Real Life Design Solutions: TV Camouflage Ideas that Actually Work

For some, the appearance of a television in a living room doesn’t offend. For others, it is essentially a giant black maw that upsets a room’s perfectly designed look. Thankfully, the act of disguising a television is a happy medium that can allow it to quietly visually recede into the background when not in use. These eight rooms are proof that camouflaging a TV can work.

Of the two most effective ways to distract the eye from a television set, the dark wall approach is the most time consuming — it will require painting a wall — but as the rooms below prove, this method can pay off. The general idea is to choose a wall color that’s as dark as a TV screen (like a black, dark gray or even dark blue) and then place the TV in front of that wall. The lack of contrast between the black screen and the dark wall will be greatly diminished, making the TV much less of a focal point. Combine that with another design element that does contrast and grab attention (like the white modern fireplace below), and you have a TV that doesn’t scream “TV here!”

Farrow & Ball’s “Railings” paint on interior designer Katie McCrum’s London home’s living room is the perfect hiding-in-plain-sight spot for her television set.

In Anne and Christian’s Barcelona home, a glossy black paint (Farrow & Ball’s “Off-Black“) coats the living room’s main wall, which is made up of built-in shelves. The television set isn’t invisible against the black built-in nook, but it blends in nicely (particularly thanks to the paint’s high sheen) and it doesn’t take away from any of the other major design elements in the space.

Did you even spot the television set in this stunning Brooklyn Heights living room at first? Liz Andersen actually uses a few tricks in the space to guarantee the television set doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb. First, it’s on the medium-size side. Secondly, it’s off to the side and not in the middle of the room. And lastly, it rests in front of Benjamin Moore’s Narragansett Green wall paint color.

Tom Chirico and Carolyn McMenemy-Chirico’s Brooklyn home’s living room is another great example of a dark wall helping camouflage a television set (and here it’s not black; it’s Ralph Lauren’s “Club Navy.”) Notice too that this couple was smart with contrast: the white architectural features, furniture and the bold and big yellow art all contrasts with the room’s dark walls and help pull the eye away from the television set.

If you’re not the dark wall paint color type, there’s still hope when it comes to disguising a television set in your home. You can group your TV within a gallery wall art collage. It won’t make your TV look like art, but it will make it blend in with the rest of the room’s decor and not grab all of the attention. Some great examples below.

There’s a medium-sized television set on a side wall in Maggie Overby’s home and it doesn’t call attention to itself at all, thanks to being surrounded by great art.

This image for an East London flat is pointed right at the television set, yet even with the camera’s angle, the television doesn’t scream too loudly, thanks to the framed pieces all around it.

It doesn’t just have to art that you visually bury a television set in; it can be a collage of accessories, as well! The small TV in this London home just doesn’t offend the eyes thanks to an array of other things to look at in the small room.

And the TV-hiding solution below doesn’t so much camouflage the television set as it does completely hide it, but the project is brilliant, DIY-able and worth sharing again and again!

• How to Keep a TV from Standing Out Like a Sore Thumb
• 9 Ways to Decorate Around a TV