apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I like this than many other options, but where do you put the cable box (that my new flat screen TV apparently needs because I don't have some sort of slot for a card)?

How do people watch TV with it way high up there? My neck hurts just thinking about it.

God, I HATE that people hang TV’s over fireplaces. Geez.

If I had something like this I would be horribly tempted to put a video of a fake fireplace on the TV, just to horribly confuse people when they walked in the room.

I reluctantly hung my tv over my fireplace after a year of it sitting on a coffee table, I got a 42" tv which is a tad big for my small place and in the end I was gonna have to get some specialized furniture to hold it and fit it into the alcove to the right of my fireplace, my girlfriend suggested hanging it but I thought that was tacky, but did a test run w/ it sitting on my mantel and while it was an adjustment to the angle I got used to it and like it. The hardware to hang it was only $80 at costco and while it was a pain to install it looks good i think also I should mention that the fire place in my rental is not usable so no heat issue to deal with.

I think the issue with some smaller older places is that the rooms naturally focus on the fireplace wall and its the only way I can really setup a tv of any size.

i think hanging TVs over a fireplace like art is AWFUL - never have seen it look good...........

Not crazy about the TV over a fireplace. It's way too high up for comfortable viewing and I just don't like how it looks.

TV is not art, TV is TV. Would you buy a large shiney black piece of art with a black border? Just put the darned thing where it's best for viewing.

I don't like it when my TV stares its big black eye at me and tempts me to watch trashy tv when I'm trying to get other stuff done, so I might get some art that mounts over it to help reduce its hypnotic powers. :-)

No. No. No. A thousand times - No! Offering advice on this is like offering advice about how best to block a window with a bookcase.

For everyone who hates the idea of hanging a tv above your fireplace, siss on you, pista! I built my house and decided to do it because I would have really roomy living room without a tacky tv stand and tacky cords all over the place. Everything would just gather dust all around it, and with an 18-month-old son, I wanted to avoid the hassle. I'm going to have somebody come professionally install everything so it is inside the wall to help polish the way it looks.

By the way, before you even start to think it, my little family and I are very, very active during the spring, summer, and fall with ball. But during the winter and rained-out game days, we love to slide in a dvd and cozy up to our fireplace for a lazy day.

For what it's worth, I have never had a problem with my neck hurting from looking up. I just moved my couch to where we are far enough away that I just barely have to tilt my head.

One additional reason for putting the plasma up high, my cousin's three-year-old son threw a toy car right through their flat screen, which is place about three feet off the ground, right at his little arm's length.

Surely it depends on what you show on the TV? I have a much bigger screen than a plasma on my wall, in the form of a 120" projection screen.

However, when not watching movies or TV, I have a screensaver going which displays 500 or so works of art I have downloaded.

http://flickr.com/photos/29627987@N04/3130000971/in/set-72157610709036978/

If you think of the screen as a frame inside which you can show whatever you like, it is much friendlier.

So sfdoddsy,

Is that a child's room or do you just love whimsy?

The only time it's ok to hang a TV above the mantle is if you care more about aesthetics than actual viewing experience.

...and if you cared about aesthetics you wouldn't be doing it in the first place.

The room in the photo was pretty clearly not designed for TV viewing, so why force it? Often you see this arrangement in pretty large houses where there are other options for the TV. We don't have a room dedicated to TV, so to minimize its presence in the living room we placed it in a closet-like recess with a barn door to cover. Cheaper than a furniture solution, and it's totally invisible when we want it to be.

I have never agreed with the idea that's it's ok to hang a tv over a fireplace.
i find it completely distracting to have a large dark square hanging above the opening of a fireplace that in itself is a large dark square.
i think that space needs to be reserved for a beautiful and inspiring piece of art or a cherished family photograph.
these are the things that make a home a warm and inviting place to spend time not the dark emptiness of a television screen.
the focus of a room should never be centered around a piece of technology.

people kill me. There MUST be a TV in every room. They'll hang it on the ceiling if they have to. This "look" has never been executed in a way that looks good, and I dont know why people continue to think it does.

It's not about having a TV in EVERY room, or even that it's a look I'm completely in love with. However, my living room is 10.5' by 10' and I don't have floor space to put an entertainment center or shelf for the TV. I love the fireplace. I enjoy watching TV. I am happy to have them both in my living room and when the TV is off and the fireplace is roaring I don't feel that my teeny living room is centered around a television set. The day we mounted the TV above the fireplace was a happy one in our household.

