How to make a TV look good in your living room

A TV, telly, television; whatever you call it, it’s a sticking point in interior decorating and an irksome thing to design around. Much like a chip butty with loads of salt and vinegar, a big 43-inch QLED beast opposite the sofa is a pleasure that most people love but few want to shout about. When the elephant in the room is reflective, black and rectangular, it does, unfortunately, tend to draw attention to itself. We all have them, but strength in numbers doesn’t make them any better looking, so how do you solve a problem like a telly?

When a living room is photographed for a book or publication such as House & Garden, it’s rare to spot a TV in the published photos and those empty sideboards opposite sofas with a large piece of art propped on them are fooling no one. But this article isn’t about smoke-and-mirrors styling for the camera. When a room design needs to incorporate a TV, there are some clever ways to make it look not completely terrible.

Before delving into the topic any further, we should take a moment to respect those well-rounded people who would rather read a book, create something, or have a conversation than watch Succession or Gogglebox. Though, if you don’t own a TV, you’re likely not reading this anyway.

Hide it in a cupboard or cabinet

If you want to banish the TV from sight entirely, you could hide it in a cupboard or cabinet and more furniture brands are designing furniture especially for this purpose. See Neptune, Julian Chichester, and OKA for starters, or you could go down a custom-made route like designer Beata Heuman, who has used clever cabinetry to hide a TV on more than one occasion.

Alternatively, you could buy a housekeeper’s cupboard or linen press in a style that you like (and a size that works for both your home and the TV in question) and adjust the shelves to accommodate a secret squirrel of a TV inside. Assuming it’s against a wall, remove a generous section of the back panel to allow for cables and prevent overheating.

Cover it with a suzani

Mark Anthony Fox

You’ll rarely, if ever, spot a TV in a Studio Squire project but you may often spot a lovely suzani hanging from the wall. Pull the drawstring beside it and voila, a TV appears. It’s a brilliant decorative trick for hiding the black box on the wall and adds so much to a room at the same time. In order to make it sit a bit more flush against the wall, you’ll need to remove as many cables from the TV as you can and invest in a super slim wall bracket.

Invest in a particularly handsome TV