Where NOT to hang your tv

Ewen Roberts / CC

It seems so logical — you want your couch facing your fireplace and your TV, and right above the mantle there’s a beautiful, wide stretch of wall. So you hang your flat-screen right above the fireplace. And you’ve just made a mistake. Aside from the fact that heat rising isn’t great for your fancy electronics, you shouldn’t hang a television above even a decorative fireplace. Experts recommend the top of the screen should be between 15-35 degrees from the horizontal plane of your eye level (aim for 15 degrees), which means a flat panel mounted above a fireplace isn’t just an eyesore, but sore muscle inducing. That means that a TV hung above the fireplace is just too high for you to watch comfortably from your couch. Find another spot for your screen where it can be closer to eye-level — and farther from the fire.