Oh dear...I know that this is for the people who agree on TV hanging above the fireplace, but it just makes this room (and all rooms i've seen it in) look so bad!

A lot of the houses I've been looking at online (to buy) have had a set up just like this. And I can't run away fast enough.

What I find most amusing is that this is such a recent practice--it wasn't possible before the advent of flat-screen TVs--yet people defend it as if it's the ONLY way they can make their entertainment needs "work." I have lived with and without TVs. When my kids were young we didn't have one, but we did have a fireplace and we spent many happy winter hours reading by the fire--even if my younger child could only look at picture books. That room in the photo is so gorgeous--anyone would be lucky to live in such a place with such a view. I can't imagine how that is truly the "only" solution to their TV-viewing problem. Or that their lives would not be complete if the TV went away.

We have a plasma mounted over our fireplace in our family room. I would have loved to put it somewhere else but there was literally no other choice. I had one long wall for a couch, the other wall had a wet bar (go 1970!), the other wall has french doors. The seating is far enough away to avoid a stiff neck.

It is not art, it is TV.

I can't see something like this and not think of the houses on 'Cribs'. Tacky! Tacky! Tacky!

this is my biggest design nightmare.

if you don't have the room for a large flatscreen, don't get one.

Kill your television.

You know, there are an awful lot of value judgements here about how other people live.

A flat screen tv over a fireplace is often the best use of the space in a room. In our house, that would be the only place in the living room where there would be no reflection from a window. We wired for hanging it there, but in the end our sofa determined that we needed to put the TV on a stand perpendicular to the fireplace wall, and (annoyingly) directly across from a big window. (We are trying to solve the reflection problem.) (Until and unless we get a different sofa.)

But Really, people.

Just because you think TVs need to be hidden does not make it so for everyone. Some of us rarely entertain and we enjoy watching tv shows and movies -- so when we are in the room with the TV at all, usually the tv is on and therefore NOT a "big black hole". When we are reading, we aren't looking up and noticing it. In our case, the fireplace is less likely to be in use than the tv -- it's kind of a "black hole", too, if you look at it that way...

The bias against technology that many (if not most) people choose to live with is ridiculous. It may be "industrial chic" but it is not the horror some try to make it seem. I, myself, hate "shabby chic" -- so what? That doesn't make those who do wrong in their choice.

I don't think a TV above the fireplace is a "style" choice --- as in "shabby chic" or "industrial chic". Rather, it is the absolute lack of style.

I think the true issue is having the tv as a focal point in the room (which used to be the fireplace's job).

We have a tv over our low, mantleless fireplace but the focal point in the room is our modern sofa centered with the picture window.

The problem is not TV, TV as a focal point in a room, the visual weight of a fireplace balanced with a black rectangle above it, running screen savers, or any of that stuff. The problem is that architecture has not caught up to flat-screen TVs. Apartments and houses just are not (yet) built to have a common-access device so large, so it looks out of place no matter what you do. If you do happen to find a good spot *for the room*, likely the viewing lines will be all cockeyed and nobody will be able to watch the TV on center because it's mounted in a corner or something like that.

The guy who won't buy a home b/c they have the TV mounted on the fireplace is interesting. Do you not buy houses because the wall paint is a color you don't like or you can't stand their sofa choice?

I agree with manys. When we bought our condo, we knocked down a wall to let more light into the living room and simultaneously thought to create a niche for the television in the partial low wall and bookcase that replaced the full wall. The niche can be left open or closed, but even when it's open, the presence of the TV does not dominate the room, as it does in most "over the fireplace" situations. I think that anything hanging over the fireplace is in a place of honor. Even if you are a mega TV watcher, a TV does not deserve to be a focal point. Rather, artwork and personal effects deserves this space. If, like Carla Marie, you can create a focal point somewhere else in the room, that's great, but in every situation I have personally seen, the TV over the fireplace feels like an oppressive presence that manages to suck the life out of a room. People who insist otherwise are a bit in denial, but it's pretty obvious to the rest of us.

