How Can You Fix an Old TV Niche Above a Fireplace?

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Q. My son is interested in buying a home. The home design is perfect for him except the cut-out space over the fireplace in the living room that was used for older model TVs is huge. The space does not really accommodate the new plasma models which are now flat and wide, not deep and tall. I'm sure this is a decorating mistake for a lot of home owners that bought homes that had this design in them. How do you fix or decorate to accommodate for the new plasma models in this space. (from Donna)

A. Donna, thank you for your question. If your son is spending good money to make the home purchase in the first place, this design glitch should not hold him back in any way. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, as it were.

We advise him to spend a bit more money to have a carpenter come in and add some sheetrock to the niche and make whatever sizing adjustment he needs to fit a new flatscreen.

There are certain types of televisions, like the LCD models for example, that feature speakers at the bottom of the TV rather than on either side. If your son goes with one of these sets, then it's not quite so horizontal a shape that you will need to fill in with your carpentry work. That tallness to the screen and speakers would help fill the existing niche space better. Just leave the back void and pack it forward with a piece of plywood and attach the TV to that.

Another good solution is to buy some broad casing material -- the wood molding that goes around a door -- and with some of this five- or six-inches-wide material, you can reshape that opening. It would cover the sheetrock on the left and right, but it would cover the void in the wall on the top and bottom of the new TV opening.

Then you would have your plasma or LCD screen showing within a picture frame.

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