Won't he have fun! I am lucky, not enough wallspace for anything larger than 34" and that is stretching it, otherwise it would mean moving furniture and getting rid of bookshelves, which is against the law in this bookaholic family.

I'd be cranky, too, Tibs, but glad your DH got his big TV! I'm also glad our family room isn't big enough for more than a 40 inch--which we don't have--yet. :>)

Good for him.

Hook up the DVD and get netflix going.

That's great. We all need our little indulgences, if we can get them.

We needed a new tv last year. When Christy went to the store to check them out she was having trouble so she asked one of the sales people where all the 'regular' tv's were? They said these are the regular tv's. All flat screens. LOL. Poor gal was looking for a fat tv. Gone the way of the dinosaur. Now I find out from the link on the other thread that our we aren't sitting close enough for our little 32" tv. Oh well.

we won't get it delivered until Thursday. Dh has to take the current cable box and exchange it for a HD(?) cable box. We have to decide if we are putting it on the wall or on on a stand., which we will have to get - later. I think we are going to put it on top of the entertainment center for now. We have one of those honking big entertainment centers that weighs a ton - they had to take the door off the hinges to get it in the house. I will be glad to see that gone. I don't even think you can give them away. It won't hold the flat screen tv- the opening is too small. I'v e been told to advertise on Craig's list or post it on a community board.

Tibs, the entertainment center furniture is part of our dilemma, too. We like it, and it cost a lot, but the TV opening isn't big enough for the size of the larger TV we'd like to get. Plus, what to do with it--and the radio/cd/tape player and lots of other odds and ends that have found a home on its shelves and behind its doors. Your solution of posting it on Craig's list or a local community board sound good. There's probably someone who would want it!

Sometimes, it's not easy to change.

We got our new flat screen tv about a year ago. We selected a 40" because it would fit into our excisting entertaiment cabinet. We still have all our components in the original cabinet, and I like that.
However, I'd like to get a new stand for our new TV.

Gee ladies, you all can skip the new furniture if you have a jigsaw and a little imagination!

I'm the one who pushed the new TV things a few years ago. The furniture we moved here with was a little awkward for our space. The only way it could be set up was all on one side of the room, which made it bad for conversation. Plus, it wasn't particularly comfortable and there was always glare on the TV. So I ordered all new furniture, ditched our (expensive!) armoire, and we mounted the TV above the fireplace, which is what the room was laid out around anyway. (I'm toying with the idea of converting the armoire into a computer desk, and when we upgrade the TV in the master bedroom at some future date, I'll wallmount the TV and use that armoire for sweater storage.)

I like the room much better now, because it's a comfortable area for reading and conversation, and because I can snuggle with my husband on the couch without one of our arms going to sleep... not just an altar to the TV, which is on LESS since we improved the room's comfort and layout.

Steve opted for a 46" flatscreen. A larger TV would have fit, but it would have been silly. I teased him that I wouldn't defend him to the neighbors questioning what he was compensating for if he got anything bigger, and he got the point. ;o)

tibs, let us know how you are doing with all of this change. For excample, where are you going to put the "cable box"? That is just one our our dilemas.

Hey West, I know you didn't ask me, but here's how we solved that same dilemma. (Excuse the crappy phone camera.)

{{gwi:188779}}

Drilling through the wall would have been stupidly expensive because of all the framing around the fireplace, the fact that the previous owners had a 1/4 inch plaster coat sprayed over the drywall and difficult-to-duplicate texture applied, and the basement below it is finished with a textured ceiling and the same wall texture (making patches impossible to conceal), so we ran some cable raceways along the mantle, and next to the window molding and painted them to match the room. They actually go both to the left and to the right, because they feed into the surround sound system, and we have speaker wire running beneath the carpet.

Because we painted it to match and ran it along the trim work, people don't "see" the raceways. I've had people look right at them and ask how we drilled through the wall to hide the wires when we mounted the TV.

The cable box and surround sound controller are stacked on that lower coffee table shelf. If you look closely at that picture on the end table, there's an IR remote control extender on top of it. Without it, the remote wouldn't work from the comfortable sitting places in the room, because there's no "line of sight" to the boxes where we have them. You can tuck your extraneous things in nearby cabinets and consoles so long as there's adequate ventilation so they don't overheat.

jazmynsmom, thanks so much for the post and photos. You have a lovely place and it sounds like you made it very functional for your needs. Also thanks for the link to the "cable raceways", that is so cool.

lol, jazmynsmom , I sent the "cable raceway" link to DH and the minute he opened it, he asked where I wanted the raceway.