How to hide a TV – 18 stylish ways to disguise your telly

Televisions aren't the most aesthetically pleasing items in our homes, so being able to hide a TV will help your decorating scheme along. But if you love hunkering down on the sofa to watch a movie under a blanket, the presence of a TV is just one of those things you have to live with.

The best TVs on the market are sleeker but larger than the boxy television sets of the past, but there are lots of clever ways to hide a TV – or at least camouflage it so it doesn't dominate.

How to hide a TV

Despite their mysterious absence in the shots of homes we see on Instagram, most of us have a telly somewhere in our home. Whether you want ways to conceal a TV above a fireplace, or to better incorporate one into your small living room ideas, keep reading for our top tips from designers and the Ideal Home team.

1. Distract with artwork

A quick, renter-friendly fix is to hang up lots of artwork and photographs near the TV to distract the eye. ‘To draw attention away from the TV, cluster artwork in a relaxed, uneven way around it with uneven spacing between,' says Abigail Ahern, designer and owner of Atelier Abigail Ahern. 

Gallery wall ideas will make a statement and bring colour, pattern and personality, making the TV less of a focus. Put the YouTube fire on in winter and all of a sudden the TV is much less noticeable.

To help it blend in further, interior designer Ann Marie Cousins recommends a monochromatic scheme for your gallery wall. 'Pair your TV with monochrome abstract artwork and black and white photographs, complemented with black and white frames,' she says.

2. Paint the wall behind it a dark shade

Navy blue living room ideas are having a moment right now, so a dark navy wall will feel on-trend and it'll make your TV disappear. Ideal Home Deputy Editor (digital), Becky Knight suggests painting the wall behind the telly a dark shade, as well as thinking carefully about placement. 

'I have a navy feature wall in my flat and it helps my 50-inch TV blend in. Set against a white wall it would feel a lot more overwhelming,' she says. 'The TV isn't right in the middle of the room either, which stops it from stealing the show.' Positioning the TV low down rather than up on the mantlepiece or chimney breast also has a big impact.

3. Invest in a smart TV

It's an investment, but a smart TV, such as a Samsung Frame, is a great modern living room idea that will make your TV less obtrusive. If you're a confident DIYer, you could always fake it by creating a gold frame and displaying artwork on your telly.

'I think it's fascinating the way that televisions are now paintings above the fireplace,' says Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. 'They're not lumps in the corner of the room. We're using all the benefits of 21st-century living but we're giving them a much more romantic, much more heritage spin.'

Alternatively, you can display family photos. Or to make the TV really disappear, take a photo of the wall and upload it to your smart TV so all that's visible is the frame.

4. Choose a curated look

Disguise your TV by surrounding it with a carefully curated display of decor pieces, from vases and ornaments to wireless lamps and books. The gold, glass and ceramic items displayed in this built-in wall storage unit give the eye lots to take in, making the TV fade into the background. 

The symmetrical arrangement of the shelving and furniture gives the space a balanced and calming look, inviting you to take a book, mix a gin and tonic and recline in an armchair.

5. Put it in the corner

Rule number one of hiding your TV is not putting it right in the middle of the space, or above the mantlepiece, as this puts the TV far too high up in your living room hierarchy. Slot it into a corner, as shown above. 

'Avoid hanging the TV in the centre of the room, as this can dominate the space,' agrees Alexandra Fryer, Home Design Stylist at John Lewis. 'If you can, position it to the side in an alcove amongst shelving, and paint the surrounding area a deep colour, allowing the TV to blend in.' If you're planning to have some built-in living room shelving ideas, incorporate some space to contain your TV.

6. Don't point all your furniture towards it

How you arrange your furniture can influence how prominent your TV feels. Rather than angling everything towards the telly, which makes it really feel like the focus, position your sofa and chairs together to create a convivial setup, so that when people come over they can chat comfortably. The TV is still 100% visible, it's not the focal point of this living room.

