There’s an unspoken rule in the design community that you should hide your television, like it’s a dirty secret. If you listen to the podcast, you’ll know that we always get questions about televisions, and often our guests like to talk televisions too. Over our last forty-two episodes, we’ve come up with lots of ideas, many of which involve ‘hiding’ your tv in plain sight. In other words, decorate around it. Here are our favorite ones:
1. On a gallery wall
In the breakfast room of Bunny Williams’ 2015 Idea House, we loved seeing how she hung a set of photographs around a flatscreen TV. Because the prints are about the same size as the television and they’re also black, they help the screen feel like it’s part of a large group.
Of course, you don’t have to use photographs to work your TV into a gallery wall. We love a TV amongst colorful abstract or a mix of prints too.
2. On a dark wall
A dark wall color is a great way to camouflage a TV, like we did in this home office with a dark chocolate wall (Benjamin Moore’s Rural Earth). Because there’s no contrast between the black screen and the chocolate brown wall color, the TV almost disappears into the wall.
3. In a cabinet
We shared Atlanta interior designer Virginia Cheek’s home tour on the blog, and she also joined us on the podcast, and we loved the way she snuck her TV into an open cabinet right next to her front door. Because of the charcoal gray cabinet, you can barely see the screen.
Our Martine Media Cabinet has a similar idea. The interior is a dark charcoal gray so it camouflages a screen, and the moveable shelves mean it can fit up to a 72″ screen while also having space for books, baskets, or even art.
4. Surrounded by plates
Traditional wisdom usually tells us to hide the TV like it’s an embarrassment, but from our point of view, they’re just a fact of life. We live by the mantra that if you give us something pretty to look at (in addition to your flatscreen), we’re happy. We love the way designer Maggie Griffin decorated around her television with a collection of creamware in her casual breakfast room.
5. Behind a screen
Of course in Maggie’s formal living room, she took a different approach that we love just as much. She found a Chinese screen at an antique store and had it mounted over the television so that she can easily hide it when guests come over. Awfully clever!
6. On a grid
Create some order around your television to draw attention away from your screen. We loved the way architect Bill Ingram hung a flatscreen TV in the keeping room off the kitchen of the 2016 Idea House. In between two grids of botanical prints, Bill mounted to flatscreen directly to the wall over a console table. The TV is in plain sight, but it’s by no means the focus of the room.
7. Distract with accessories
Mounting the television over the mantel may not work for every space, but in open floor plans, there aren’t always a lot of options. Artist Melissa Payne Baker flanked her TV with two large mercury glass vases and a large mirror on each side of the mantel.
8. One large painting
Leave it to an artist to dream up a larger than life canvas as a way to add a second focal point to her living room. In Andrea Costa’s Atlanta condo, she hung a huge abstract art print behind her TV. The goal isn’t to take away from the flatscreen, just to give the eye a pretty space to land in addition to the TV.
Want to create the ultimate media room? See our tips here. Or browse more living room ideas on our Pinterest boards.
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Dorothy J Peters
I like the idea of using the Chinese four panel screen. I’ve been putting off mounting a small TV in the master bedroom because I didn’t like the idea of a TV on the wall in that room, but this would be a way to hide it beautifully.
From the picture it looks like she had something installed above and below for the screen to attach to and slide on.
Jamie L Lotz
I saw something like this at a homeshow over the weekend. Make your wall-mounted TV look like a painting when its not in use. Pretty cool.
https://www.lifewire.com/turn-your-home-theater-into-an-art-gallery-with-artcast-4083266