Traditionally, fireplaces were placed in the center of the wall. The furniture was then grouped around it. When television first entered the American home, the screens were small and the television was simply another piece of furniture. Today, television screens are large and arguably the most prominent feature in the room. Usually the television is placed on another wall, so it has enough space. But this means your furniture arrangement must “aim” at both the fireplace and television at the same time. This is pretty hard to do. One poor solution that often is presented is to place the television above the fireplace. This helps with the furniture arrangement, but placing the television at this height only works if you are lying in bed while watching. If you are seated in a sofa or a chair, this is too high and puts an uncomfortable strain on your neck. Are there any other solutions to this dilemma?

Here's One Way to Solve the Television and Fireplace Location Dilemma. The Television Is Behind the Cabinet Doors.

One way to get the fireplace and television on the same wall is to not put either one in the exact center of the room and to think of them as a combined element.

In one house I designed recently, we built one wide ”pillar” of stone from floor to ceiling and put the fireplace opening in the right half and the television in a cabinet recessed into the stone on the left half. Then we centered the entire stone element in the room. Neither the television nor the fireplace was exactly centered in the room, but both ended up in good positions for seeing them while seated in the furniture grouping. Your eye reads the combined assembly and sees it as “centered” in the room and on the wall. You could do the very same thing without the stone and instead creating with a projecting drywalled element. Or, the grouping of the fireplace and television could be built into a paneled, cabinet-like assembly that would achieve the same goal.

Thinking of the television and the fireplace opening as being parts of a larger, unitized element will make the arrangement easier to handle and much more successful. You’ll be able to arrange your furniture around this combined architectural element and have perfect viewing positions for both the television and the fireplace.

UPDATE – I’ve gotten several requests for a photo that describes the fireplace and television cabinet combination I am describing. I’ve inserted it above. Hope it helps explain the concept. 

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There are two reasons for that. First is the cost. Traditional, all masonry fireplaces are very expensive to build. The entire chimney must be built of masonry and the tall column of cement blocks, bricks, and terra cotta flue liner is very expensive. Plus, a true masonry fireplace requires a foundation to carry the weight. That adds more cost. Pre-fab metal units have taken over the marketplace for cost alone. Some pre-fab fireplace companies are Heatilator, Majestic, and Heat-n-Glo. These fireplaces have some limitations on the size of the firebox opening. If I need a particularly large opening, I turn to Isokern. This is a fireplace that is made of a special type of concrete block system, but it does not require the full masonry flue. So it is a compromise between the design freedom of the traditional masonry fireplace and the cost benefits of the pre-fab units.

Wood-burning models of pre-fab fireplaces are readily available, but in spite of that, most of my clients choose to set these fireplaces up with gas logs for the sheer convenience of starting and stopping a fire whenever they want. Many people have grown tired of chopping and carrying wood, cleaning up the mess and bringing bugs into the house and give up the ambiance of a real wood fire in favor of the convenience of a gas log fire. These days, there are many very good choices of gas log sets that provide a realistic wood fire look. Because most of the heat goes up the flue, fireplaces are not energy efficient. They can actually draw more heat out of a house than they can provide. Fireplaces should be viewed as decorative elements in a house.

Some gas fireplaces require a vent pipe and others do not. The vented gas fireplaces give the most traditional look since they do not have to have glass doors on the firebox. But vented gas fireplaces must have the damper held open permanently according to the building code. This allows heated air from the house to continually escape up the flue twenty four hours a day. This is obviously an energy loss. Open fronted, vented fireplaces also use the air inside the house for combustion and can allow combusted air to return back into the house. People who have allergies or sensitivities to petroleum products could react negatively to this. For those people, a direct vent fireplace might be a better solution.

Direct vent fireplaces take outside air for the combustion and vent the combusted air back outside. No indoor air is used. No pollution is added to the indoor air. No heated house air escapes the house. They cost less initially because no chimney is required. A direct vent fireplace can add heat to the house, but not as efficiently as a gas furnace. The major objection to direct vent fireplaces is that a fixed glass panel covers the firebox. Sometimes people describe this as an aquarium look because of the glass. But there are decorative frames for the glass that make it look like a set of good glass doors.

All in all I would say that most of the fireplaces I design are gas log types with the exception of outdoor fireplaces. For those, wood-burning is still the preference. Of the indoor fireplaces, most are the vented variety primarily because of the appearance. People prefer the traditional open faced firebox. But in some situations, the direct vent type is the best choice, especially if finding a location for the flue and chimney is difficult or cost is a priority.

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If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.