How to Hide TV Wires & Cables

A wall-mounted television looks effortless and modern right up until you notice the tangle of black cables dangling beneath it. Hidden wiring is the single biggest difference between a living room that looks designed and one that looks half-finished. This guide walks you through every realistic way to conceal TV cables, from quick rented-flat fixes you can do in an afternoon to a proper in-wall installation, plus how to choose furniture that does the hiding for you. Whether your set sits on a media unit or floats on a bracket, there is a tidy solution here for you.

1. Know your cables before you start

Before you reach for a single clip, lay everything out and count what you are actually dealing with. A typical setup has more wires than people expect: the TV’s mains power lead, an HDMI cable to a soundbar or AV receiver, a second HDMI to a games console or set-top box, an aerial or satellite coax, and increasingly an Ethernet cable for stable streaming. Knowing the exact number, length and thickness of each cable decides which concealment method will actually work.

Measure the run from the back of the television to wherever the cables terminate, then add at least 20cm of slack for movement and future re-plugging. Buying cables that are exactly the measured length leaves them taut and impossible to route neatly. Group cables by where they go, too: those that drop to a media unit can be bundled together, while power may need a different path to its socket.

Finally, think about future-proofing. Pulling everything apart to add one HDMI lead in six months is miserable, so if you are routing inside a wall or behind a fixed unit, run a spare cable or leave a draw-string in place now. Decluttering at this stage almost always reveals a lead or two you no longer need, the cheapest cable-tidying trick of all.

2. Let your TV unit do the hiding

The easiest concealment strategy is to never let the cables become visible in the first place, and a well-designed media unit does exactly that. Many modern TV media units are built with rear cable cut-outs, open backs and internal channels precisely so that wires can drop straight down out of sight and devices can breathe. If your television sits on top of a stand rather than on a bracket, the cables only need to travel a few centimetres before they disappear behind a panel or into a cupboard.

Look for a unit with closed cabinets or drawers to house a games console, Sky box or Blu-ray player, combined with a small gap or grommet at the back for ventilation and cable exit. A solid back with a single cut-out keeps everything contained, while an open-back design makes future access easier. The height matters too: position the unit so the top sits roughly level with the bottom of a wall-mounted screen, and the short cable drop is barely noticeable.

If you are choosing a stand specifically to tame cables, our companion how to choose a TV unit guide covers sizing, weight limits and styles in detail. Pairing the right unit with a matching living room sideboard or display cabinet also gives you extra concealed storage for remotes, chargers and the inevitable spare leads.

3. Surface trunking and cord covers

When you cannot or do not want to open up a wall, surface-mounted trunking is the workhorse solution. These are slim plastic channels, usually paintable, that stick or screw to the wall and snap shut over a bundle of cables. A paintable cover finished in the same colour as your wall practically vanishes from a couple of metres away, which is exactly the viewing distance most people sit at.

Trunking comes in a range of widths, so match it to your bundle rather than guessing. As a rough guide for a wall-mounted TV dropping cables to a unit below:

Self-adhesive cord covers are the no-tools version: a fabric sleeve or a peel-and-stick channel that wraps the bundle and presses onto the wall. They are quick and reversible, ideal for a tidy vertical drop, though the adhesive can struggle on textured or freshly painted surfaces. For the cleanest result, screw-fixed trunking beats stick-on every time because it holds heavier bundles without sagging and survives being painted over.

4. In-wall cable routing for a floating look

For the genuinely invisible, floating-screen look, the cables go inside the wall. On a standard plasterboard stud wall this is a well-established job: you cut two small openings, one behind the television and one lower down near the unit, fit recessed brush or socket plates at each, and feed the cables through the void between the studs using a length of fish tape or stiff wire.

There are two firm rules. First, only mains power cable rated for in-wall use, or a proper recessed socket on its own spur, should sit inside the wall, and any new mains work is best left to a qualified electrician. Standard kettle-style power leads are not designed to be buried. Second, HDMI, coax and Ethernet are low-voltage and safe to route yourself, so a popular and compliant approach is to run a recessed mains socket behind the TV (electrician fitted) and pass only the signal cables through brush plates.

Solid masonry or brick walls are a bigger undertaking, usually requiring a chased channel cut into the plaster, conduit laid in, and replastering afterwards. That is a job worth costing up against simply living with neat trunking. Either way, photograph the wall before you close it up so you have a record of where cables and any pipes or studs sit.