Hmmm---

I want my tv in my living room because that's where my SOFA is. The kitchen doesn't have a wall for it, I don't want to sit on at the table on dining chairs in my dining room to watch TV, and I don't want my kids and their friends in my bedroom (Don't want a tv in my bedroom either). So the living room it is, whether the room was designed for it or not. And it wasn't.

I don't really want my TV over the fireplace. But there is one wall of windows, one half wall with bar open to the kitchen, one short wall opposite the wall of windows (terrible for viewing), and the long wall it is on currently--the one full wall in that room. Unfortunately, it's the wall that you see when you enter the front door to the house. So the choice is to put the TV above the fireplace or to have the side of the TV, it's cabinet, and cables be the first thing I see on entering the house. Also, since the fireplace is angled in the corner, the TV and its cabinet block the view of the fireplace from the entrance. Given all that, above the fireplace would be an improvement.

Sorry I don't have space or funds to build an alcove with a sliding door....Though that's an interesting idea...

If I was absolutely FORCED to put the TV over the fireplace, I think I would invest in a reflective TV that appears to be a mirror when the TV is off, or recess it in the wall so that artwork or anything better could be hung on top when the TV isn't in use. In kelleyk's situation, since the fireplace is angled in a corner, she may be able to keep the TV from feeling like a focal point, the way it might if it were centered in a room. But I would consider all alternatives first before resorting to a TV over the fireplace. Also, by the way, there are other practical issues associated with a TV over the fireplace. In the case of my folks (who have a TV over their fireplace) the set got ruined in a few short years due to the heat.

Can we have alternative solutions for the tv over the fireplace from the naysayers? I'm fairly anti the idea too, but I'm struggling with the options that don't make tv the focal point in many rooms.

The most obvious alternative to me seems like a bookshelf with a niche for the television. The TV loses its special status when it is surrounded by books, plus the tv's niche can also be closed off when not in use. The other alternative could be a low cabinet with again, the possiblity of closing off the TV when not in use. Or, the third alternative could be to go in the opposite direction and get a stand alone cool, sculptural stand that is also aesthetically pleasing, even when the TV is off. Like this: http://www.momoy.com/2008/05/02/modern-tv-stand-design-from-tonin-casa/

The stand is an acknowledment of the TV's important but it works like a design element and less like a big black cavernous hole in a room.

Sian: The most workable solution I've found to this problem is to choose a different room of the house to put the TV. If someone is tied to the TV-over-fireplace idea because that's where their sofa is (nothing personal, just a convenient example), the thing to do is to rethink the sofa's location.

The good thing is, there is a great solution for those who hate the TV over the fireplace - don't put it there.


And, for all of the anti-TV people (e.g. "kill your television") - I'm curious...how many hours per day do you spend zoned out in front of the computer....

The mere presence of a TV does over a fireplace does not make it the focal point of a room, any more than hanging one over a console or credenza would.

The reality is, you need to point furniture at a TV for viewing reasons... and it makes sense for a room to also be oriented towards a fireplace.

I actually think fireplace-mounting of a TV (when appropriate and practical) makes the TV share the spotlight with the hearth... not upstage it.

I don't think the television over the fireplace is THAT BAD aesthetically, and probably a good idea for those who don't watch too much TV and have children. Children know how to break everything at arms reach, obviously. Also, they have units with articulating arms so you can adjust the viewing position. I've seen a unit that adjusts both vertically and horizontally, so the viewing angle can be adjusted as needed.

It's funny how some people feel the need to reinforce their own sense of superiority by making the act of watching television a moral issue.

We're too invested in making our home ergonomically comfortable to put a television above the fireplace - our rooms are too small to put the sofa far enough to avoid neck cricks. That said, if it works for you, why not? Making your home "stylish" or "proper" within the narrow definition of a self-styled elite at the expense of your own lifestyle and comfort is just silly.

This will make the heads of most (not all) posters in this thread really explode. We have a TV over the fireplace, and we watch EWTN with our five children on said TV. And, we live in Georgia. And we have two Suburbans. And, incandescent light bulbs. Ha!

Hey Gibby, I do watch TV like everyone else, maybe kill was too harsh. Slap is probably better. But admit it, don't we all at some point feel like turning against the tube?

BTW, I drive an SUV too and enjoy the occasional incandescent bulb. Peace out!

