19 Ideas That Prove A TV Doesn’t Need To Be An Eyesore

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of my links, I may make a small profit at no expense to you. For further information, please view my policies.

If you think about ways to blend your television into your existing home decor, you won’t feel the need to “cover up” your TV, because it will feel like a natural part of the rest of your home.

So today we’ll be looking at ways to decorate around flat-screen TVs (not CRTs, ha) and some ways you can skillfully blend this piece of tech into the rest of your space.

BUT FIRST, SOME TIPS!

Before we get into all the TV wall ideas, here are some random tips I want to start with that I think are important to keep in mind for your TV wall decor:

1. If you have a really big TV, don’t decorate around it with a ton of small items or art pieces. It’s going to look very busy and cluttered.

2. If you’re wall mounting your TV, please avoid using a swivel or a tilt mount. While it may be true that it provides a better viewing experience, a swivelly tilted TV is a look that suits a sports bar better than a living room😅

3. Don’t jam a big flat screen into a corner. Unless you absolutely do not have any other place that makes more sense to place your TV, try not to put it in a corner. I totally understand if you’re working with a really awkward layout and it’s the only place that works. Like for example in our terribly designed open concept home. If you have another option besides the corner, see if you can make that work.

4. And oh my goodness PLEASE don’t block your windows with a TV screen. Enough said.

So now that we’ve gotten some tips out of the way, let’s jump into some awesome decorating ideas for a TV wall!

1. Paint the wall behind your TV dark

Until manufacturers start making television LED screens white, most of us are stuck with a gigantic black rectangle on our walls when our TV is off.

Unless you own one of these.

Painting the wall that sits directly behind your TV a dark color will make your big black screen recede into the wall so that it becomes much less of an eyesore. You don’t have to paint your whole room dark, you can just paint the wall that the TV is in front of.

I started with this one because it’s probably one of my favorite TV wall ideas: cheap, effective and easy to pull off.

2. Use a dark console

Another great way to balance out the big dark rectangular screen, is to add a dark piece of furniture below it. This way you’re taking the black from the screen and treating it as a part of the color palette, instead of forcefully trying to disguise it.

Repeating the black in the console makes the darkness from the TV screen look intentional.

3. Get a Samsung Frame

(not sponsored! I wish, ha)

Samsung has done a very good job at getting the word out about this premium product, namely by gifting the Frame to all the most influential home decor and interior design bloggers, vloggers and Instagrammers.

The first time I saw a photo of the Samsung Frame I could NOT believe it was actually a TV screen. If you’ve never seen one, to describe it, the effect is kind of like a giant framed Kindle that displays artwork when the TV is off.

I won’t go into the details because I don’t want to veer off topic, but you can check out the Samsung Frame here if you’re interested (it’s sold directly by Samsung via Amazon).

Definitely something to put on the wish list for when you want to splurge a little.

Can you spot which one is the Samsung Frame in the photo above from Pretty in the Pines? 🙂

4. Hide the TV wires

This isn’t really a way to decorate around your TV per se, it’s more a general MUST for when you’re just generally trying to improve your TV decor situation.

I don’t know about you, but I think there are few things that are more unsightly than dangling black wires.

If you’re wall mounting your TV – which honestly, you really probably should because it looks better overall – there are a few ways you can hide your TV wires:

1. Route them through the wall. This is by far the most annoying and complicated way, but will also provide the cleanest and most sleek result. Good for people who know they will never move their TV from a certain spot. Here is a tutorial that explains how to do it.
2. Buy a wire cover and hide your TV wires with a cover. Paint the cover the same color as your wall to completely disguise it.
3. Paint the TV wires the same color as your wall. Failing being able to route the wires inside the wall or purchase a cable cover, as a last resort you can always paint the wires directly to disguise them a little better.

If your TV is on a stand, it should be easier to conceal wires. Just gather them and make sure they are tucked away neatly and out of sight.

If you can’t manage to hide them, you can always use a cable raceway so that they aren’t visible.

5. Create an art gallery wall around your TV

Try incorporating your TV into a gallery wall. This is a great idea for decorating around a wall mounted TV, but your TV doesn’t have to be wall mounted to do this – this method also lends itself wonderfully to TVs on stands.

In fact, this is probably one of the best ways to decorate a wall behind a tv on a stand.

To create your gallery, you can either:

1) create a super polished, straight as an arrow gallery wall around your TV where all the frames, mats and spacing are identical (like in the image above).

or …

2) create a free flowing gallery wall around your TV with artwork in lots of different shapes and sizes (like in the image below). Totally up to your own personal aesthetic.

For more guidance on gallery walls, check out my in depth article here!

6. Layer artwork

Layering artwork behind your TV is essentially a variation on the gallery wall theme we discussed above.

If your TV is on a stand, you can also layer the artwork partially behind the TV – it integrates the TV even more into the gallery wall.

7. Use Shelves

If you’ve already got a gallery wall in your room, or don’t want to go through the (sometimes agonizing) process of figuring out artwork, then using shelves around your TV might be for you.

Hanging shelves around your TV can be a great way to blend your TV with your decor.