7. Blend it into a grey shelving unit

'A great way to detract your eye from focusing in on a TV is to install it within a beautifully fitted media unit,' says interior designer Shanade McAllister-Fisher. 'This will help blur the lines between the TV and your decor.'

Opting for a smaller TV and embedding it into a shelved media unit is a great solution. Unless you're a total film fanatic and need a bigger screen, don't rule out having something more compact. The proportions of this TV are in keeping with the rest of the shelving, and you can still enjoy a Netflix series or have something on in the background without a big TV looming down on you.

8. Hide it behind framed prints

You really don't have to let that big black box overshadow your beautiful decorating scheme, and if you want to physically cover it, you could make a cabinet. DIYers can have a go at making this fabulous cabinet – mount identically framed pictures onto hinged MDF panels. Then fix batons to the wall. And there you have it, your own bespoke TV cover.

9. Fit a sliding panel

It may look like a pretty country-style panelled wall, but the middle section of this bespoke solution slides aside to reveal an embedded flat screen. As well as to hide a TV, this is a great solution if you also have other media that needs to be tidied away, such as a collection of DVDs, CDs or vinyl.

To create this look, the TV is mounted on a wall bracket, then shallow cabinetry is built around it. If you have a surround sound system that you also use to play music, it's worth asking your furniture maker if mesh doors can be created. That way, speakers are hidden but the flow of sound isn't impeded.

‘We can create special mesh doors so that speakers are hidden but the flow of sound isn't impeded,' says Tim Newbold of furniture builder Domus.

There are also different types of brackets you can mount the TV on. ‘The most basic is a static arm, but you can also buy articulated brackets that mean the screen can be pulled forward or tilted for optimum viewing when the unit is open.'

10. Buy a hidden TV cabinet

One obvious way to make sure your set doesn’t play the starring role is to hide it in clever living room storage ideas like a tall cabinet. This cupboard from The Dormy House (above) is almost guaranteed not to date thanks to its Shaker look.

‘Make sure the TV shelf is at a good viewing height when you're sitting down on your sofa,' says furniture designer Russell Pinch.

If you choose to hide a TV away like this, it's a good idea to use a four-way socket bar behind, inside the cupboard, so there's only one cable leaving the unit and you don't have to move it to unplug anything. Your cable hole needs to be about 5cm square to allow plugs to slot through.

11. Reduce its impact with a bold media unit

Of the ways to disguise a TV, this may not achieve it completely, but you can at least deflect attention away from a wall-mounted flat screen by hanging it within a dramatic wall unit. This example combines rich walnut veneer, glass shelves and integrated spotlights that can be used to highlight bold accessories, not your telly.

By choosing a piece that blends with other furniture – in this case, the dining suite around the corner – its function doesn't scream ‘TV'.

Budget won't stretch or you have a small living room that won't accommodate a piece like this? Try hanging your TV against a dramatic feature wallpaper instead.

12. Get a bed with TV storage

If you’re a box-set addict, you may well have a TV in your bedroom. Well, it beats waking up on the sofa at 2am with an imprint of the remote on your face.

But if you’d rather hide a TV – perhaps because you’re worried the kids might demand to have one in their bedroom, or you don’t want it cluttering up a dressing table or a chest of drawers – get yourself a bed with hidden storage for it.

13. Use a screen

One of the most simple and inexpensive ways to hide a TV is to put a decorative screen or room divider in front of it. The great thing about this solution is that even if you have a huge set, you should have no trouble finding a screen large enough to conceal it.

14. Buy a projector

State-of-the-art projectors offer amazing high-resolution picture quality, as shown in this open plan living room, and let you watch on a screen of 100-inches plus. It’s exactly like being in the cinema but in the comfort of your own home. And best of all, said screen doesn’t have to be on display the whole time.

You can project straight onto a bare wall if it’s flat enough, and apply a special reflective paint to improve the image quality further. However, for a premium experience, we’d recommend splashing out on a motorised projector screen that can be hidden away when you’re not using it. You can even use it as an outdoor cinema.

