The 5 Best Ways To Hide TV Cables
If you’ve spent the time and effort to mount your television, you probably don’t want wires hanging down where you can see them. Luckily, there are easy, inexpensive solutions to making sure your finished result is sleek, clean, and organized. The best ways to hide TV cables come in two primary types you’ll have to decide between: on the wall and behind the wall. For on-floor cables, there are also breezy solutions to keep those tidy but accessible.
On-the-wall solutions are often affordable and the easiest to do yourself, since they don’t require any tools or cutting. (They’re also usually the best option for those with hard-to-cut wall materials, like brick or concrete, too.) Most on-the-wall solutions feature some kind of tube or sleeve that goes from your television to your outlet, hiding the cords underneath. Note, however, that this solution will still be visible — it’ll just be streamlined and much less noticeable. The best cable management sleeves are easy to adhere for convenience and can be painted so they further blend into your wall.
Behind-the-wall solutions are admittedly a lot more work, but for truly invisible TV wires, many buyers think it’s worth it. These solutions require that you cut into your wall to feed wires through. As a result, it’s a more permanent method that, at the very least, requires a basic knowledge of power tools and drywall cutting. At the most, you’ll need to know how to find studs and connect electrical plates. Fortunately, a few best-selling kits on Amazon help streamline the process.
And while those with TV stands or consoles probably don’t need on-wall or behind-wall solutions, they might benefit from floor boxes that keep wires (and power strips) condensed and hidden. Cable boxes are pretty handy for those with mounted televisions, too.
Whether you’re looking to conceal, reroute, or organize your TV cables, these are some of the best ways to do it.
1. The Best Way To Hide TV Wires On The Wall
Delamu Cord Cover Raceway Kit
Amazon
With more than 8,000 reviews and a 4.
5-star rating, this cable-management kit is a number-one best-seller on Amazon. In short, it comes with everything you need to disguise your TV wires on almost any surface. The kit includes 10 PVC channels that are over a foot in length, multiple elbows and connectors so you can route your wires in different directions, and screws, anchors, and self-adhesive tape so you can install the kit your way. All exterior materials can be painted so they blend right in with your wall color, and reviewers say the whole thing is “easy to install” and “looks very professional” when finished.
One reviewer wrote: “We bought a wall mounted media console and choose these cable covers to make the area neater in appearance. They are white, but I painted mine to match the wall color. They were easy to cut to the size I needed and easy to install and pop in place. I chose the adhesive tape as opposed to screws.”
2. The Cheapest & Easiest Solution
D-Line Cable Raceway On-Wall Cord Cover
Amazon
This is also a wall-mounted solution, but it’s simpler and cheaper than the one above; as a result, it’s the best pick for someone who wants a no-hassle, one-step cable management system.
The D-Line cable raceway is a one 39-inch channel (which you can cut to size) with a self-adhesive strip on the back. It’s paintable and features a slit so you can add or re-route wires later on. You can also get it in three different sizes and five different colors. It’s not the most subtle option, but it’s definitely the easiest to install for someone with minimal experience.
One reviewer wrote: “This makes such a big difference in the living room. I just used the white finish it comes as and it looks great. The swing door is awesome and easy to use. Install was a breeze!”
3. The Best Way To Hide TV Wires In The Wall
Echogear White In-Wall Cable Management Kit
Amazon
For a basic behind-the-wall setup, the Echogear cable management kit is without a doubt the easiest and most affordable option. It has nearly 4,000 reviews on Amazon because you don’t need to hand-cut the wall or secure anything to studs. Instead, the kit comes with a circular drill attachment that’s designed to fit the two grommets, which lock into your drywall and have a slit big enough for HDMI, aux, and wall-rated power cables.
The set comes in white, off-white, or black, but if installed correctly, the color doesn’t really matter — it’ll be entirely invisible behind your TV and console.
One reviewer wrote: “Anyone can do this. It was so easy to install and I felt like a pro when working on my interior design project. My client was not only super happy, they were really impressed it didn’t cost them thousands to hide their wires for the home entertainment system. Only drawback, you will need to clean up the mess.”
4. A Cable Organizer Kit With A Power Solution
Cable Organizer Kit With Power Solution
Amazon
The DataComm Electronics cable management system definitely requires a handle on DIY jobs; you’ll need to find studs, trace lines, cut drywall, and run and connect some electrical wires — but if you know how to do those things, this kit allows you to route and fully hide all of your wires while also placing power solution outlets where there weren’t any before.
Each order comes with a recessed top plate, a recessed bottom plate (both with drywall wings), a 6-foot grounded extension cord, electrical building wire, a paper template, and wire nuts.
One reviewer wrote: “In our last house I paid an electrician (and friend) $100 just to install an AC outlet behind our wall-mounted TV. This kit was roughly half that cost! Now, you WILL need a little sheet-rock saw (which I had), stud finder (had that too) and a few other common tools. Using the supplied paper template it’s easy to mark the wall and make the cuts.”
5. The Best Cable Management Box
DMoose Cable Management Box
Amazon
Finally, for those looking to hide power strips and cables on the floor, the DMoose cable management box does the trick. It’s a sleek tray with a lid that’s big enough for surge protectors, plus it has slits on either end so you can route your cables while hiding the clutter. Thanks to the white box and woodgrain top, even if it is out in the open, it’ll still look neat and stylish.
(You can also get it in all white or black.)
One reviewer wrote: “Easy way to tidy up. It’s amazing how much cleaner our living room looks without a spider’s web of wires below the tv!”
