Hi Phoggie,

Sorry to say that I don't have photos for you, but I also would like to see pics of this. Are you considering placing the TV over the fireplace? Normally, I don't care for the look, but my family has convinced me that we need to admit that - yes! - we do watch TV when we're in the family room, and the TV should be placed over the fireplace. Now, the challenge is how to do that, both so that the TV viewing is comfortable (our TV/stereo guy says that the bottom of our TV should be no higher than 46" off the floor and would optimally be lower) and also so that the room design/fireplace still looks good.

Because we're ripping out walls and can frame in a new fireplace/TV area, we've decided to frame out a recessed pocket above the mantle so that the flat screen TV will be flush with the exterior of the area above the mantle. Now that we've decided to do this, I am fraught with worry and questions and have been madly tearing out magazine photos trying to find a similar situation where a TV looks good above a fireplace, even inside a pocket. Here are my dilemmas - 1) Will the mantle look oddly low at that height? 2) If so, maybe we should forgo a mantle and just put some sort of rock on the entire fireplace front...will this be too overwhelming and too much rock? 3) Our bookshelves/lower cabinets on either side of our fireplace are now set way back from the fireplace front because of the extra depth needed for the framed pocket...wondering if this will this look weird once the fireplace is all framed out? Do I now have to pull those side shelves and cabinets forward somehow?

This is very frustrating and kind of scary because it will be such a focal point, and I'm determined to make it look good, but it seems like a huge challenge. I'm thinking the best thing is to have our architect wrestle with this and come up with some sort of drawing for us, but we would really like to avoid yet another invoice from him!!

Anyway, I'll be interested in seeing others' suggestions and photos. I've found a lot of great photos on houzz.com, which you may want to check out, but not many of them address my exact design challenge.

Thanks and best of luck -

Susan

Susan, NO, our TV will not be over the fireplace.....I have enough "neck problems" without adding to it. I saw a house in Wichita, KS, on a model home show (but can't remember where the house was located now) and it had a TV with a door, and a fireplace that shared a "common mantel" and a hearth that ran across the bottom of both and I believe it had also had a few bookshelves on the other side of the fireplace.....I loved the look, but when I went to take a pic, the battery had run out!!!!
Sure wish I could find someone who has something similar and I'd do it in a heartbeat~~ I hope some more respond for us.....good luck and if you find any pics, pass them along on this post....THANKS