[DesignDiva]

LOL I remember.

I'm not famous for my tact, unfortunately. :blush:

[chabuchie]

This is a little off topic, but I thought I read somewhere that although you see pictures of plasmas over the mantel all the time, that these are just in designer houses because the heat of the fire will damage the plasma. I'd definitely want to check before I committed to that placement. Who knows, maybe the article I read was full of bologna.

Oh, and if you find out that it's okay, definitely post it on here. My little brother is making an offer on a house tomorrow, and if he gets it, he'll have a family room with doors or windows on all but one wall - the fireplace wall. We were planning to put a tv in the corner, but it would be great to put it over the fireplace.

[Ikeafreak]

Chabuchie, you raise a point about the plasma/fireplace that's come up several times, so I decided to google it. Here's what I found on www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com ...

We receive a lot of e-mails asking about the possibility (or even plausibility) of placing a Plasma television or plasma monitor above a fireplace.

Living room configurations often put the fireplace as the central focal point. Since we all know that the real focus of your living room is the television, we hit upon the question of integration -- how to merge the logical focal point of a living room (the fireplace) with the actual one (the TV). The introduction of plasma displays has made such integrative gestures real possibilities. Mounting a plasma display above the fireplace is a great space saver, not to mention an attractive way to display the panel. This is a very common application for plasma TVs today.

Will the heat from the fireplace harm the plasma TV?

There are a few precautions to take before hanging a plasma screen TV over your fireplace. First, take a thermometer and tape it to the wall above the mantel, in the place where the plasma TV will reside. Then build a fire, and let it roar awhile. Now, check the thermometer. If the temperature is above 90 degrees F, then the area is receiving too much heat -- either escaping from the front of the fireplace and rising up the face, or radiating through the chimney to warm the outside wall -- for a plasma TV to hang there without receiving some modicum of residual damage. It would not be advisable to run the plasma for a long period of time while its environment is this hot. Though the Plasma TV has its own cooling system, the surrounding heat will force the Plasma display to work harder to cool itself, thus shortening the overall lifespan of the unit over time. A Plasma TV may still be run for short periods of time without harming the unit (even with the environment heat at 90 degrees F or above).

If the plasma display is not turned on while a fire burn in the fireplace, then the unit will not be harmed at all even though the temperature surrounding the unit may be warm. Of course, this might not be an option for people living in places where winter lasts seemingly forever, and fires are an everyday fact of life. In such cases, you should be advised to monitor the amount of heat your plasma display is exposed to while it is running.

We made sure to ask our contractor and electrician and they both agree that our gas fireplace won't pose a problem since it doesn't get nearly as hot as a wood burning fireplace. Hopefully that article helps your brother. I breathed a huge sigh of relief after reading it.

[Ikeafreak]

Eva, Something more along these lines? It's bronzed iron.

[chabuchie]

Thanks, Ikeafreak. Now I might move mine too!

I love your quadtych. I had a thing for circles inside squares, and once you start looking for that, you can find a lot of accessories that work. I don't think that the sconces will be too much with the carpet. My mother had some rugs custom made to match her couch fabric (also swirls) and unless you point it out, you don't even see that it matches.

Oh, and I have a long Lack shelf as a mantel too! I put white up, but I think the Black-Brown will look great (I drew in Black-Brown mantels in all the sketches for my brother).

[jgsearls]

The other thing to keep in mind with a tv above the fireplace is that it's not a great angle for tv viewing while seating.

I do have one friend who placed a plasma over her fireplace but she primarily watched the tv from the kitchen while she was cooking or prepping a meal so it was the perfect height for someone who'sstanding. They never watched that tv while sitting - they went into a separate family room.

Here are some calculators for figuring out good angles..

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.c...alculator.html

http://stuffguide.howstuffworks.com/...wing-angle.htm"For instance, because a plasma TV uses tiny lighted cells to produce the picture, if you are viewing these cells at an angle, you will lose picture clarity. "

[DesignDiva]

Yes, I like that! The darker element will work much better with the other stuf.

[Ikeafreak]

Okay, one more request for opinions... HELP!

Taking into consideration what will be going on the fireplace wall, ie single floating shelf mantel, 50" plasma, what size light should I be looking for? I know scale is super important, so I don't want to go too big or too small. The electrician is here roughing in and I cannot believe how fast they're going. I'd like to decide soon so I can tell him where to put the boxes. I'm deciding between these two.



Finish: Painted Restoration Bronze
Glass: FRENCH SCAVO GLASS
Dimensions: W - 8 H - 12 EXT - 4




[*]Iron oxide finish. [*]Etched opal glass shade. [*]Takes two 100 watt bulbs (not included). [*]Measures 6 5/8" wide, 17" high.

[GardenOfDarwin]

How tall is a 50" plasma screen? I'd tend to go for the longer one, but I wouldn't think you'd want it longer than the height of the screen. ??

Susan

[Ikeafreak]

Susan,

The dimensions of the plasma we're looking at are

32-3/64 Hx 49-31/64 Wx 3-51/64" D