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Abracadabra! Introducing the Great Disappearing TV Act

Don't let your television dominate a room – innovative cabinetry can hide it away or bring it into focus on a whim

Joanna Tovia 22 October 2014

Houzz editorial team. Photojournalist specialising in design, travel and living well. Follow her photodocumentary about pets and the people who love them on Instagram @unfoldingtails

Houzz editorial team. Photojournalist specialising in design, travel and living well.... More

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Whether you love lounging about in the living room watching TV, or make a habit of catching the news in the kitchen over breakfast, TV has come to play a major role in the lives of most people. To avoid it playing a starring role when you’d rather it didn’t, however, flexible cabinetry could be the answer. It makes for easy viewing when the time is right, but hides the television out of sight when you have better things to do and you want a room to look its best. One of these ideas might just work at your house.

Pendal and Neille

Sneaky shelving. Is this a door leading to another room? No, it’s a cabinet to hide the TV. When the doors slide open across the books the homeowners are free to watch their favourite shows without the busyness of the bookshelves distracting them.

TZS Design

View on demand. Like to catch the morning news before heading out the door? You’d never know a TV was hiding in this kitchen…

TZS Design

Here it is! Right where everyone sitting around the island can see it.

Crisp Architects

Pop up. If you don’t want to take up a whole cabinet in the kitchen, a pop-up TV might be more your style.

Crisp Architects

You can barely notice the butcher’s block joins when the TV is not in use in this kitchen.

Blank slate. Here, the striking white cabinetry lets the colour-coordinated bookshelves and fireplace shine when the TV isn’t in use.

It’s sleek good looks are just the thing for this minimalist living room, which is large enough to carry off such a majestic presence. Be sure to match the proportions of your cabinetry to the size of the room in which you’d like it to go.

Hidden technology. If you’d like to maintain your home’s traditional theme, a cabinet like this allows the TV to swing out on a bracket for easy-from-the-bed viewing, but you’d never otherwise know it was there.

Contemporary Living Room Contemporary Living Room

By the fire. Sometimes the ambience of a fire is all you need for entertainment in the cooler months. Curling up here to read or play a board game with family or friends will be all the more appealing if the TV is hidden away from sight – it can otherwise be too easy to reach automatically for the remote.

User

This slate wall and timber cabinetry has become a focal point in this room – it replaced a tongue-and-groove fireplace surround. When the doors are closed, the fireplace takes centrestage.

User

The doors open to reveal the TV, and there’s even a spot in the raised hearth for the centre speaker.

NEXUS 21

Sleeping beauty. There’s something indulgent about watching TV while lying in bed. The only thing missing in this bedroom is a room service menu. When it’s time to switch off, the TV slides down into the footboard.

Dijeau Poage Construction

Drop down. Hiding the TV in the ceiling until you’re ready to settle in to watch a movie makes complete sense in an elegant bedroom like this one. Even better if you can use a remote control to move the TV into place.

User

Swivel around. A TV on one side, timber panelling on the other, and all it takes is a flick of the wrist to have the screen in plain view or conceal it. Brilliant.

Seura

Looking glass. Is it a mirror or is it a TV? Actually, it’s both. It may not be cheap, but this is one solution that will fool everyone.

Orbit Homes

Fade to black. If you’d rather not go to the trouble of opening and closing doors, cabinetry that gives the TV somewhere to sit but doesn’t hide it away could be the answer. Set a dark TV against a dark wall and it will disappear into the background.

MR.MITCHELL

Or why not set the screen into the wall for a seamless finish?Bath time just got a whole lot more entertaining for grown-ups and kids alike.

YOUR SAY
Where do you like to watch TV? And how would you hide the box? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

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TwoHearts

We have a TV in most rooms, but not the bathrooms. If there's anything of interest on the news it's always good to catch up in the room you're in. That includes the kitchen/diner!

Like 22 May 2016 at 6:25pm