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Living Room Tech Blunders Designers Often Witness: Avoid These Common Mishaps for an Optimal Setup

Designing a TV area in a fashionable living space can be challenging, with problems like screen glare and unsightly cables. Here, designers advise on seven missteps to avoid.

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Complications like screen glare, unsightly cables, and missteps in TV placement can mar the...
Complications like screen glare, unsightly cables, and missteps in TV placement can mar the aesthetic appeal of a contemporary living space. These experts detail seven mistakes to steer clear of when harmonizing your TV with style.

Living Room Tech Blunders Designers Often Witness: Avoid These Common Mishaps for an Optimal Setup

Modernizing Your Living Room with a TV: Navigating Common Pitfalls

In today's world, a TV has become as essential as a cozy sofa or a stylish coffee table for your living room. While it serves multiple purposes, placing a TV can be a tricky balancing act. Here's a breakdown of common mistakes to avoid and tips to create a sleek, comfortable, and unobtrusive viewing space:

Dodging Design Dilemmas

1. Ignoring the Spotlight

A TV shouldn't be the room's centerpiece, but rather an integrated element. As E.B. Min, designer from Min Design in San Francisco, puts it,"I prefer a living room without a visible screen, allowing conversation, reading and relaxing to be emphasized." To achieve this, you can opt for a sliding panel to conceal the TV when turned off, ensuring the screen only takes center stage when desired.

2. Unchecked Chaos

Cluttered cables and wires can quickly ruin an aesthetically pleasing space. Hiding TV cords and cables is crucial for a sleek look, suggests Marisa Saavedra-Gutierrez of Spatial Harmony Interiors in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Use cables clips or hidden in-wall cable management systems and blend them with your walls for a cleaner appearance. Decorative baskets or floor plants can also help hide power strips and excess wiring if rewiring isn't an option.

3. SunnySide Up, But Not Always

When your living room is well-lit, placing the TV directly in front of windows can be troublesome as it can cause glare and reflections on the screen, making it difficult to watch. Toronto designer Jessica Cinnamon recommends positioning your screen away from natural light or using window treatments like blinds or curtains to control glare.

4. Mounted, But Not Mandatory

While mounting the TV might be commonplace, it's not the only option. Ghislaine Viñas encourages designers to think outside the box. Placing the TV on an easel, incorporating it into the fireplace hearth, or using a custom console to discreetly store yours can maintain an aesthetically pleasing living room layout while still catering to entertainment needs.

5. Everything's All About the View

Designing your living room centering solely around the TV can result in a space that feels overly dedicated to entertainment, and not suitable for social interaction. Instead, arrange your furniture so your living room has multiple focal points, advises Jessica Nahon, co-founder of Sugarhouse.

6. Eye Level Isn't Always Best

Mounting the TV higher might seem like a smart idea, but it can lead to neck strain during viewing. Make sure the TV is mounted so that the center of the screen is at or below eye level when seated to ensure comfort.

7. Fireplace and Television, Best Friends Forever

Contrary to popular belief, a television above a fireplace need not be a design faux pas. If you're considering this combination, Jenna Schnabel Wedemeyer suggests using a tilt bracket to angle the TV downward to avoid heat and smoke escaping while maximizing seating and viewing of the screen. Additionally, this setup allows you to center furniture on an architectural focal point, freeing up wall space for other decorative elements like mirrors, seating, furniture, and art.

By avoiding these common pitfalls, you can ensure that your living room not only serves its purpose as an entertainment hub but also offers a stylish and functional space ideal for socializing and unwinding.

  1. When renovating the interior design of your living room, incorporating a trend of mirrors, artwork, and decorative elements alongside furniture can create a sophisticated and balanced atmosphere.
  2. To maintain an unobtrusive viewing space, opt for decor that blends seamlessly with the color scheme of the room, as suggested by E.B. Min from Min Design.
  3. Instead of focusing solely on the placement of the TV, consider designing your living room with multiple focal points, such as a stylish coffee table or a cozy reading nook, as advised by Jessica Nahon from Sugarhouse.
  4. As a part of the home-and-garden lifestyle, maintaining the cleanliness of the interior-design by hiding cables and wires will contribute to a sleek and organized environment, as recommended by Marisa Saavedra-Gutierrez.
  5. When mounting the TV, ensure it is not too high or too low, as eye level isn't always best for comfortable viewing, following the tips provided by the article "Modernizing Your Living Room with a TV: Navigating Common Pitfalls."

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