Make Messy Wires a Thing of the Past
Get that tangle of electric cables and wires behind your desk or TV console under control with these solutions
As we all become more and more tethered to our electronic devices, wire management is a challenge almost everyone faces. It’s especially tough when trying to achieve timeless, uncluttered design. Who wants to see wires mucking up a beautiful composition?
Thankfully, our reliance on technology has created a market for managing it all – there are tons of products on the market to help us out, while creative homeowners and designers are coming up with solutions of their own to keep wires under control and out of sight.
Of course, the best solution is to fully integrate wires into a design (where possible), which requires a lot of planning and and healthy dose of construction. Let’s look at some examples of how to build in wire management, as well as working it into homes, for those of us who can’t make permanent changes to our homes, for one reason or another.
Thankfully, our reliance on technology has created a market for managing it all – there are tons of products on the market to help us out, while creative homeowners and designers are coming up with solutions of their own to keep wires under control and out of sight.
Of course, the best solution is to fully integrate wires into a design (where possible), which requires a lot of planning and and healthy dose of construction. Let’s look at some examples of how to build in wire management, as well as working it into homes, for those of us who can’t make permanent changes to our homes, for one reason or another.
In my last apartment, my husband took great pains to keep the floors in our home office wire-free. He used zip ties and eye hooks to mount all of our components to the underside of our wood desk. If you're not the DIY/handy type and would rather buy something to manage wires, you're in luck ...
Everyone seems to want to mount their flat screen TV on a wall these days, and it’s easier than you think – even if you’re a renter and you’re not supposed to penetrate walls.
A small hole can be bored in plasterboard walls and wires can be brought up to the desired height without much fuss. Of course, it helps to have built-in bookcases like these, which provide a little more room for pulling wires around.
A small hole can be bored in plasterboard walls and wires can be brought up to the desired height without much fuss. Of course, it helps to have built-in bookcases like these, which provide a little more room for pulling wires around.
Take a queue from lofts and let conduits do the hiding.
Some wall-mounted light fixtures come complete with a conduit that matches the finish and is more than presentable.
The places people forget to install power points
The places people forget to install power points
Like built-in shelving, wood paneling gives you a little extra play in terms of wire-hiding and electronics-mounting capabilities.
If your house or apartment didn’t come complete with floor outlets, put area rugs to work to hide cords and wires so you can float furniture without worrying about how to plug in such things as lamps, computers and clocks.
11 rules for rugs you can break
11 rules for rugs you can break
Furniture with back panels make our lives easier. If your outlets are located a little high on the wall, a table like this will help conceal any wires. If outlets are closer to the baseboard, the panel still shields a lot of the wire, making it far more inconspicuous!
Wires are an inescapable part of our lives, but minimising how much we see of them makes our living spaces so much more serene. This little table lamp has to plug in somewhere, but hiding the outlet behind the drawer portion of the desk conceals the ‘ugly’ part of the lamp.
Desks with extra thickness, like this one, which has pencil drawers, give us more flexibility in terms of hiding wires, as the lip of the desk can conceal all kinds of industrial-looking wiring.
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How do you organise your chargers and electrical cords? Share your photos in the Comments below.
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How do you organise your chargers and electrical cords? Share your photos in the Comments below.
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How to Hide Light Switches, Outlets and Toilet Roll Holders