Place whatever decor items you like on the shelves, be it books, artwork, plants or other tchotchkes that bring you joy!

8. Hide your TV Entirely

If you are one of those people that just doesn’t want to see that black box when it’s not in use, you may be willing to go to great lengths to conceal your TV.

like are you seeing the gif above? lol

There are some very clever ways to entirely disguise your TV, but they can be costly or extremely involved and elaborate DIYs.

Options you can buy to hide your TV are:

• TV lifts and cabinets
• Bed with built-in hidden TV storage
• TV disguised as a mirror

Another option could be to hire a contractor to come and custom build your perfect vision of a hidden TV.

I personally find crazy mechanical custom solutions a little too elaborate for my taste, but that’s just me! It might be exactly what you want and need in your home.

9. Use Backlighting

I have had backlighting behind my TV for years and love it!

Backlighting your tv with an rgb light strip creates a really immersive effect when you’re watching your favorite show in the evening.

I find that in the evening at least, the lighting around the TV essentially becomes part of the decor itself.

I especially like to switch the color to match the mood of the show – for example I liked to use blue when I was watching the wintery parts of Game of Thrones, haha!

But you can take things a LOT further than that!

Philips Hue makes a device that syncs your smart lights directly to the images on the screen, so that you get colorful interactive lighting that matches the content on your television. SO COOL. 😎

Or you can just directly use these Philips light bars – a little more expensive but amazing TV backlighting.

10. Paint an abstract mural

Paint a custom color block mural to camouflage your TV screen *and* pimp up your space all at once.

The black segment of the mural cleverly renders the TV above practically invisible.

This yellow geometric mural is incredibly easy to recreate as a DIY. All you need is some house paint and masking tape.

I’m confident you could pull off a mural like this for under $50 – you would only need to buy sample paint pots, painters tape and paint brushes/rollers (if you didn’t already have them in your supply stash).

11. Use wallpaper

If painting an accent wall is not your jam, then grab some funky wallpaper and create a wallpaper TV accent wall!

The choices for the pattern or image to use are basically infinite!

Here are some of my favorite places to buy wallpaper online:

+ Society6
+ Chasing Paper
+ Rocky Mountain Decals
+ Spoonflower
+ Hygge & West
+ Rebel Walls
+ Cuckoo Walls
+ Etsy
+ Amazon

12. Wall mount everything

If you’re going to hang your TV, then consider mounting everything around the TV as well. That includes any console or storage unit below or around it.

This creates a very streamlined and clean look to the TV area if you’re diligent about keeping all the cables and clutter hidden!

13. Use a colorful rug

The wall around your TV is not the only thing you can work with to integrate your television – you can also manipulate the visuals in a room by playing with the floor!

Placing a very bold and striking rug below the TV area can help to draw the eye away from the TV. This could be a great option for any bohemian decor style lovers out there ☺️

14. Split-level consoles

Keep things looking contemporary – create a modern TV wall with an asymmetrical split-level TV console.

15. Hang the TV on a panel

Another visually interesting way to hang your TV is to mount it on a panel, which in turn is mounted on the wall (or placed in front of it).

The panel can be any finish that suits your decor: wood, marble effect, high gloss, matte, rustic…

Your TV wall panel can also be any size, as large or as narrow as you need it to be.

16. Shiplap accent wall

You can never go wrong with a good old shiplap accent wall. I’ve already featured a couple of images in this post that use shiplap walls behind the TV screens – did you notice those?

Creating a shiplap tv wall isn’t a difficult DIY – without a doubt you can accomplish the whole task within a weekend. It’s definitely a TV feature wall idea that you see a lot on Pinterest and Instagram.

If all you’re missing is a little texture and architectural interest behind your screen, then this might be the perfect TV wall solution for you.

Here are some great Shiplap TV wall DIY tutorials you can check out:

DIY Shiplap Accent Wall
How To Plank a Wall for $30 (DIY Shiplap)
DIY Shiplap in the Bathroom (can be applied to any room of course!)

17. Install a sliding panel

If you’re into sleek and contemporary TV wall ideas, you might like this one.

Instead of hanging your TV *on* a panel, you can install a custom sliding panel that hides your TV when it’s not in use.

Depending on how handy you are, this may or may not be a costly project.

18. Place your TV inside a cabinet

Can you spot the incredibly well hidden TV cable in the photo above?

If your TV isn’t that big, you may be able to fit it inside a nice cabinet with doors. (Or maybe you just need to find a big cabinet!). This method would make it possible to shut your telly away and hide it when it’s not in use.

(The cabinet below from Urban Outfitters is probably the kind of cabinet I’d want to hide my TV in 🤤 … *drool*!)

19. Hang up some barn doors

If you’re more of a farmhouse decor kinda person, then barn doors might be the perfect way to decorate around your tv.

The barn doors can be stationary, but while you’re at it, why not take it one step further…

Similar to the previous idea of using a sliding panel, you could mount the barn doors on a track and open and close them as needed to reveal or hide your TV.

Paint them white or leave them natural, whatever works with your existing decorating scheme!

---