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).

Make It Swivel, Yo. That TV, you know?

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If you're like me, you've always dreamed of a flat screen tv hanging on your wall. It's almost as awesome as the flat screens that are built into the bathroom mirrors at the Trump Hotel. Almost.



At our  new place, we imagined that the TV would go on this beautiful credenza purchased from Department Chicago. The mess of cords beneath it, combined with the oddity of having a blank wall that needs art (but a tv that would block any art we put up), convinced us we needed a different plan. So, we decided to... drum roll please... hang it up.

Try not to cry, because I know this is JUST like that episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition you watched last night where they made over someone's home and everyone got all emotional at the end and cried. <---- I'm a smart ass, I guess.

Anyway, now down to the How-To-Decor. We decided we not only wanted it to be wall mounted, but we also wanted to be able to tilt and swivel. Go big or go home, right? Plus, when you can potentially watch tv from your living room, your desk, or your kitchen, there's added incentive to ensure you can swivel/tilt the screen to optimize that amazing strategery (strategery. making words up since 1989, that's me).

We first purchased a wall mount from Home Depot for somewhere around $150. Seemed like a good deal -- that is, until Justin found it on Monoprice.com for $60. We threw in all the cables we needed to hook up just about anything you can imagine to the TV as well as the speaker system we have, rounding out the price for literally everything we need at less than it costed us for just the mount Home Depot. #score Thank God Home Depot accepts returns without receipts (as long as you have the credit card and original packaging).

Also, we saved an additional 10% using a coupon (Amen!). So we ended up at just shy of $120. Not bad for getting everything in one stop, shipped to your door!

It came pre-assembled, so all we had to do was find a way to mount it successfully. This largely depended on our building.

In the last apartment, the quality of the walls was so poor that, when we tried to screw anything in, the drywall wasn't deep enough and we ended up hitting brick. In this apartment, however, we were able to use a stud finder to find studs in the wall to screw into. We picked up a stud finder at Ace Hardware for ~$15.

Once we measured, leveled, and marked where we wanted to drill holes, we drilled the top 2 holes.

Next came the hard part, of which I have no pictures. I stood, holding the heavy and awkward wall mount, while Justin screwed in the top two screws.

Once the top two screws were in, we screwed in the next two without needing to hold it up any longer. My arms felt like jello at this point.

Now, the struggle is the cords. We ordered a Roku last week, and that should cut down on some cords because it will allow us to stream. But the rest of the cords will need to be dropped/pulled through the wall.