I just have to say, the excuse of "we have young children, so this is the best place for the TV" is pretty far-fetched. We all grew up and/or raised our own kids in homes where the TV was in reach, just like the knobs on the stove, stairs, glassware and other potentially dangerous or fragile things. Part of raising children is teaching them limits--not childproofing ourselves to death so we never have to say "no."

For people in smaller homes where there is only one common area, and the furniture is logically oriented facing the fireplace as a focal point, I understand how there are sometimes no other alternatives if one wants to have a TV. But let's call it what it is--a design compromise. In a perfect world, it would either magically disappear when it's off or be hidden by a more attractive piece of art.

I agree that the TV in the picture above hangs too high for comfortable viewing. But viewing angle apart, I have yet to see a coherent argument why a nice flat screen TV suitably mounted on a fireplace is the epitome of bad taste. While they have become dirt-cheap, these things are rather clever pieces of technology. I'll take a 46" LCD TV on a fireplace over a crappy CRT tucked away in a corner every day of the week (and twice on Superbowl Sunday).

Viewing angle is very important, especially w.r.t. LCD panels.

FiatLex: Pragmatism, such as you describe, is also an ethical (or moral) stance.

I am a total tech lover so what I want as the focal point in my family room is my fancy expensive TV and the various attachments for it like gaming systems, players, recorders and computers. So sometimes, the TV is the desired focal point in a room. I should say that I have also have a living room that I only go in to clean up the dust because all the guests want to play with the tech toys in the other room. Although I wouldn't put it on top of a fireplace either because I wouldn't want to risk any damage to the TV.

Well, thankfully TVs have gotten pretty in recent years.

Let's all take a moment to remember giant, front-heavy, cubical sets that we used to deal with.

I sense a lot of hostility on this page. Madsarah, why is the idea so far-fetched of people putting a tv high enough to where your kids can't tip it or put something through it? That's exactly one of the reasons mine is up there. I also put the dvds in one of the cabinets built on the side of the fireplace.

How did this page turn into if you have a tv on your mantel, your design aesthetic is crap? I am curious why it is so loathsome to see a tv on someone's mantel? It sounds judgmental and pretentious to act like someone has real issues if they want to watch their tv on a wall, but, hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Heh, heh, heh. Madsarah, in a more perfect world, I'd have a TV that tucked up into the ceiling and lowered with the click of a remote.

However, in the real world, the only reason my TV's NOT over the fire place is that I can't afford to have someone wire and mount it there.

For click2212,

Whilst I suspect your 'child's room' and 'whimsy' comments were not meant to be a compliment, I'll take them that way.

Mamaspank, it's not that your design aesthetic is crap. But if it weren't a TV, would you hang a piece of art that looked like a big shiny black rectangle over your mantel? Didn't think so.

The purpose of this site as I understand is to explore and promote good home design and decorating. I guess you could view TVs as a necessary evil, like appliances. I am not saying they don't have their place in a home, but that they compromise the overall aesthetic of whatever space they are in. They are a utilitarian thing that each of us chooses to hide or display in various ways.

When my kids were toddlers (and before we gave up TV entirely for a few years) we lived in a tiny house with a multi-purpose living room--it was the playroom for the kids as well as the only place to relax or entertain guests. We concealed the TV in an antique sheet music cabinet that we had picked up for $60 at a flea market. We didn't want to walk into the house and see the TV. If you don't mind that, fine. But in terms of what makes a house beautiful, it is my opinion that looking at any electronic or mechanical gadgets detracts from the overall look of a room. You don't have to share my opinion, but that is the purpose of these comment sections--to offer different points of view on the subject at hand.

Madsarah,

I pointed out earlier that, yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I just thought it needed to be brought to your attention that there are people who hang their tvs above their mantel to keep away from children, and that it's not some lame excuse so they can have their most treasured possession on display for every guest to admire.
Putting your tv on your wall, doesn't mean parents are just lazy and has nothing to do with parenting skills.

I would also like to say that I don't hang my tv above my mantel to admire it like it is a piece of art; I hang it there because that is the most efficient place for it. I definitely have never confused my big, black, shiny box on my mantel as a masterpiece.

I think the other point of this website isn't just beauty, but a way to work with what you've got and having it be fully functional. Nobody looks at their tv on their wall and thinks, ah, now, that is a beautiful thing! I don't like looking at cords and gadgets either, but that's not real life.

