TV and sofa position confusion

[WitchetyWoman]

Hi.

I've just moved into a Victorian terraced house and I'm struggling to figure out where to put my TV, and where to position the sofa. And I can't go ahead and buy a sofa until I know what exact space is available for it to fit into.

I don't particularly want to break the line of sight from the front door through to the back door (which allows you to see the garden) so wouldn't want it sat back against the left hand wall as you come into the house, but if we put the sofa against a wall either one or other side of the fireplace then we won't be looking directly at the TV if the TV is mounted there - it would have to be on a TV bracket that could swing out, having said that, not sure how viable that is - it's a near frameless 64" TV. Aesthetically and in terms of visual balance, I feel like TV on the chimney breast is my favourite (nice shelves either side....) and the other items in the room would have to work around that.

So, we could place the sofa directly facing the chimney breast (but not against the wall) with the TV above (would need a mantle to protect the TV from heat).

The other option appears to be put the sofa where the window to the front it is and the TV goes on the opposite wall and nothing goes on the chimney breast - I feel like I might be hitting the back of my head on the blind...

If we did place the sofa facing the chimney breast I'm bearing in mind there is a wood burning fire that we might use from time to time in that room - are we likely to burn our knees off sitting in front of it?!? I have no idea how often we will likely be to use that fire (there is a radiator in that room already that works off the central heating).

I was considering also the need to have space for a coffee table and whether that would work in a scenario where we're sitting facing the fire and the chimney breast...... As well as one or maybe two easy chairs as well...? Away to make that work might be to not have a coffee table and just have side tables...

What are people's thoughts on layout as I can't seem to get my head around it??!

We had this exact same room layout and the best floor plan was a sofa under the window, the TV on the wall opposite the sofa and a mirror above the fireplace. Worked really well.

The problem is that the chimney breast will also heat up from the fire and over time it doesn't do the TV much good. Ask me how I know.

Dang it! How often did you have a fire going?

That was my daughter's thinking - I just feel I'll have the blind whacking the back of my head!

Pull it out slightly to avoid that.

My first terraced house was like this put sofa on wall where the big box is and to in corner other side of chimney breast
problem is your tv is too big for the room

A fair bit in winter- ours was actually gas, not a burner- can’t see it properly but I think yours is real? However I think the problem might be the same. I’d set a fire and see how much the chimney warms up. It might be ok depending on the materials/ thickness. Ours possibly was just not insulated v well.

Also, pull it out slightly from the wall anyway. You don't want a sofa directly touching the outside wall of an older house. It needs room so the wall can breathe. Ask me how I know 🙄

Thank you for all these thoughts based on what you've experienced.

I've decided, I'm going to at least explore the possibility of the TV on the chimbley breast but - with appropriate heat absorbing / non-transferring board on metal battens.What isn't clear to see from the pic is the fire is way out front of the space that it could fit into - there's a fireproof black surround that could come out and the fire could then go further back and thus the heat would more go up the chimney rather than up the front (approaching I suppose the TV screen...). Keeping either the existing wooden fire surround, or looking at a Victorian one.

I'm going to at least explore all the possibilities (and costs!) of this and then I think I'd be ok with having the sofa facing the chimney breast and TV mounted there.... I don't know why but I feel odd about sitting with my back to the window that fronts onto an often-busy-with-pedestrians-street (😶). I'm going to talk to a HETAS engineer and just see what they say as my next step.