22 Creative Ways to Hide Your TV, According to Designers
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The design industry is filled with controversial topics, such as the debate between open-concept and closed floor plans or choosing between open shelving and kitchen cabinets. However, the biggest pet peeve among interior designers might be seeing a television on full display in a beautifully curated house. Unfortunately, a big, black rectangle just doesn't coordinate beautifully into a midcentury modern living room or any particularly trendy space. Plus, if your off-hours don't often revolve around watching the new season of The White Lotus, it can end up being an obtrusive eyesore. So, if you lean toward Team Hidden TV, we're here to help.
There are plenty of creative ways to hide your TV from camouflaging your television with the wall behind it to physically shutting it away when it's not in use. You don't even need to set aside a huge budget to complete this home project—there are more options than you might've first thought. This means there are a few solutions for each side of the spectrum when it comes to cost.
Keep reading for 22 clever ways to hide your TV from designers so you can have the best of all worlds: a serene, screen-free space and all your household's favorite streaming services, right at your fingertips.
Additional copy by Hadley Mendelsohn.
Match the Frame to Other Accents
It’s no secret that many designers find the Samsung Frame TV to be beautiful, but designer Ariel Okin takes it a step further by adding a literal frame to the Frame. This hidden-TV tactic ensures that it matches other elements in the space, such as the fireplace screen, thus hiding it in plain sight.
Camouflage It
If you don’t want to think about your TV when it’s off, you can cleverly camouflage it. In this living room, designer Emily Del Bello painted a shadowy accent wall black and mounted the TV there—you wouldn't even notice it at first glance when it's off.
Put It in a Closet
In a room as traditional and cohesive as this, you probably don't want a big black rectangle interrupting your aesthetic, so do what designer Lynne Uhalt did and hide your TV in a closet. This guest room is heavily inspired by European interiors and architecture, but Uhalt still wanted the guests to be able to watch TV and relax in bed. As a design-friendly solution, she put the TV in one of the closets that are still large enough to hold clothes.
Store It in a Credenza
Designer John Wooden maximized limited square footage in his clients' cottage by cleverly hiding items, such as placing their TV in a beautiful credenza. One of the simplest methods to hide your TV is by incorporating it into furniture that already complements the space. This wooden credenza fits perfectly in the room, making it an ideal spot for a hidden TV.
Get Clever With Fabric
In a maximalist, highly colorful space like this, Shazalynn Cavin-Winfrey couldn't see how a TV could work in the room, so she decided to hide it in the green cabinet in the back. However, the designer took it a step further and covered the glass with fabric that pulls hues from the rest of the room.
Create a Floating Credenza
Everick Brown designed a statement wall encased in custom steel with walnut insets to create a “floating credenza” for a hidden TV. A console table behind the sofa helps separate the two living room zones.
Disguise It as Abstract Art
Designed to look like abstract artwork, Kristin Fine hid the TV behind modern paneling above the fireplace. It suits the neutral tones nicely and maintains the refined and grown-up atmosphere while also ensuring that it's family-friendly.
Match Your TV to the Decor
This living room sitting area revolves around the corner fireplace. To ensure that the TV didn't take up too much valuable visual space, designer Denise McGaha invested in a Samsung Frame disguised it as a photograph that complements the blue and grey color scheme.
Hide It Behind Cabinet Doors
This outdoor living room designed by Amanda Lindroth is the perfect place to entertain and unwind. Look closely at the pagoda-shaped cabinet above the fireplace and you'll notice that it opens to reveal a hidden TV. It was based on a design from St. Michael's Mount castle in England.
Put It in a Painting
A bi-fold panel painting by Stuart Coleman Budd hides a TV, but the goal was to be transparent. “Bronze hinges honestly express that it’s a movable screen—that this is true kinetic art,” says architect Ken Pursley of Pursley Dixon Architecture.
Install a Hidden Pop-Up Function
This formal living room designed by Mark Cunningham doubles as a more relaxed and casual hangout room. To ensure that it could do both well, Cunningham built a hidden TV into the back wall shelf that pops up when the occupants want to unwind with a good movie.