8 Genius Ways to Hide Every Wire in Your Home- Bob Vila
Photo: istockphoto.com
Does your enthusiasm for electronics have you living in a jungle of cords? Given the sheer volume of wires that dwell in a modern home, figuring out how to hide TV wires and cords and cables for other must-have gadgets can be frustrating. But before you hit a point of swearing off technology altogether, check out the cord management solutions below. You can buy or DIY to disguise or hide every wire in sight and permanently improve the organization of your home.
1. Hook cords to the back of your furniture.
Photo: Amazon.com
Dangling cords disappear quickly when you anchor them to the silhouette of the nearest furniture. To do so, adhere clear cord clips like these Command Cord Clips along the back edges of your furniture.
Like most of the line of renter-friendly solutions from 3M, you’ll need to press the clips in place for 30 seconds and, an hour later, you can hook in one or more cords and have them run neatly down the legs of your console. (These hooks help hide charging cords and cables at your desk really well, too!)
If you’re feeling a bit craftier, you can hide a tangle of cables behind a stand-mounted TV by incorporating built-in cord storage into the design of your DIY TV stand. This one designed by Heidi from Kruse’s Workshop (and featured on Tatertots & Jello) keeps cables contained in a notch that runs down the middle leg at the back of the unit. You can recreate the stand from scratch with reclaimed wood: Follow the blogger’s detailed instructions for how to use a table saw to create a recessed groove in the back leg, then run the cords for your TV and other entertainment essentials down the groove in the leg to keep them out of sight.
2. Corral cables behind the couch.
Photo: Etsy.com
Disguise the clutter of all those charging cords with this slim sofa table from Etsy seller MittenStateWoodworks. The table’s narrow design tucks neatly behind any couch and features a built-in outlet with two USB ports for charging all of your personal electronics out of sight. You can also plug in a lamp for additional lighting and display your favorite decor on the table, too. Just be sure to keep drinks and other liquids away from the table’s electrical components.
3. Hide TV wires in plain sight.
Photo: amazon.com
If the cords dangling from your wall-mounted TV are distracting you from what’s on screen, conceal them with cord covers like the D-Line Cable Raceway, a favorite in our researched guide to the best cable management. Plastic tracks like these mount directly to the wall on top of wires.
To install and effectively hide TV wires, measure the span of wall between the base of the screen and the floor—that’s the length of cord cover you need, and you can often cut to fit.
In the case of the Cable Raceway, you’ll cut the base and top of the cord cover using a hacksaw. Then, mount the raceway base to the wall with screws according to the manufacturer’s instructions, lay the TV cords inside the channel, and snap the cover in place over the top. Cord covers are typically sold in neutral colors like white or metallic gray that can stand out if your wall is a different color. But when painted the same color as your wall (using latex-based paint), they seamlessly blend into the space.
RELATED: 11 Ways to Keep Electronics From Taking Over the Living Room
4. Run TV wires inside the wall.
Photo: istockphoto.com
The best solution for keeping the cords of a wall-mounted TV out of sight involves hiding them behind the wall itself using recessed cable plates like the DATA COMM Easy Mount Cable Organizer Kit. Remove the TV from the wall (or move it aside if your TV has an adjustable arm), and then use a stud finder to find two stud-free sections of the wall: one behind where the screen would sit, and another further down the wall near an outlet.
These are where you’ll make your cuts using a utility knife, fit two cable plates, and feed the TV cords in and out of the wall. Your guests may just mistake your new media setup for a wireless entertainment system!
5. Tuck cord chaos into tubing.
Photo: amazon.com
Can’t manage the melange of cords in your home office for PCs, monitors, phones, printers, and other devices used daily? A cable wrap like the MOSOTECH 120-inch Cable Sleeve, a top pick in our researched guide to the best cable management solutions, provides an easy way to consolidate all the loose cords that dangle from your desk. Simply bundle them together in your hands, and wrap the two-foot-long pieces of flexible foam tubing around the wires to corral them into one larger one and minimize chaos. Thanks to the slinky shape, you can break out and redirect wires from the group anywhere along the stretch so that they can reach exactly where they need to go.
6. Slip them into a drawer.
Photo: amazon.com
Making a few creative modifications to a desk drawer can do away with the eyesore of a clunky power strip parked on the floor and overflowing with cords. With a hole saw bit attached to your power drill, drill a hole into the back panel of the desk drawer located near a wall outlet. Then, feed the power strip cable through the hole and use double-sided adhesive to mount the back of the power strip itself to the same drawer panel. As you plug electronics into the power strip, create a space for each gadget to rest while it charges in the drawer, just as home blogger Jenny Steffens Hobick does in her kitchen cabinetry.
If you’d rather buy than DIY, check out the South Shore Vito nightstand with a built-in charging station.
7. Snake them through baseboard accessories.
Photo: homedepot.com
Eliminate the tripping hazard of an ethernet cable running the length of your home office, living room, or bedroom by adorning existing baseboards in the room with baseboard cord channels.
The self-adhesive, impact-resistant cord channels are little more than hollowed-out sections of plastic quarter round shoe molding. To mount the channels to your baseboards, peel off the adhesive backing of a channel, press the back of the channel against a baseboard, and then run an ethernet cable—or any other cord, for that matter—through the opening in the channel to simultaneously hide and protect the cables from damage. Stainable and paintable, the baseboard cord channels can be dressed to match any interior design aesthetic.
8. Stash wires and routers in “books.”
Photo: etsy.com
Your router or modem can appear out of place almost wherever you fit it, but especially so on your shelves. Consider bookending your home library with this creative router cover available from Etsy seller Covobox. You could also DIY a version of this by repurposing a binder that’s wide enough to fit your router and using hot glue to cover the back, front, and spine of the binder with colorful scrap fabric.