You can stylishly hide or camouflage your flat-screen TV with art, doors, mirrors and more… Another fun article from Houzz. I like it because I do not think TVs should be in the living room, but as we downsize we run out of places to put it.
Large black boxes detract from interior design and often from the room’s real focal point, whether that is the fireplace or another standout feature.
Conceal it with art. In this colorful Costa Rica living room, artwork hung on a track system which is hidden gracefully under a wooden wall shelf — provides a great solution for making the TV disappear. The white color of the branches in the art repeats the white of the sofa so that the color scheme of the art works cohesively with the room.
If you don’t have enough room to slide art horizontally, you might consider moving it up or down, as shown in this photo. Again, the color scheme of the art particularly that strong white background ties in well with the white sectional and tabletop.
Hide it behind folding cabinet doors. Beautiful hinged baked-steel panels do double duty here as a fireplace finish and a way to conceal the TV. The baked steel adds warm, inviting color and unique artistic flair.
Wood cabinetry provides a great option for masking the TV on a fireplace wall, and also adds warmth and texture.
Disguise it as a mirror. Televisions with mirrored glass are nothing new, but positioning your TV over a chest so that it looks like a mirror helps it blend into the surrounding decor. In this room, the mirror’s dark frame mimics the color of the folding screens, and the warm beading color on the frame picks up the same color in the rug border.
Televisions with mirrored fronts can be purchased from a variety of online and retail sources, which often offer an array of framing options.
The mirrored TV’s frame edge blends perfectly with the wood finish behind, supporting the overall design.
Mask it with barn doors. If you have a large wall indentation or niche, sliding barn doors may be the perfect solution for hiding your TV and its components. Not only will everything disappear when †he doors are shut, but when they’re open, the entertainment area is emphasized, creating the feel of a home theater.
Stash it with a TV lift. Whether you buy ready-made furniture with a built-in pop-up mechanism for your television or have the mechanism added, as in this room, a lift can be a great solution for hiding electronics. Here the pop-up TV blends seamlessly into the shelving when not in use.
A motorized TV lift with a remote is more convenient to use than a manual option, but the noise from the motor varies depending on the specific model.
Rotate it out of view. The rotating TV in this space provides not only function but also beauty. The cabinet enclosing it can do a 180-degree turn. On the opposite side is a solid wood panel that blends into the rest of the cabinetry. Design-wise, the warm color of the sofa and ottoman pick up the warmth of the TV cabinet, and the striated pattern on the pillow echo the lines of the grain.
Make it disappear with wainscoting. Even though wainscoting is traditionally used on the lower third of a wall as a protective finish, it can serve as a nice finish for the fireplace, adapted to hide electronics. The panels can be installed directly in front of the TV on a hidden track system. Here, the white color and simple style of the wood wainscoting make it meld beautifully with the window trim and ceiling beams.
Lift hidden in millwork. Whether or not to have a TV in the bedroom has been a hot debate on Houzz. This solution is a good compromise. The 49-inch TV and TV lift are hidden behind the panels under the window bay. The TV lift is mounted to the subfloor and can extend vertically to twice its height behind the cabinet to raise the TV completely from behind the paneling.”
Lift hidden in millwork.
This solution kept the look of the millwork intact. The window sill and nosing travel with the TV, while the scotia molding remains attached to the paneling below to allow for a seamless look at the front. And it’s set up for easy TV maintenance if that’s ever needed. The three-part paneling and attached base molding are removable via earth magnets along the inside frame.
Lift hidden in a kitchen island. Clients struggle over where to put a TV in their kitchen. Most do not want to see it but admit they would use it all the time if it were there. This lift is concealed at the end of the kitchen island and slides out of sight when the homeowners aren’t honing their cooking skills.
Sliding cover. In this kitchen, a shiplap panel slides across to cover the TV when it’s not in use. The homeowner wanted to have a TV near the kitchen but did not want to see it.
The home has a few barn doors and lots of shiplap throughout. “This was just a perfect combination of the two to make the TV disappear,” Cloutier says.
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Sliding art panel. This living room design employs a similar solution on a larger scale. A large panel slides across a track over the TV to hide it. Art is mounted on the panel so it’s not just an expanse of white.
Pocketing bifold doors. In this living room, the TV is an attraction when it’s on. But when the family wants to enjoy the quiet in their calm coastal-style living room, the black hole gets covered up.
Lovely bifold doors that suit the style of the fireplace surround conceal the TV. The doors slide on a track back into the cabinet when the family wants to watch TV and are easy to close back up when they don’t.
Artful bifold doors. This idea is similar, but the doors compose a work of art when closed.
These doors do not slide back like we saw in the previous example; they fold to the side of the TV. (If you have a fireplace with a brick or stone chimney you won’t likely to be able to accommodate pocketing doors.)
Art lift. This painting is mounted to a lift that raises up when the TV is in use and lowers to cover it when not. The lift is motorized so this can be done with a push of a button. It can also hold a mirror or a panel if you prefer that to a piece of artwork, and you can mount it to move horizontally if you don’t have the height for a vertical lift.
Pocketing doors. In this farmhouse, two doors open and slide back into the TV recess when the family wants to use it. They cleverly conceal the TV when it’s not in use while blending in beautifully with the farmhouse-inspired architecture. The barn-style millwork is a nice fit with the fieldstone fireplace surround and board-and-batten paneling overhead.
Motorized sliding screens. This beautiful fireplace surround has a secret. When the TV is turned on, the panels automatically slide to the left, and when it’s turned off they automatically close.
Barn doors. Salvaged barn wood shiplap creates a warm accent wall in this family room. Mounting modern technology on top of it was not the most pleasant juxtaposition of old and new.
So they added matching barn doors that slide open to reveal the TV and come together to hide it.
Lift-up panel. At first glance, you would not guess there is a TV hidden in this room.
But a beautiful wooden panel slides up (similarly to a double-hung window) to reveal the screen.
Secret siding slot. When these homeowners wanted a way to watch al fresco, the builders got creative. The interior TV pocket was installed by moving the cabinets in the interior mudroom by 18 inches.
Secret siding slot. When these homeowners wanted a way to watch al fresco, the builders got creative. The interior TV pocket was installed by moving the cabinets in the interior mudroom by 18 inches.
After framing the wall, they attached two 60-inch industrial drawer slides to the framing and secured a piece of plywood to the slides. They were able to slide the assembly out of the house and used a traditional TV arm-mount to mount the TV and cables they needed to make everything work.
The TV is not weatherproof, the opening of the house is weatherproof. An opening in the siding was cut and flashed and insulated it.
The siding piece covers up the TV slot when it’s not in use.
Digital art display. This TV is hidden in plain sight. Images show up on the screen when the TV is not in use. Personal photographs or artwork from your own collection, can be displayed. You can choose from a variety of digital mattes to match your room’s decor or to fit in with other frames and mattes on a gallery wall.
Your turn: Do you celebrate the look of a TV or would you rather hide it? Please share your tips for concealing a TV in the Comments.