Peek A Boo - Hiding TV Cords In Your Wall

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A few weeks ago, after moving into our new apartment in West Town, we mounted our TV. Despite the beauty of our tilting and swiveling wall mount, there was an embarrassing amount of visible cords. 

Obviously, this would not do. Not to mention the plethora of cords hanging out below:

The cords were just adding to the visual clutter that drives me nuts. As a sidenote, if you're easily distracted (like me), you may be similar -- even having too many visible cords can add to the things that call my attention.

After consulting a family friend (Jerry, who has wall mounted and hidden cords on many a TV in his own home), we began the project. We decided the best way to hide the cords was to drill small, clean holes to hide the cords in the wall. These holes can easily be spackled later on if we move or decide to move the TV.

**Note: If you're planning to mount your TV along with us, or following this tutorial, make sure you've chosen the appropriate mount for your space, based on weight, size, price and function. Here's a guide to choosing the right wall mount for your home.**

First, you'll need room to work. Because our mount allows for a lot of movement, we were able to simply pull it out from the wall. If you're working with a mount that does not pull out like this, you'll need to remove your TV from the wall mount in order to have enough room to work.

Second, you'll drill a circular hole in the wall, just above the wall mount. We used a 2.25" Bi-Metal Hole Saw from Home Depot.

We chose to do it above the mount is because, per our friend Jerry's advice, putting the hole below the mount might leave sagging cords visible, especially with a TV that pulls out and swivels from side to side.

When drilling the hole, we looked for a spot between studs, so that the wooden planks in the wall would not interfere with the cords, but would instead help guide the cords down to the bottom of the wall (where a second hole will be drilled).

Next, you'll drill that second hole. Most of our equipment (DVD player, stereo system, etc) is housed in the credenza underneath the TV, so we wanted the hole to come out in a place that would be covered by that credenza, so we could drill a hole in the back of the cabinet and route the cables through there.

We used a long rope (long enough to span from one potential hole to the other, with 3 feet left over) with a washer attached to the end to weight it. Holding the unweighted cord to the center of the hole, we gently dropped the washer down to make sure that we drilled the second hole in line with the first one. We marked the bottom of this line with a pencil, then drilled the second hole.



After drilling the both holes, we dropped the weighted side through the top hole and pulled it out the bottom hole, while still ensuring that 2-3 feet of rope was left over at the top.

 

After pulling the weighted end of the cord through, we taped the electrical cords together at the end and then taped them to the washer. We'll be using this to pull the cords up through the wall.

Note: Think about which cords you'll actually be able to pull through the wall. The cord for the DVD player, for example, could be pulled up through the wall. The power cord for the TV (which does disconnect from the TV) was not long enough to make it all the way through the wall, so we decided to bring up an extension cord and then plug the TV in up at the top.

We pushed the cords into the bottom hole, then pulled on the 2-3ft of rope at the top to pull the cords through the wall. It may take a bit of handy work to pull the cords through at the top, depending on how many cords you sent through. We had a few frustrating moments (enter loud cursing here), but ultimately got them through.

 

Once pulled through the wall, plug everything into the TV, and send the extra slack back through the wall.

And voila! There we have it. A fully mounted, wonderfully clean looking TV.

Yes, that would be me watching 30 Rock. I'm officially obsessed. We both are.



Here it is from another angle. In this picture, it's tilted slightly downward, but pushed flat against the wall (not swiveled from one side to the other).

And here's the wonderful puppy who watched it all happen (because... why not).