For a full-on home cinema like this one by LairdKing, visit the CEDIA website to find the details of custom installation experts in your area. You can expect to pay anything from £15,000 to £90,000, depending on your wish list.

15. Choose a TV that's a work of art

Can a TV ever be pretty? Samsung seems to think so. Its Serif TV has been created with input from French design experts Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, who have paid just as much attention to how the TV looks when it’s not being watched, so you don't even need to worry about how to hide a TV.

They've even invented something called ‘curtain mode’ – a halfway house between standby and on. You can view a clock, set up a slideshow of photos, and access certain apps. Round the back, a woven fabric panel conceals the connectors, so your set should look good from every angle. Samsung isn't the only one to have reinvented a television as a sculpture. Bang & Olufsen and Loewe have super-stylish sets, too.

16. Hang a TV mirror

'Many people don’t like the look of the black screen from a TV dominating the room which is why tech firms have created mirror TVs to create a stylish solution,' says Charlie Avara, Managing Director of All Done Design. 'Purchasing one of these TVs is perfect for hiding a TV.'

Overmantels has a great line of mirrors that incorporate TVs. Turn the TV off and it magically disappears, so that all you’re left with is your own beautiful reflection. This is a great option if you're looking for living room feature wall ideas.

You can choose the TV model and size you want and they will tailor the mirror to fit. You can also connect your TV Smart, 4K, or add Sky, Virgin, a Playstation and whatever else you like. And even upgrade the screen in the future without needing to buy a new mirror.

17. Mix your TV with shelving

If you've not got the cash to splash on new furniture, why not take a decorative approach? Surround the TV with a mix of framed pictures and shelving in the same colour as the bezel of the screen, as shown in this rustic living room idea. This will make your set look like a deliberate part of the display and is also a savvy storage solution for a small space.

18. Buy a screen that's just the right size

Don't forget to check the size, or you'll struggle to find ways to disguise a TV. A common mistake is to buy a screen that's too big. Ideally, the centre of the screen should be just below eye level when you view the television. This is because when we relax our heads tend to drop a little, so don't mount it too high.

‘If you have a screen that's too large, it's a bit like sitting in the front row of the cinema. You can't view the entire screen comfortably without moving your head,' says Gavin Sykes at Bang & Olufsen's bracket supplier STB Brackets.

‘The size of screen is not determined by the size of your room. It's actually more important to consider where you plan to sit. Even if you have a huge space, you may not sit at the other side of the room to watch TV. So, as a general rule, you should try to sit four times the distance from the screen as the screen size.'

How do you hide a TV in plain sight?

'For most, the TV is a central part of the living room. At the same time, a TV in the living room has a difficult time functioning as a natural part of the interior design of the room,' say the experts at  Jysk. 'You can choose to let the television function as the eye-catcher of the room, or you can try to hide the TV in your living room design. Ultimately, it comes down to your own style.'

Or why not hide a TV by placing it in a recess so the screen is flush with the surrounding wall surface? ‘While this doesn't hide the TV, it does make it feel much more seamless than if it were simply mounted on the wall,' says Hugo Tugman, an architectural expert from Architect Your Home.

‘The depth of a flatscreen plus the mounting bracket is likely to be around 200mm. So a recess can be difficult to form as it means cutting away so much of a wall. Instead, you can "thicken" the wall where the TV is to be mounted by dry lining with plasterboard,' Hugo says.

How can I hide my TV in the bedroom?

Another neat trick to hide a TV in a bedroom is to find a space within bedroom storage like fitted wardrobes. Sure, you'll have to sacrifice precious handbag or shoe storage, but it's a price worth paying not to have a big black box dominating your space. 

Distraction techniques like hanging artwork around the TV will also help blend it into your bedroom scheme, and covering the screen with a blanket can also make the space feel more restful.