5. Power, sockets and the safe way to do it

Cable hiding and electrical safety are the same conversation, so be clear about what is allowed. In UK homes, any new fixed mains wiring or socket should be installed by a competent, ideally registered, electrician. Burying an ordinary appliance plug and flex inside a wall is against manufacturer guidance and a genuine fire risk, because those flexes are not rated to sit enclosed with no airflow.

The neat, safe answer most installers use is a recessed media plate: a socket set flush into the wall directly behind the screen, so the TV’s short power lead plugs straight in with nothing protruding. Pair it with a recessed brush plate for the HDMI and aerial leads and the wall behind the television is completely clear. An electrician can fit one as a spur from a nearby socket in a couple of hours.

If you would rather not touch the mains, keep the existing wall socket and route the TV’s power lead down inside trunking alongside the signal cables. It is the slack power lead coiled on the floor, more than the wall run, that makes a setup look messy, so even tidying that into a channel transforms the look. Whatever route you choose, switch off at the consumer unit before working near any wiring.

6. Renting? Damage-free options

If drilling and cutting are off the table, you can still get a remarkably tidy result without losing your deposit. The whole strategy here is to keep the television on a unit rather than on the wall, so the cable drop is tiny, then manage the rest with removable products.

• Stick-on cord channels with removable adhesive give you a paintable vertical cover that peels off cleanly when you leave.
• Adhesive cable clips guide leads along the skirting board and around door frames, following lines the eye already accepts.
• Velcro cable ties bundle the slack behind the unit so nothing pools on the floor.
• A cable management box hides a power strip and the worst of the tangle inside a discreet lidded container on the shelf below.
• Furniture placement does a lot of free work: position the TV unit so it sits over the socket and the cables never travel across open wall at all.

A media unit with a closed back and internal storage is the single most landlord-friendly investment, because it hides devices, leads and plugs in one move with zero wall damage. Browse our living room range for stands sized to sit neatly over a standard skirting-level socket.

7. Cable management behind the unit

Hiding cables from the front is only half the battle; the space behind the unit needs organising too, or you will be untangling a nest every time you add a device. Start by bundling cables that travel together with reusable Velcro ties rather than plastic zip ties, so you can release and re-route them whenever a gadget changes. Leave a gentle loop of slack at each device rather than pulling leads tight.

A self-adhesive cable raceway run along the back edge of the unit, or a set of clips fixed to the rear panel, keeps everything anchored off the floor and away from the carpet where dust gathers. Mount a multi-socket extension lead onto the inside wall of the cabinet using its keyhole slots or a strip of heavy-duty adhesive, so it sits up off the base and the plugs are easy to reach. This single step does more for tidiness than almost anything else.

Finally, build in a little breathing room. AV receivers, consoles and streaming boxes run warm, so do not pack them into a sealed compartment with no ventilation. Leave a few centimetres of gap around each device and route cables so they do not block airflow. A tidy, well-ventilated cabinet keeps your kit cooler, quieter and longer-lived.

8. Styling out what you cannot hide

Sometimes a cable or two simply has to remain visible, and the trick is to make the whole television wall feel deliberate so the eye never lingers on the wiring. A grounded media unit flanked by bookcases or topped with a row of low decorative pieces draws attention sideways and upward, away from the short cable drop in the centre. Visual balance is your friend.

Soften and frame the area with styling that reads as intentional. A pair of trailing plants from our greenery range at either end of the unit will gently obscure a cable run, while a framed print or a mirror offset to one side breaks up the blank wall above. Keep the surface lightly styled with a few well-chosen accessories rather than crowded, so it feels curated, not cluttered.

Lighting helps too: a small lamp nearby pulls the eye to a glow rather than a black wire, and a textured rug under the seating shifts the room’s centre of gravity towards comfort. When the whole arrangement looks considered, a faint vertical cord cover that matches the wall genuinely disappears into the scheme.

9. Buying with confidence

Once you have a plan for the cables, the right TV media unit turns the whole project from a chore into an upgrade. Every Elystra Living purchase is backed by fast delivery, so you can have your new unit in place and your wires tidied away within days, not weeks. If it is not quite right, our 30-day returns promise means you can send it back with no fuss.

We also make it easy to spread the cost: choose Klarna at checkout to pay in interest-free instalments rather than all at once, so kitting out your living room comfortably fits your budget. Browse the full TV media units collection to find a stand with the storage, cable cut-outs and proportions that suit your space, and buy knowing you are well looked after at every step.