Real life is not treating your house like a museum, but as a safe place for your child to play, explore, and be imaginative. If I worried about micromanaging my child's playing and didn't babyproof, I might not get to enjoy all the little stages of watching him grow up.

I find it interesting that you mention that you had your tv in a room that your family used as the ONLY place to really relax. Well, isn't that what most of a house should be used for, to relax?

My house is VERY lived in, probably a little messy, with toys strewn about, cooking utensils everywhere (my 18-month-old son's favorite toys at the moment), but that is what makes it home.

Pimped up TVs are just so vulgar wherever you put them.

Why is everyone so against this? It keeps it out of the way, you can rid yourself of a tv stand or entertainment center, children can't get to it, etc etc etc. I would go with mounting it tilting down a bit or moving the couch farther from it. Geez, when I think about how many people on this site whine on how to set up a small space and then see this, I just want to smack y'all.

I would definately check out the heat coming from the fireplace - I noticed with my high def tv that it is quite hot already without a big waft of heat hitting it from a gas fireplace that could average around 90 degrees. I would think it would marginalize the performance of the tv quite a bit, just as a cold room does.

It seems to me that life is full of design compromises we make--either in favor of aesthetics or practicality. Why this particular compromise drives folks so over the edge is really beyond me.

Why hang a Fireplace under a TV?
Oh yeah, now I remember... American developers think that American homebuyers like pretending that they are some kind of 17th centruty gentry.

Those who say only "good" art should hang over the fireplace should know that really good art should never be placed above a heat source! Save that place for prints, inexpensive textiles, carvings... or televisions if that's your thing. I hid my t.v. in a huge cabinet for years (in my living room), but gave in to modernity this year when I found an acceptably attractive 40" flat screen. I placed it to one side of my fireplace on a low console, and just decided to accept it as part of living. I've actually grown to like the clean look of it.

Above-mantel televisions require large rooms, slouchy sofas, and (often) poor posture while viewing. The room featured here has the furniture placed so far away from the t.v. that height is hardly a problem. And with so many windows, where else could they put it? But with no window coverings, you wouldn't have good viewing during the day, and the room would be uncomfortable at night with all those black windows. This must be a show house.

My question is always: why does the TV need to be this big?

I watch lots of tv and I do it on a 19" tube tv, that sits unobtrusively on a little table across the room from my couch. When this little workhorse finally kicks the bucket I will go out and probably get a flatscreen - but it will be no bigger than 26", because really, I dont need to see the pores on the anchor's face when I watch the evening news.

Modfan, it's a kind of baseline quality creep. I felt the same way -- I just got rid of a 12-year-old tube t.v. at Christmas -- until I stayed in several nice hotels with great flat screen televisions. So I wanted one, and got a 29". Then I decided to get rid of the cabinet that hid the thing and limited the size I could have, and the next size up that wasn't totally obnoxious was 40", and with all those HD channels available....

See how it works?

Why hang a Fireplace under a TV?
Oh yeah, now I remember... American developers think that American homebuyers like pretending that they are some kind of 17th centruty gentry.

Ha! Great comment - just about nails it. I find the fireplace to be far more ostentatious than the television set hanging over it. Not to mention the ridiculous number of windows in that room . . .

And yeah, as somebody else noted, all of those uncovered windows would be pretty creepy at night, although it looks like this room is on the 2nd floor, so at least prowlers won't be peering in at you.

Since the fireplace is frequently the focal point of a given room, I think it makes perfect sense to place the television over it. That's going to be particularly true in small spaces, where your placement options are often going to be diminished.

But if it weren't a TV, would you hang a piece of art that looked like a big shiny black rectangle over your mantel?

Actually, I just might. Would look better than most of the crap that passes for art in most homes.

Of course, when the television set is on, it suddenly doesn't look like a "shiny black rectangle" anymore. Curious, that.

Modfan, times are a changing, and if I can get a big tv for sometimes a lot cheaper than a smaller model, I will. If there is one thing we use in our homes these days that could use supersizing, tvs seems to be it. So, yeah, I'll bite and shop around, wait around, until the closest to rock bottom price seems affordable, and that's when I strike. So when you are looking at a much larger screen in comparison to the one you could have and be fine with, but I love my theatre going experience so much, so why not?

My tv was there for me through some bad breakups, when the weather is bad and there is else to do than play some crribage, eat pizza, and veg out with Goodfellas on in the background.

