Interior Design: 4 Tips on How to the Minimize the Impact of a TV on Your Décor

Elissa Morgante, AIA

Elissa Morgante, AIA
Founding Partner at Award Winning Chicago Architects, Morgante Wilson

Sep 21, 2022 - 5 min read

Interior Design: 4 Tips on How to the Minimize the Impact of a TV on Your Décor

Televisions, I think most of us would agree, are wonderful to have when we want to watch our favorite shows – but not so wonderful to look at the rest of the time. In fact, they present one our biggest challenges as residential interior designers: how do we place TVs so they’re visible from every seat in a room, yet minimize their impact on otherwise-beautiful décor? At Morgante Wilson Architects, we have a few clever ideas to do just that.

1. Lower them to disappear

One of our favorite ways to secret a television is to lower it into a recess built into a cabinet for that exact purpose. All it takes is the push of a button to mechanically raise the TV for viewing, and another push to make the TV disappear completely when you’re done with it. We love utilizing this idea in a room where displaying a TV would negatively detract from the room’s overall design. Or, as shown in these two examples, any time the view outside is what you’d really rather be looking at!

2. Frame them

You can also take a simpler route and create a frame for your television, much like you might frame a painting. That way, the TV gets dressed up a bit by gaining visual importance and will look worthy of being a focal point.

3. Install an art TV

What is an art TV? It’s the best of both worlds, thanks to digital technology. At first glance, an art TV looks like any other piece of framed art. You get to choose the art you want to display from a large catalog of options. The art can change any time you want it to, whether to match your décor or to match your mood. Then, when the popcorn is ready and you want to tune in to a movie, (or when the tub is filled and you sink in for a long soak) the art transitions to a regular television screen for viewing.

Tip:

Hang an art TV alone, or surround it with other pieces of art on a larger gallery wall. This is a good trick for making it blend in to your décor even more seamlessly.

4. Conceal them in cabinets

Another of our favorite tricks for hiding televisions is to position them behind cabinet doors. Here are two examples. In the photo above, you can see we’ve designed kitchen cabinetry that is a lot more functional than you might initially realize.

On one side, it hides the television. Lift the second door by its handle, and voila, the TV is ready to be watched. On the other side, you’ll find a bar. Talk about multi- purpose!

Or, follow the example shown in this image and put your TV behind a wall of cabinetry with bi-fold doors that open away to reveal the screen.

Any time you’re not watching, you’ve got a beautifully architectural fireplace surround to look at.

Morgante Wilson Architects provides architectural and interior design services in Chicago, Deerfield, Evanston, Glencoe, Glenview, Highland Park, Kenilworth, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Northbrook, Northfield, Ravinia, Wilmette, and Winnetka – along with Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Utah, Wisconsin, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Elissa Morgante, AIA

Elissa Morgante, AIA

Founding Partner at Award Winning Chicago Architects, Morgante Wilson