Ok to give you some history on my problem that I have figured out (I have been working on this in my head for about 2 weeks now). My living room is long and narrow...12 1/2 feet wide and 27 feet long. Weird and very hard to place furniture. Only one way as a matter of fact.
I have a huge entertainment center that I had custom built to hold my TV (27") and my 30 gal aquarium among other things. But there is no leeway for other sizes of tv's etc. Anyway it sits on one wall between the two windows and my sofa goes on one end of the room and breaks up the foyer area and the love seat goes on the other end and the two lounge chairs in the middle on the opposite wall from the entertainment center. Now this in itself is a problem in that people on the sofa and loveseat have to strain their eyes and neck to see tv. It's always been uncomfortable.
Oh, the opposite wall in the fireplace and the entire wall is made of sand stone. The hearth goes completely across that wall so there is no sitting a chair or lamp or anything there either!
Sooooooo anyway, the existing TV is going out. The color has turned to sepia instead of color. Thus the need for a new TV. With all the new flat screen and wide screen crap out there on the market now, there is no TV on earth that would fit into the whole in the entertainment center that was custom built. There inlies the problem. Where are we going to put a new tv and what do we do with all the furniture?
Solution! Sell the entertainment center (I really love the entertainment center because I designed it and had it built and it's beautiful. But back to reality...Sell the Entertainment center. Buy and new TV and Hang it above the mantel over the fireplace. Put two shelving units on either side of the mantel to hold the dvd/vhs recorder/player and the dvd movies, etc.
Then I can put the sofa on one wall and the love seat on the other wall, and the two recliners opposite the fireplace near the foyer! Yahooooooo! Everybody can sit comfortably, and everybody can see tv easily! It would open this room up so much! I love the idea.
What do ya think? Do you think there would be too much heat above the mantel and would it hurt the tv?
Sounds like a great idea to me, Cindy. I know people that have TVs above their fireplace and have had no problems.
Good luck!