Which component most closely resembles the concept of the living room?
The fireplace represents the living room like the sofa, the bookcase or the armchair: it is associated with the conviviality of the domestic environment. The fireplace that decorates the room during long winter evenings has accompanied families for generations, and continues to do so in homes with traditional and modern furnishings. But today the television is equally present in all living rooms; even in those without a fireplace, and he is the new protagonist of entertainment in the living room.
The fireplace and the television have much more in common than you might think: they are luminous components, they show moving lights, they capture attention, they are located in the living room and should not be left on if no one is near them.
Obviously their functions are completely different, but we have seen how they can have a lot in common, and their position is often common too: in front of the sofa.
But then, how can we reconcile these two elements during the furnishing phase? Is it right to combine them and use them together?
No! It is not.
Architects and interior designers are often divided on this topic, but in our opinion the television and the fireplace must be clearly separated and distant from each other. There are many reasons for this and we will list them briefly:
TV and fireplace distract each other:
Imagine watching a movie, and underneath the screen there are bright, moving flames that continue to capture your attention. Not the best, right? And in the same way imagine being enchanted by the magic of fire, immersing your gaze into the hypnosis of the flames that have enchanted man since the dawn of time. You’re about how our ancestors millions of years ago used to look at the fire in the evening for hours, alone or in company. In peace and in war, in every corner of the world and all peoples have always known the magic and enchantment of fire. And in observing the flames, during a winter evening, while it is snowing outside, the television shows us a surfer on the waves of a tropical beach… Clearly out of context, the television takes us to distant places, real and imaginary, but it distracts us from the present, from our being and from the “here and now”. It is therefore clear that these two elements cannot be combined in their use.
The television must be at eye level:
When interior designers find themselves having to match the wall on which to install a fireplace and the television, the decision they make (and after all there is no other choice) is to place the fireplace very low and the television very high so that they both fit, and so as not to bring the television too close to the heat point. The result can only be problematic, given that a television that is too high is uncomfortable to watch, and a fireplace on the floor, if it does not have enough space above it for the flames, is of little both practical and aesthetic effect.
Similar, but opposite components:
We defined, in the introduction, that the fireplace and the television have a lot in common. And this is true, but equally true is that their basic functions are different, as are the living contexts they recall.
The television recalls modernity, the possibility of escaping the home to immerse ourselves in distant and different landscapes from the one we find ourselves in.
The fireplace, on the other hand, is associated with a welcoming, private environment, focused on time and the present moment, and if we want even romantic.
And just as you would never go to the beach dressed in a ski suit or to watch a sporting event in a jacket and tie, even the television and the fireplace don’t go well together because they belong to too different moments and contexts.
So, how can you have both in your living room?
The living room is a multifunctional room, and for this reason it is suitable for hosting both the television and the fireplace, although they are different elements.
- Different positions: in a large living room you can consider placing the fireplace on one wall and the television on the other, and if used separately they will not interfere with each other, respecting their functions and the design of the room.
- Retractable screen: Thanks to retractable solutions, the television / projection screen can disappear completely when not in use, and even the fireplace can be hidden when turned off, especially if one of the new electronic ones that are increasingly popular in European homes.
Would you like the opinion of audio and video furnishing experts to understand how to best position the television in your room? Maybe with a completely disappearing solution?
This is why we are here, contact us to discover our ideas and solutions completely free of charge, at Celestial.Video we take care of creating the best residential audio and video systems, contact us to submit your request.
