV above the cabinet.

BeverlyFLADeziner, The bookshelf is not as deep as the opening above the TV. Otherwise, that would look great!

How deep is the bookshelf niche? If it is at least 16" deep, you would still be able to get the average electronic component inside it and then I would also recommend creating one niche for the TV even if it has to be as shallow as the bookshelf. It will look odd otherwise as already suggested.

I am assuming this is the only room where the TV can go and the only wall in the room that will work.

the bookshelf niche is 11" and the opening above the TV is 25". Yes, this is the only place to put the TV.

Agree with everyone above. If the cabinet is smaller than the TV above it, then it looks unbalanced and awkward. Proportions and scale matter. Give yourself some room by using Bev's design. It will change the whole look of that wall.

The upper right niche needs to be made shallower to match the left niche. No need to make the lower right shallower.

Would not waste the niche space; instead, use it for storage if possible.

Is there any duct or plumbing pipe or wiring or other utility related items in the wall between the center and left niche or is it a load bearing wall? If not, removing those and the ?stone? "bandaid" above the fireplace could enable you to add a mantel across the entire width of that wall above the ?fireplace? with a plywood shelf behind it -- top of the mantel and top of the shelf the same height.

You could then finish the area beneath the mantel as a built in to suit your storage needs -- add whatever combination of glass cabinet doors, solid cabinet doors and/or drawers -- even horizontal drawers -- beneath the mantel. You could add your a shelf a couple of inches above your tv for your sound bar. You could add shallow shelves (on the back wall) -- shelves that would be hidden behind the tv.

With the mantel and shelf behind it the same level, you could have the option to angle the tv as needed for comfortable viewing. You could also add doors over the entire combined width of the niche and hide the tv if you choose.

If you leave the space above/beside the tv open, you'd need to decide what, if anything, to add to create a finished look -- but that would be after you get the tv in place.and know the size of it.

Note, if the left niche is not as deep as the center one, you could probably make that a visual non issue by creating shallow shelves against the back wall of the deeper center niche on the right side behind the tv but not on the left side -- with the fronts of those shelves ending even with the back of the shallower part of the niche.

It's a load bearing wall next to the bookshelf niche. Lots of great suggestions and I appreciate it and will digest it all. I'm thinking that I may just keep the existing smaller TV and hang it.