How to hide your TV: Disguising one of your home's biggest eyesores

Author: Ioanna Lennox

There are often times when you want your television to be front and centre – The Block finale, the Oscars or the AFL Grand Final for example – but that doesn’t mean it needs to be that way year-round. A TV can seem bulky and obtrusive and has the uncanny ability to take over the living room and steal all the attention.

However, there are clever ways to hide a not-so-little black box – whether that’s in a cupboard or concealed behind a screen or artwork.

Conceal it behind art
When it comes to hiding your TV, a large piece of art is the perfect partner in crime. Set on a retractable slide, this system allows you to display a beautiful artwork rather than having the dark presence of a television front and centre.

Even though the TV is tucked away, the sliding panel makes it easily accessible. This iconic photograph of Winston Churchill by Yousuf Karsh (1941) captures Churchill’s wry smile and holds special meaning for the home owners.

Tip: If you are setting up a retractable-slide system, ensure the panel is larger than the TV itself and fill the entire space with the artwork. This will create scale, drama and a new focal point in the room.

Hide it on a swivel

Bookcase by day, media unit by night; this is an unconventional but effective way to hide the TV. In this home, Martha O’Hara Interiors designed an innovative and efficient joinery system that does double duty in response to the clients’ brief to hide the TV. Out of sight, out of mind.

Tip: Engage a qualified cabinetmaker and use good hardware to build something similar if you want it to last the distance. Remember, that swivel mechanism may get used several times a day.

Disguise it as a view

Bring your favourite view into the living room by displaying it on the screen of your TV. This is one of the rare cases when the bigger the TV, the better. In our digital age, this idea is easy to implement and can be tailored to your individual interests. When guests are coming over, wow them with a sunny harbour view or a lush green meadow that can easily make way for that rugby game in the evening.

Tip: Static images such as the one in the picture above can be found through Apple TV.

Tuck it away

Brett Mickan has successfully taken the attention away from the TV in this compact living room. Attention is initially drawn to the colours and textures of the soft furnishings and then to fireplace rather than the TV, which is neatly tucked away in the left corner of the room, in case you can’t see it. Many people would have been tempted to place the TV above the fireplace, but by going against the grain, this room announces itself as a living/entertainment space first and foremost.

Stash it away

TVs in bedrooms have become more common. For some of us, watching TV in bed feels like one of life’s little pleasures. But if you must have a TV in the bedroom, don’t have it on display. In this country manor, Crisp Architects has mounted the TV behind a decorative sliding panel above the fireplace.