Don't Put A TV Over the Fireplace

It’s an uncomfortable angle to watch TV from, especially sitting on a low couch or a comfy lounge chair. The house was built 20 years before big TVs were popular, so the designer hadn’t provided room for one.

But above the fireplace, in the spot originally designed for a painting or a family portrait (I know, we don’t have one of those, either), five and a half feet off the floor and tilted forward ten degrees, my sports-crazy friend had hung a 72-inch television. It’s giant piece of technology shoehorned into a traditional wall arrangement; to say it looked out of place is an understatement.

And when it’s turned off, you don’t want to be left with a big black hole on the wall that ruins the aesthetics of the space. Sometimes that’s a “theatre” room, but even that’s less popular that it used to be, because sitting in the dark with the TV on isn’t very social, either.

Your big TV needs a setting that’s good enough to take advantage of all the features built into it. But for the latest Star Wars movie, your too-small, acoustically-poor family room won’t cut it. That means you’ve got to move it to somewhere else in the house – hopefully a room designed for watching TV, where you can get the height, viewing distance, acoustics, and lighting just right.

Viewing distance is a function of the size and type of TV, which usually results in a very different furniture arrangement that what’s possible in a typical family room.

This TV is mounted at just about the right height – and the dark background makes it a little less visible when it’s turned off. You can easily get that height with a TV wall mount or a nice stand that also holds the cable box, DVD player, and sound bar.

You want to be close enough to see all the great detail in today’s higher-resolution TVs, and far enough away that everyone gets a decent viewing angle. Or conversely, TV size in inches times 3 equals viewing distance. Some manufactures suggest that for the best high-def units, viewing distance divided by 2.5 is good – a little closer, but ok if the TV picture still looks great. But technology doesn’t make big TVs easier to fit your home design.