# Building an Entertainment Center Around a Fireplace!!!



## litlearnhardt8

Well my husband and I just bought a house and we have no idea where we could place out traditional entertainment center. One living room wall has doors, the second wall has a look through window to the kitchen, third is mostly windows, and the forth wall has a fireplace on it. The only thing we can think of is to somehow get the tv above the fireplace as that is the only spot that would seem to work. Unfortunetly we can't afford a plasma tv to mount up there, so we would have to build some sort of shelving. The fireplace takes up a good bit of the wall, but there is about 3-4 feet on each side so I was thinking of doing tall, narrow shelving on each side and then about the mantel bridging the two sides and creating a shelf to hold the TV. Do you think this idea could work? Do you have any better suggestions? Do you know of any websites that have ideas or plans on how to do something like this? Do you think since we have the thicker TV style the shelf would have to stick out too far, therefore the weight of the TV would not hold?


----------



## handyguys

Maybe a few pictures or a floor plan would help. The concern I have is not can the TV shelf be built strong enough (it can) but rather I would be concerned with heat under the shelf from the fireplace. I also think it would look bad as you have described it.

You wont find any plans for this. Its going to be particular to you situation. You could work with a custom cabinet builder who can draw plans and build you something. This would not be a general DIY project unless you are already a woodworker familiar with cabinet building and furniture building.


----------



## litlearnhardt8

handyguys said:


> This would not be a general DIY project unless you are already a woodworker familiar with cabinet building and furniture building.



My husband is a carpenter so he is good with wood, yet he is not creative at all so we were hoping to get some ideas of what other people did.  I know I have seen entertainment centers around the fireplace before, but now I am drawling a blank.  If I can show him so ideas he can do it.  And yes heat was another concern, but seeing as we are in Florida we really won't use the fireplace that much.


----------



## Daryl in Nanoose

How wide is the fireplace and how deep is your tv?


----------

