Bradly Schimmel DDS
Especially if you're from Minnesota (like us) and need to be as close to a heat source as possible while also watching the Timberwolves blow another 4th quarter lead in February...and by that, I mean secretly watching Colton jump the fence on the Bachelor. Oh and if you've heard that heat or soot from the fireplace will wreck your TV, make like Frankie Goes To Hollywood and relax. If you live in a newer home the walls above the fireplace are likely to be drywall over standard wood studs or furring strips. Either is fine for mounting a TV, but you'll want to make sure you have classic wood studs if you plan to put cables through the wall. Either way, having drywall with wood supports is going to make mounting a TV over the fireplace a lot smoother. For all you know Ben Franklin laid those bricks while pondering his design for the flexible catheter.
That's a 1-way ticket for your TV to meet the floor, and for you to head straight to the local dive-bar to drown your TVs-less soul in PBR Whiskey. There are 3 main styles of TV mounts, fixed, tilting, and full motion.
Assuming your TV ends up being higher than eye level when over a fireplace, fixed mounts aren't a great option. Their low profile design looks streamlined and tilting down improves viewing angle and eliminates that annoying glare.
With fireplace mounting in mind, we built a Full Tilt TV Mount that extends from the wall about 6" for maximum tilt range, easy access to cables, while not losing the slim profile. That means you can make any chair the best seat in the house by pointing the TV exactly where you need it.
Want to pull the TV down in front of the fireplace when watching the Day Man scene from Always Sunny for the 100th time? It comes packed with cool features like heat sensing pull-down handles and built-in soundbar attachment.
Once you've picked out a TV mount, choosing how high to put the screen on the wall is an important decision. Mounting it lower on the wall makes it easier to access & hide the cables as well.
No matter where you mount your TV, hiding the cables takes it from "kinda cool" to "damn that's sexy" like a new fanny pack. In a newer house, there's a chance the builder put an outlet above the fireplace for a TV, in that case, you're in luck and won't really have to do anything.
Install is easy and painting them to blend into your wall has a much happier ending than letting all those cables dangle from your TV. If you are currently using a cable box or other large media player, now might be the time to cut the cord.