Surround It With a Gallery Wall
Don’t hide it, just make it one with your wall. This gallery wall of various-sized framed prints blends in with the Samsung Frame TV, which has a wood frame and a rotating display of art images. “None of my clients' guests realize its a TV when they first walk into the room,” says Natalie Myer of Veneer Designs.
Go for an Antique Look
Designer CeCe Barfield Thompson hid a TV behind a retractable antique mirror for max glam. “In an oak-paneled Manhattan library, I designed an antique mirror to hide the wall-mounted television,” Thompson says. “The mirror's lower panels retract like a garage door to reveal an entertainment system behind. This mechanism allowed us to create a room that was incredibly functional, without sacrificing an ounce of beauty!”
Related Story: This Manhattan Apartment Showcases an Abundance of Antiques and Contemporary Art
Go Glam
Designer Nina Farmer took the most elegant approach possible—hiding her TV in a custom mirrored cabinet atop the mantel. “The living room needed a concealed TV due to the formality of the architecture,” she says. “Hand-blown mirror was used on the doors so that the enclosure fit with the original 1850s marble mantel. It has concealed hinges and no pull, so when it’s closed, you would never know what’s behind it.”
Distract Your Eye
If you can’t outright conceal your screen, the key is to avoid the “black hole” effect when it’s off. “I always try to blend them into the architecture of the house,” says designer, Eche Martinez. “We recently completed a project in Belvedere, CA where the homeowners were hesitant about installing a TV in their living room. To solve this, we decided that the best way to divert attention from the TV when it was not in use was to have an oversized, freestanding piece of art right next to it. Clients loved it, and above all, the piece looks great in the room."
Get a Picture TV
This LG OLED TV is a game-changer. When you’re done watching, switch it to Gallery Mode for gorgeous photos accompanied by mood-enhancing music. “The LG OLED TV is as advanced as they come. It’s extremely thin, and has the ability to look like a piece of art instead of a black hole,” says designer Sherry Hart.
Use a Texture-Rich Panel
A sliding panel is a sleek, clean-lined way to keep your TV out of eyesight. “We opted for a more mobile approach and arrived at the idea for a sliding panel,” says New York design firm Pappas Miron. “During daily life as the family is together, the Venetian plastered and steel trimmed panel can rest in front of the adjacent bookshelf. As the hour strikes to host a cocktail party, the clients can easily slide the panel to cover the TV and reveal the bookcase and bar area.”
Put It Behind Barn Doors
If you love anything and everything farmhouse, you’ll wonder why you waited so long to try barn cabinet doors. “The house had this great nook with barn doors that we knew would be the perfect place to hide the TV. It’s so nice when you don’t have to look at it—and this was a super cool way to hide it that’s different than a classic TV stand,” says Amber Lewis, founder of Amber Interiors Design Studio.
Put It Inside a Cabinet
Designer Brady Tolbert mounted his bedroom TV inside a cabinet, then reinstalled the doors to allow them to open accordion-style. “Your grandma's old hutch just might be the perfect house for your TV,” he says. “I used this vintage hutch and took out the shelves to make room for my TV to pull in and out on a mount. When I want to use it, I just open up the doors and pull it out, and when I am done, I can close it off so that it hides itself away.”
Put It in Plain Sight
“We decided to treat the triple-height wall where the TV was located with a faux concrete finish,” says designer Tina Ramchandani. “Because of its height and treatment, the wall became a feature and takes your eye away from the large, embedded TV.”
Related Story: This D.C. Home Balances Bright, White Interiors With Dramatic Bursts of Color
Use a Pop-Up Mechanism
No wall space? No problem. Designer Chad Graci of Graci Interiors constructed a custom, free-standing cabinet with a pop-up mechanism at the foot of the bed. When in use, “the TV swivels 180 degrees,” Graci says. “The clients can either sit in bed and watch TV, or lounge in the seating group on the opposite side of the room. All of this can be achieved by remote control.”
Think Outside The Box
We never would have considered a tripod, but this creative hack brings so much character to a room. “We wanted to have a TV in this luxury bedroom suite without hanging it on the wall. Working with Leon custom speakers, they restored and modified this antique surveyor’s Tripod, then built a custom swivel box in bronze and upholstered it in white ostrich leather,” says designer J. Randall Tarasuk of Pavarini Design.
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