Tips and Tricks to Hide Those Messy Wires

Untangle yourself from ugly electrical cords with a few tricks and accessories

Killy Scheer 10 October 2017

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As we all become more and more tethered to our electronic devices, wire management is a challenge almost everyone faces. It’s especially tough when trying to achieve a timeless, uncluttered design. Who wants to see wires mucking up a beautiful composition?

Thankfully, our reliance on technology has created a market for managing it all – there are tons of products on the market to help us out, while creative homeowners and designers are coming up with solutions of their own to keep wires under control and out of sight.

Of course, the best solution is to fully integrate wires into a design (where possible), which requires a lot of planning and healthy dose of construction. Let’s look at some examples of how to build in wire management, as well as working it into homes, for those of us who can’t make permanent changes to our homes, for one reason or another.

Scheer & Co. Interior Design

In my last apartment, my husband took great pains to keep the floors in our home office wire-free. He used zip ties and eye hooks to mount all of our components to the underside of our wood desk. If you’re not the DIY/handy type and would rather buy something to manage wires, you’re in luck .

Contemporary Family Room Charlie Barnett Associates : Architecture

Everyone seems to want to mount their flat screen TV on a wall these days, and it’s easier than you think – even if you’re a renter and you’re not supposed to penetrate walls.

A small hole can be bored in drywall and wires can be brought up to the desired height without much fuss. Of course, it helps to have built-in bookcases like these, which provide a little more room for pulling wires around.

Check out these 10 amazing ways to display books

If you're in love with a light fixture or a sconce like this one, but don't have the option to hardwire it, install it near window or door trim, where you can often staple the wire and even paint it so it blends in a bit.

Rodriguez Studio Architecture PC

Take a clue from lofts and let conduits do the hiding.

Scheer & Co. Interior Design

Some wall-mounted light fixtures come complete with a conduit that matches the finish and is more than presentable.

Like built-in shelving, wood paneling gives you a little extra play in terms of wire-hiding and electronics-mounting capabilities.

ZMK Group, Inc

If your house or apartment didn’t come complete with floor outlets, put area rugs to work to hide cords and wires so you can float furniture without worrying about how to plug in such things as lamps, computers and clocks.

Wondering how to choose the right carpet for your home?

Alexander Johnson Photography

Furniture with back panels make our lives easier. If your outlets are located a little high on the wall, a table like this will help conceal any wires. If outlets are closer to the baseboard, the panel still shields a lot of the wire, making it far more inconspicuous!

Browse through these 9 stylish bedside tables

User

Wires are an inescapable part of our lives, but minimising how much we see of them makes our living spaces so much more serene. This little table lamp has to plug in somewhere, but hiding the outlet behind the drawer portion of the desk conceals the “ugly” part of the lamp.

Roger Hirsch Architect

Desks with extra thickness, like this one, which has pencil drawers, give us more flexibility in terms of hiding wires, as the lip of the desk can conceal all kinds of industrial-looking wiring.

Read more:
D for Declutter, D for Decor

Tell us:
How have you managed the messy wires problem in your home? Share your tips in the Comments below.