Please excuse the blurry pics...

My parents begin a renovation on the 29th and would like to mount a flat panel somewhere in the Living Room. My parents spend 90% of their time at home in this room.





Now the optimal place would be above the fireplace. However, the mantel only allows about 27" from the ceiling to the mantel. That isn't much room for a flat panel much larger than a 37" and ideally a 42" would be best (not many plasma's in the 37" size, although they could go LCD). They plan to replace the mantel as a part of the renovation so I suppose they can go with a thinner mantel. which would give them another 2" of height. However will it look funny with the TV almost touching the ceiling?

Would mounting it in the right corner of the room next to the fireplace be a better solution? My parents are complete TV morons and honestly I'm only marginally better based off what I've learned here.

More "before" pictures to come as the renovations kick off. Kitchen, living room, and 2 bathrooms are being gutted. Not much has been done to this house since it was built in '86.

 

42" sounds a little large for the viewing distance being so close. It looks like a 37" LCD may work best. I'm assuming the seating would not be all the way in the back otherwise it'll block the entrance to the room...
It also looks like the fireplace itself is pretty small, and with a mantle done with a TV above it in mind, it may be doable - think about cables and other connections though.
Have you considered a stand rather than wall-mounting it? you could theoretically leave it in the corner where the existing TV is, but I don't think that's a good position - looks like you'd get a lot of glare from the window.

 

Yeah the current TV posistion is definitely not an option. 1) Glare from the windows and 2) can't see it from the Kitchen.

The center of the couch to the center of the fireplace is 86" so I think a 42" would work. And they are getting new furniture as well so the room will most likely be rearranged.

The half-wall that divides the kitchen and the living room is being removed and the small bulkhead that also dives the room is being removed as well.

From the ceiling to the top of the current mantel is about 26". The mantel is 3.5" high. There's nothing wrong with dropping the mantel by 2". Also... using a stand will limit how much the TV can be tilted down to allow for a more direct viewing angle. The use of a wall mount would allow them to tilt the TV down plus ascetically it looks better than using a stand.

Cables won't be an issue. The room is being completed gutted down to the framework; walls and ceilings. Floor ripped out (including sub-floor) as well. So pre-wiring things is not a problem.

 

If it's an LCD I don't think you're going to have a problem with the glare as you do with a CRT. I would try to put over fire place, that seems to be the focal point of the room. As far as the mantle goes you could split the mantle so it would allow the TV to sit further down from the ceiling.

I know my boss was worried about the heat from his f/p hitting his. The installer said the could work with it and it wouldn't be problem. But he put it on another wall anyway.

Does the brick that goes to the ceiling just for looks? You might be able to knock some of it off and put the TV on drywall. But now that I look at it again, you need that height in the brick to offset the width.

Going down a size on the TV will help, I say it put it over the f/p.

 

Bricks will definitely not be removed from the mantel. The gold trim around the fireplace is out though.

I'm going to start a new thread about the renovation once things get started.

 

For starters, I believe the mantel looks very high. Although it may be in a normal position height wise, there is such a substantial gap between it and the fireplace that it looks really off. If it could be lowered even more, then you could have the tv fit fine. However, if you do not plan to remove any bricks at all, then it will not be possible. If they really would like to put the tv there, talk to a mason about removing the bricks and creating a channel for the wires to be run. He can then put the bricks back and you would never be able to tell they were moved. I have had to install a few sets this way and it comes out nicely. Just make sure you run everything you would need, and then some. For instance, run a 14/2 or 12/2 for power, a couple sets of components, perhaps a HDMI cable or two, as well as a cat5 cable. I would recommend running a 16/2 speaker cable as well just in case they decide to go with surround sound in the future. Then you will have the wire for the center all set. IF they did not want to go to the trouble of getting the mason, I would suggest mounting the tv kiddy cornered (or is it kitty cornered, I never know) to the right of the fireplace. You would just need to get an articulating arm, and then it will have the appearance of floating in the corner. It would be in a decent viewing position, even though not in the focal point of the room. Those are my two suggestions.

 

All suggestions are much appreciated.

 

FWIW the house has 7.5' ceilings.

 

haha brian.

 

Brian is retired now. (49 years old, woot!) He has nothing better to do other than walk around in slippers and measure the room for a new TV.

 

i know he's just funny.
pic 1- looks like he knows what he's doing
pic 2- cornfuzed as hell


make him wear a hard hat with his slippers

 

First off, the misconceptions here...

1.) 46" is definately not too big. I have a 46" in a room slightly smaller then that and there's many times I feel it's "too small". Mounting it above your seating position on the wall only adds to this effect.

You have to remember that not all movies utilize 100% of the screen. Most high-def movies are 2.35:1, which means a good 20% of the screens vertical resolution goes unused. On a 46" screen the picture of a 2.35:1 movie is probably only 25-30" tall.

2.) LCD will glare like CRT. Negative. One good thing about LCD's is they're not as susceptible toglare as other TV types. (Mainly because their brightness can be so overwhelmingly high.)


Anyway...

I'd find a way to put it on the fireplace. Build a new mantle at the proper position and run your wires through it to conceal them. Proper height? The lower the better.

If the fireplace is used alot I'd make the mantle a good 3-4" deeper than the TV, just to add a little heat protection (or, deflection). But the glass fireplace screen will help that. Speaking of the fireplace screen, I'd go to home depot and order a replacement in matte black. That gold is mighty distracting and won't jive well with a black & silver TV.

 

I would mount it over the fire place, on a lower mantle.

The television stand I have for my TV is a bit high and I was not 100% pleased with the picture. It looked a bit dark. I had to play with the brightness, etc. I would love to mount it a bit lower.

 

It's being replaced with a matte black unit. Gold is gone as a part of the renovations. In fact the only thing staying in that room after the renovation are the windows and the brick fireplace. (Drywall, ceiling fan, carpet, furniture, etc)

 

i've opposite problem, LCD is slightly washed out from being mounted high. i can counteract the issue by tilting the display down, but it looks gay tilted when ur standing up.

i need a remote control wall mount.

 

Yeh. I can't safely tilt with a DLP. It's not as noticable now because I got used to it and our sofa is back far enough so it cuts the angle down a bit. When we bought the TV stand we opted for a higher one to make it a bit tougher for Elliott to mess with it. Oh well.

 

There's just no way to mount it on the bricks without some serious masonry work and thus my parents opted to chose the corner location.

Now... where to mount the speakers? 5.1 setup...?

 

Well nevermind my previous post... it is going on the mantle....

My parents are nuts... back and forth back and forth with decisions.

 

Don't feel bad, all our parents are nuts. Could it be our fault?