Nothing makes your home theater look worse than having wires hanging down from the bottom of your TV. The best option is to use a cable management system to hide your unsightly wires in the walls. However, you might not be able to cut holes in your walls, especially if you live in an apartment or condo. To make your home theater look as good as possible, here are a few cheap and easy ways to hide your TV wires without cutting into your walls.
Use Cord Clips to Hide Your Wires Behind a TV Stand
If your TV is sitting on a stand, you can easily hide your wires by using cord clips. These small plastic clips usually have an adhesive backing, so you can stick them to the back of your furniture without worrying about damaging anything.
All you need to do is place these cord clips around the back of your furniture and snake your wires around to a surge protector or plug. This will also help you keep your cords organized and stop them from getting tangled up.
Use Zip Ties to Keep Your Wires from Touching the Floor
If your TV stand has space at the bottom, you can use zip ties to keep your wires from touching the ground. All you have to do is spool your wires and cinch them together with a zip tie. However, you should make sure there is enough slack to pull your TV stand out and access your wires.
If you don’t want to cut your zip ties every time you need to move a wire, you can also use Velcro zip ties. And, if you want to save even more space, you can use a flat outlet extender that lets you plug your cables in from the side. This can also double or triple the number of outlets you can plug your devices into.
Use a Cable Management Box
If you can’t use cord clips or zip ties to hide your wires, you can always use a cable management box. These small plastic boxes are large enough to hide your wires and even a small surge protector.
Make sure to find a cable management box that has holes or slits around the side, so you can add cables in different directions. Then you can place the lid on top to conceal your cables and keep them out of reach of children or pets.
Use a Wall Cord Raceway Kit
If your TV is mounted, you can use a wall cord concealer kit to hide your wires without cutting into your walls. This type of raceway usually has an adhesive backing, so you can stick it to your wall without damaging it. Then you can hide your TV wires and other cables inside it before snapping the cover on.
With a raceway, you can also add or remove cables any time you want to. However, it will mean that your cables have a longer distance to travel, so you might have to replace your current cables with longer ones. Since this type of raceway is usually made out of plastic, you can easily cut it down to the perfect size.
For extra points, you can also paint your raceway the same color as your wall, so it will blend in with the background. To get the best paint match, you can cut a small chip of paint off your wall and take it to your local hardware store. Also, you should use a vertical level to make sure that your raceway isn’t crooked.
Hide Your TV Wires Inside a Baseboard Raceway
If your outlets aren’t behind your TV stand, you can also use a baseboard raceway to hide your wires without cutting into your walls. This type of raceway sits just above your baseboard without looking too obtrusive. They usually have an adhesive backing and are made out of plastic, so you can cut them down to size.
A baseboard raceway will blend beautifully with your wall, and no one will even notice that they are there. You can even cut them at a 45-degree angle to run your cables around corners. These raceways come in a variety of colors that are meant to match most baseboards, or you can paint it to match your walls.
For extra points, you might want to consider using a piece of furniture to hide your wires where they come out and need to plug into the wall. This way, no one will be able to tell that your wires are hidden in the baseboard at all.
Use a Fabric Cord Concealer
If your TV is in the middle of your room, or you can’t use a raceway, you might want to consider a simple fabric cord cover. This simple solution will not only hide your cables, but it will also keep them safe from children and pets. Plus, there will be less of a chance that anyone will trip over your wires.
Fabric cord covers usually come in a variety of colors and sizes. Some also have zippers that make it easy to remove them when you want to add more cables or remove any. While using a fabric cable cover means you won’t be able to cut it down to size, you can always add as many as you need, and it will still look great.
Use Decor to Hide Your TV Wires
One of the easiest and most affordable ways to hide your TV wires without cutting into your walls is to position them behind decorations. For example, if you have your TV mounted above a table or some drawers, all you have to do is place some books in front of your wires.
For an added bonus, you can also use decorative boxes to hide your cable box or other devices that plug into your TV. However, make sure that you are not blocking any sensors on your TV. This might make it hard for your remote to send a signal to your TV.
Hide Your TV Wires Behind a Panelboard
If you’re feeling crafty, you can put up a panel to hide the wires hanging from your TV. Panelboards come in many sizes and designs. You can pick one up with a flashy pattern, or you can also choose something simple.
Can’t find a pattern that you like? No problem! Cover the panel or board with fabric, and you’re good to go. You can also paint it to match your wall or choose a design that will make your TV stand out. If you don’t want to spend money on a panel and fabric, you can use wood pallets to hide the wires. You can paint the pallet board or leave it natural for a farmhouse or rustic design.
Hide Your TV Wires in Plain Sight
This idea is perfect for the artsy person. With a little ingenuity, you can take your messy TV wires and turn them into art. All you need to do is use clear plastic cable clips, double-sided tape, adhesive, or any other unobtrusive method to create a design out of your wires.
If you’re feeling more adventurous, you can also create more complex geometric patterns or use your TV wires to create a city skyline. One design that will no doubt appeal to techy homeowners is to form computer chip patterns using the TV wires.
Hide TV Wires Behind the Wall
The best way to hide your TV wires is with an in-wall cable management system. Not only will your cables be out of sight, but if you use an in-wall power extender with more than one outlet, you can plug more devices into the back of your TV.
Read More: How to hide your TV wires in the wall
Plus, this method also lets you mount your TV flush against the wall. This is because most power extender kits are recessed, so your cables won’t hit the back of your TV when you retract it back.
While you can mount your TV yourself, it can be a difficult process, especially if you have a large flat-screen TV. If you are uncomfortable mounting your TV yourself, you can always contact a professional at HelloTech to do it for you. We have thousands of experts across the country ready to visit your home and mount your TV for you.
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