Recently bought a place and am wanting to mount the TV on top of the mantle...

I know this is a fairly popular setup, but I would do this only as a last resort. You will have concerns about the cabling and I think that, unless you want a "sports bar" vibe, the viewing position is too high. In my home gym, for example, I have the television mounted high because it works for the space. I'm typically standing/walking/moving around while watching. But, I wouldn't want to watch for extended time in there.

I think a primary display it should be at or near eye level from the seating. Just my $0.02.

If you insist on doing it, I would get the cable management covers that closely match your mantle and wall color. That's going to provide you the best concealment option. And, for "accessories" - if you mean your DVR and such, I would consider getting a wall mount/rack sufficient to handle all of that. I would try to limit the cable runs to as few as possible, but you might have problems if cable is coming from one direction and power from another.

Good luck with it.

What company will you be using for TV viewing? Some of them have the mini boxes that fit very well between the tv and the mount so that you never see them. Also are there power outlets and cable drops above the mantle or will you be running the wires from a nearby part of the wall?

Ugh. I hate the TV over the mantle thing.

The good.

From the looks of the enclosure above the fireplace getting wires to the location shouldn't be difficult at all especially if the equipment is located adjacent to the fireplace. That bulkhead above also helps greatly with running cabling to an equipment location on the same wall as the fireplace.

The bad.

If your location is shoehorned into a corner like that it's a terrible location. The TV can't be seen from the kitchen and acoustics are going to suck. It also messes with furniture placement big time for TV viewing with the sliding doors right there.

Nice digs brah

I installed one over my folks fireplace last weekend. Although I personally wasn't a fan of it, that's where they wanted it. (Had to put up a mantle as a fireblock as well)

If you had shelves to the left or right of the fireplace, it would make it a ton easier to hide your wires.

Looking at your 2nd picture, my 1st thought is this, cool place. What I'd do is mount it over the fireplace as low to the mantle as possible. Run the wires/cables down and to the left.

On that left hand cove area, I'd buy a stand that fits that cove. From there put any BlueRay/Xbox/PS4/Cable Box/AppleTV accessories and then that stuff is outta the way and your wires will barely be visible.

Once completed, you'll be happy with your setup and that's all that matters. I actually can foresee you (or me, I foresaw me) having a beer on the deck and looking through the sliding doors watching football and enjoying outside.

ETA: Dunno what furniture you have but my 1st thought on sofa was a "backwards L". So it'd be more open towards the sliding doors and the sofa would sort of separate the kitchen from the living room, some. Almost like the letter "J" is the best way I can think of explaining that.

What is the obsession people have with placing their TV so high up off the ground?

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What is the obsession people have with placing their TV so high up off the ground?

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Don't think it's an obsession but more of a move of necessity. Where else do you want him to put it in his current setup? On the ground? That looks college age-ish and childish.

i dont understand all the wires going to a tv.

i only need a single hdmi cable & power.

i do have a 'smart' box as well (roku, amazon, chromecast) behind the tv.

the other lone HDMI goes to an AVR which handles all the switching between the 40 gazillion HDMI inputs.

monoprice carries 'in wall' rated hdmi cables & you can easily buy romex (or the little kit) at home depot to feed your power through the wall.

either way, the install is super clean and no visible cables anywhere.

Do you have access to the attic or crawl space above the ceiling? If so, then run an hdmi cable from the wallplate up into the ceiling and then drop it in the book to the left. Have a cabinetmaker build a built in storage unit there (I usually wouldn't advise built-ins but that little nook is an exception). In that storage unit you keep your receiver and any other pieces of equipment including cable box. All the mess is in the built in. You can even have it built with breathable doors so you can hide it all. You may have to reroute a cable drop over to that area as well.

If you don't have access to the crawl space, you might be able to route it inside the walls around the fireplace into the nook, but you would have done drywall repair work to do once finished.