True and good point. But generally there are about 5 days in the winter where the effort and mess of a fireplace are potentially worth it.
Rant: PSA to builders, housewives, and general complaint
In our search for a new house, I’m seeing some disturbing and annoying trends, mainly, living rooms where the ONLY place to put a TV is way high above a fireplace. This leaves zero flexibility for tv placement, additional audio components etc. Most don’t even have plugs. I'm also in Texas and there's ZERO need for a fireplace.
Not to mention all the "open concepts" we’re seeing where the living room is strangely shaped and the kitchen is basically in the room where you hear all the kitchen noise and you’re 100% accessible to your spouse and their conversation (ramblings).
This isn’t a problem if you have $2m to spend but for most of us, we’re limited in where we can set up our toys and this does not help.
Thank you for listening.
Showing 6 responses by dtximages
@mhemusic thanks and great suggestion for getting the screen to a lower level but that still doesn't do anything for my media cabinet, wires, center channel, possible short throw projector. I love having my main system in the main living area because it gets used alot. Others can envy, criticize, or enjoy it often. When I've had a "man cave" i rarely used it because it was so separated from everything and everyone. |
@yesiam_a_pirate agree! I'm not anti fireplace, just anti most $400k-900k homes build the fireplace right in the main entertainment spot of the house, right where my system should go forcing me to work around it where it's totally unused 99.9% of the time. A fireplace off to the side or out of the way is great., as long as nothing is too rattly on the doors and such. |
@whart currently in the Dallas area. Considering moving to Atlanta or maybe Nashville but it's really the same story there. Same cookie cutter style that my wife loves. We have young kids so we don't have the luxury of living just anywhere based on finding the perfect house.. It has to be in the right schools, in the right neighborhood, and all that.. that equals cookie cutter for the most part. And for whatever reasons, housewives have demanded this open-concept fire place where my system should go look. I swear it was by design by housewives everywhere.
I agree that when staging a house to sell, a lovely family portrait above fire place sells better than massive speakers a half mile of cables expertly hidden in the nooks and crannies..
Speaking of.... are you amazed at how many men come into your home and don't comment or even look twice at the system you're so proud of?
If I went into someones home and they had a pair of speakers as tall as me and a system with cool lights, I'd at least be attracted and give kudos! Makes it easy cull friends at least. |
@whart yeah we had a couple of days under 100deg and it felt great with no humidity! Anyway, my angst about the fireplace isn't so much with mounting the tv too high, it's the total lack of options it allows.. No place for my "spread" if you will (media cabinet full of sparkling equipment, center channel, etc.) I swear it all started with a magazine and a woman (or man I suppose so i dont get banned) saw it and had to have it. Unfortunately, I can't say NO to a house based only on "theres not enough room for my stereo" haha.
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@kennyc yeah you're right it's costly but many modern homes don't allow much wiggle room for this, not without damaging the overall value of the home. Many times there are staircases or other obstacles or it's already an open concept to begin with so you're just creating new problems. I agree there are many options if you want to do ALOT of work and spend a ton of money. It's just a rant about a trend of "weird" living rooms that offer little options other than just a tv - often only above a fireplace. I know they're not thinking about my rig when they design a house, but it's almost impossible in 'many' of todays designs. |