I’ve had a number of questions about how I covered the large black recess above our fireplace — the space builders typically design for a TV.
If you’re wondering why we didn’t put our TV there, here are the reasons. First, the fireplace opening sits very high, nearly five feet off the floor. With our sofa arranged to the left and facing the right wall, mounting a TV up there would force us to look up and to the side, which would be uncomfortable for extended viewing. Second, I enjoy decorating the mantel, and a TV over the fireplace limits how I can style that space. A screen that’s almost as wide as the mantel leaves little room for decorative items, and covering or uncovering the TV every time we want to change the display would be inconvenient. For those reasons we placed the TV on the wall directly across from the sofa so we can watch straight on; I’ll share how that works in a separate post.
So how did I hide the black hole? You’ve seen this fireplace before and may have noticed the “shutters” on the mantel. Those shutters are actually painted cabinet doors that I removed from my kitchen to create open shelving elsewhere. I liked the look of shutters, and cabinet doors were the perfect size to conceal the entire recess without appearing oversized or awkward.
From the side you can see the cabinet doors are simply leaning back against the wall. They’re tall enough to stay in place without attaching them to the wall. The setup is non-permanent, so it remains flexible and easy to change.
I used three doors, with the middle door overlapping the two side doors. That layout looked best to me. Because I didn’t plan this project in advance, the two white doors aren’t exactly the same size. Placing a colored middle door — I’ve used blue and green at different times — gives a balanced, intentional look and hides the slight mismatch.
There’s an outlet inside the niche, as you can see in the before photo, so if I want to add lighting or decor that requires power it’s easy to run an extension cord around the shutters and plug in. The non-permanent nature of the shutters makes swapping items in and out simple and practical.
I like to change the mantel decor with the seasons, so the center cabinet door has been swapped from blue to green, and sometimes I replace the center shutter with a mirror to bring warmth to autumn and winter displays. I plan to make a few additional center doors so I can update the look quickly for different seasons. This approach is versatile, low-cost, and allows creativity without committing to a permanent fixture.
Here are a few ways the mantel has been styled over time:
Winter version with mirror and wreath
Summer mantel with blue shutter
Fall mantel with wreath on green shutter
Christmas mantel
Before and after: hiding the black hole
If you’re curious about the wall paint, there are resources that list the colors I used.
I hope this explains my solution for concealing the fireplace niche. It’s simple, adaptable, and lets me enjoy seasonal decorating while avoiding a permanently mounted TV over the fireplace.