Hiding Your TV Cables (THE Trick!)

Nothing cleans up a TV and media area better than hiding all of the ugly cords. When we built our house, we thought we were smart by adding cable and electrical outlets up on the wall so we wouldn’t have any cords hanging down, but, uh, we kind of forgot about connecting cable boxes, game systems, speakers… the list goes on and on.

Had we actually been smart, we would have added a tube behind the wall to feed those cables through.

The good news is, it’s not that hard to hide them behind the wall using little recessed outlets installed in the drywall.

The bad news is, it can be seriously tricky to feed those cables through and get them to come back out at the bottom. However, I discovered a fun little trick to make it oh-so-easy…. Keep on reading! And, you can check out my YouTube video on the whole process.

First Things First

This method is to be used with low voltage wiring only. Otherwise, you should consult an electrician.

Setting Up

1. 500500First you will need a set of recessed cable plates. These are the ones I’ve used for all of my TV setups. In addition to white, they come in light almond and black.
   
2. Determine where you will put each plate. You will want to avoid the studs so you have free space to feed the cords. I placed one at the height of the TV, and then the second directly below it closer to the equipment I am connecting.
3. The plates come with a template to cut out and trace on the wall.
   
4. Next, cut the hole out of the dry wall. I used my Dremel.
   
5. One your cables are fed, simply push the plate into the hole and turn the wings to hug the drywall.
   

Feeding the Cables

Now in my steps up there, I quickly jumped over the hardest part… feeding the cables! You can feed those cables down, sure, but getting them to come back out of that hole? Holy smokes, it’s frustrating! The insulation fills the space so they can’t just dangle down. They creep into all sorts of places unknown.

They are just too flimsy to properly guide them against the insulation to come out at the right spot at the bottom. You need more control, and there is an easy way to get it!

THE Trick

The trick is using a simple, flexible cable hider. They are designed to work on the outside of your wall and are often paintable. As a matter of fact, this is one way to help conceal the electrical cords you can’t feed behind the wall. You need to be sure though that they do have flex, or you won’t be able to feed them behind a wall.

Simply put the cable inside the hider, then feed it into the hole. It’s flexible enough to bend through the wall plate opening, but it’s sturdy enough to give you some control over the cable. I used one hand to push the insulation away from the wall to give the cord some room to get started.

Once you’ve fed the cable through, you can hold onto the cable, pull the sleeve out and reuse it. Badda bing!

One More Note

This job is itchy. I would recommend wearing gloves!

Supplies

Recessed Cable Plates
Stud Finder
Dremel or similar to cut drywall
Cord Hiders
Gloves

Watch

My video helps explain this all further, and seeing it in action is much more helpful, so be sure to watch and subscribe. Check it out here!

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