My big wall tv also keeps my baby from sitting so close. It's big so we don't need to be close.

I'm a TV-hater too, but since that's not what this thread is about...

At one of the Kaldi's cafes in St. Louis (in Clayton on Carondelet), there's a stone fireplace with a flat-screen TV above it -- in a gold-painted heavy ornate frame! I sat near it chatting and having coffee for about 15 minutes before I happened to glance at it a bit longer and realized that it was a blank TV screen, not a painting. Since a TV is inherently fugly and tends to take away from decor, why not go all the way and acknowledge this with an ironic twist?

I was thinking along the lines of Sunspot. Have you SEEN some of the "art" that people choose to go in the "sacred spot" over the fireplace??? I'd much rather see a TV there then a cheaply framed print from IKEA or Costco.

I'd also rather see a TV over the fireplace then see a giant entertainment center taking over a room. The furniture solutions designed for flat TV's still seem to leave a lot to be desired.

eeka, that works only if you have a separate sound (theater) system. Most flat screens incorporate the speakers into their frames. It would also mess with the backlighting of some screens.

I found a Sony with a disappearing edge of glass, with the speakers along the sides. It's not fugly. It's completely efficient design. I believe that things should look like what they are. Like the whole thing with hiding refrigerators behind kitchen cabinetry... completely absurd.

And on that note, the traditional sconces mounted alongside the t.v. featured here carry the stink of denial. They are saying "this really isn't a t.v. up here". They look sad. I would have gone with either with some tall, modern sconces to offset the hardness and color of the t.v., or with a pair of modern candlesticks or nothing -- just lamps on side tables and maybe a floor lamp by the chair to warm the place up.

I think a t.v. over a fireplace looks a thousand times better than a tacky oversized entertainment center with cords, knicknacks, picture frames and dvds on display. To me that is the absolute worst, plus a waste of space. It makes sense in some houses and depending on the lay out it's not always a neck breaker.

We upgraded to a 32" flat panel only a few months ago and bought a slim TV stand to go with....it looks a lot better than our 21" tube with the enormous entertainment center it required. Thanks to the new set up, I actually was able to finally get a sitting chair in the room - before if you wanted to sit down, everyone had to squeeze onto the couch.

Most TV manufacturers will warn against putting your tv in an enclosed area, where it is likely to overheat. Putting it above a roaring fire is probably even worse. I also agree that hanging a tv too high is not ergonomically correct. It makes me feel like I'm in a sports bar or waiting room.

How can anyone possibly hate tv when you catch programs such as Brett Michael's Rock of Love Bus and Tool Academy in one sitting?

I love the justification for over the fireplace from people who obviously didn't think when they "planned" their houses. Did they just get a plan book/catalog from the supermarket checkout or buy direct from a builder who didn't consider those things? If you planned and built your own house you should have thought of where the tv would go etc.

Yes, dn, interestingly enough, on a site that's called apartment therapy, many people didn't build their own houses. In fact, many people don't have houses, at all. Rather, they have apartments which they are restricted from altering too much.

For the small portion of people who built their own homes, I assume that your critique is apt; However, for the larger portion of readers on a site about how interior design for apartments, your critique is wholly askew.

tenely, I was going to say about the same to dn but you beat me to it - lol

If I lived in an apartment with a fireplace (I don't) I doubt I'd use it too much since I wouldn't want to get billed for the cleaning of it when we moved - so putting the TV over it wouldn't be a problem.

I'm pleased with my tv above my faux fireplace. Sure it hurts the neck some when laying down, but it was the best functional space to place it in my rowhouse. The other options would have resulted in bad flow through the room, like putting a sofa in front of a faux fireplace.

Placing it over the fireplace has allowed me to hide all cables, and make the entertainment center a tiny cabinet to the side. Functionally, it just works in the space well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22985814@N03/3193541442/

baltimore - I have a chair almost exactly like yours - LOL

my house was built in 1928. I don't think they even had tv's back then...so the fireplace was the focal point. With that said, a 37" HDTV is a much more enjoyable to focal point on than a dingy fireplace.

Great point jamilkb. Unless you have a roaring fire going on a cold winter day, what is there to look at?

The flat panel TV is an amazing design innovation. Mine is mounted and extends 6" into the room.

vegans=ex smokers=people who are too cool for TV

stereotyping with a wink intended.