Tab absolutely could have gone above fireplace if planned properly . Ours is. We have some kind of fan and heat shield thing. It was a pain but worth it. Anyway it is done. I like the idea of the tv being on the other blank wall. I would just get a long and lower tv stand and place it on it. I don’t think you necessarily need to do anything special to the wall. Add some plants, pillows, art, etc and finish t his lovely room off.

My TV’s are flat mounted on the walls, side profile is minimal, maybe an inch.

Good point Beverly. 55” in this space is quite small

You could also put a corner TV stand ot the left of the fireplace and avoid the wall mount issue altogether.

Even though I rarely watch TV that was my first thought, 55” is considered pretty small now, that room could easily accommodate 65”-75”-85”.

A bigger TV and on the wall facing the sectional much better than above the FP and get a nice long low cabinet to anchor it too. I would be looking at BEsta from Ikea for areally great looking TV, storgae and a bit of display on that wall

This was my basement media room in our really old house we put the sofa under the bulkhead and that ceiling was quite low too but no one bumped thier heads

Besides Beverly’s suggestion, you can turn the whole setup around and mimic Patricia’s.