Hidden Flat Screen in Fireplace Mantle

Hidden Flat Screen above the fireplace

This really was my first attempt at building something on this scale. Closed it measures 60” wide x 72” high, open it measures more than 9 1/2 ft wide. Although we have a 42” screen I built it to accommodate up to a 55” (nudge, nudge, wink wink Honey)

I built it so that our TV would not be the focal point within our small living room, but would still be easily accessible.

When the doors are open they nearly block the little side widows, helping with TV Viewing.

I used 1/4 plywood for the doors and “TV Box” inside of 2×2 framing. The doors side on 26” Length Low Profile Slides with 100lbs rating from Rockler with full slide extensions.

Essentially it is a framed box mounted to the existing brick chimney and sliding doors that wrap around each corner. The molding hides where the doors come together and along the top and bottom.

I beveled the corners on the doors so they came together with a well defined angled corner.

The power for the TV was run up from the crawlspace and the HDMI and Optical Audio Cables were run down along the side of the existing fireplace mantle. More crown molding on both sides even things out while hiding the cables.

I added crown to give the look of the actual mantle being wider as we lost the 7” depth to the TV box.

I don’t have a workshop yet so I built this with handheld power tools on my deck over several weekends.

I would like to rebuild this possibly using solid woods and finer joints. Also as of right now you must manually slide each door to the open position and ideally I would automate them in the future.