Thanks Chookchook, but in fact the house is terribly designed and there isn't much choice. We have a single living area that is approximately 6 metres x 4.5 metres. The north wall (long side) has a bank of French doors placed centrally, with clear wall space of 1 m on the east and west ends. The east wall (short side) is a full wall of built in bookcases over cabinets, built around a doorway into our entry hall. The south wall is approx 3.1m long, and clear, currently holding artwork. The rest of it is a triple width doorway into the dining room. The west wall is the fireplace with wood heater insert. Mantle is 2.5m long and 1.1m high. There is about 1m clear either side of the mantle that currently holds wall sconce type lighting. The television, a rescued 50 cm old school CRT-style beast, with accompanying ugly digital set box top and DVD played sit in a pine corner wall cabinet in the north west corner. We have a horrid, old, modular lounge suite in the south east corner. It covers all the cabinets below the bookcase between the south wall corner and the doorway into the entry hall. As farmers only just starting to financially recover after 12 years of drought, and our kids finally finishing school and heading off into the real world, I'm just starting to find enough cash to paint rooms. Re-finishing the timber floors is next on my list. But in the mean time, the boys think they deserve a flat screen, and in reality, they do. But how?

I'd firstly like to say that the quality of workmanship and detail in the above project is excellent. However I don't understand why TV's are placed above fireplaces other than if there is absolutely no other option. The general consensus is that TV's should be somewhere around eye level when seated for best viewing. Of course television for a lot of people is not the primary consideration when designing a room layout. Maybe consider how and when you use the TV. to determine whether the above is suitable. cheers.

Only last weekend we in store 'asking the experts' about our similar concerns. We were told that the "installation guidelines insure a safe distance", but the tv's they had on display in store were still incredibly hot along their bottom edges. Despite all assurances from the salesperson we are not convinced. We will be following this thread with great interest.

Have a look in Houzz's Living Room Photos and in the search bar type 'TV over brick fireplace in photos.' Might give you some ideas. also, if you were to build a hearth surround and mantle, the TV would look good mounted on the brick (could angle it down a bit so you don't have to crane your neck to watch). Still, need a place to store the bits and pieces that go with the TV.