Hide electrical cables
Five techniques depending on your budget and DIY skill
Visible cables ruin half of all otherwise successful interiors. Five techniques depending on your budget and DIY skill.
Visible cables visually ruin any interior. The TV hanging with its tangle of cables, the desk cluttered with wires, the lamp lead crossing the room. Five techniques depending on your budget.
Technique 1, the adhesive cable concealer (£10-15)
The simplest solution. A plastic or wood-effect channel that adheres to the wall and houses cables inside. Works particularly well behind the TV or on white walls where it is barely visible.
What you'll need. D-Line adhesive cable concealers or equivalent Amazon.
Technique 2, the discreet wall clip (£5 for a pack)
Small adhesive clips that hold cables along a skirting board or door frame. Invisible if painted in the wall's colour.
What you'll need. Pack of wall clips Amazon plus matching wall paint in a tube.
Technique 3, run them behind the furniture (free)
The simplest technique if you have furniture along the wall. Pull the sofa or console out by 10 cm and run the cables behind it. See rule 03.11 on the sofa pulled away from the wall.
Technique 4, the textile sleeve (£15-25)
A fabric sleeve (often woven linen) that bundles several cables into a single "tidy cable". Works well for the floor lamp lead crossing a room.
What you'll need. Braided cable cover Amazon in natural linen or matt black.
Technique 5, recessed into the wall (£60-80 plus an electrician)
The radical solution. You chase a channel into the wall, run conduit through it, and make good. Cables become invisible. Reserved for renovation works or owner-occupiers.
What you'll need. Recessed back box Leroy Merlin plus a multi-tool.
For the desk, the under-desk cable tray
Under the desk, a basket-style cable tray that bundles the power strip, transformer block and unused cables. Screwed under the desktop, completely invisible. Combine with a textile sleeve for anything that runs up to the desktop.
What you'll need. Under-desk cable tray Amazon plus a slim power strip.
## Key takeaways
Combining two techniques almost always works better than one. Adhesive concealer on the wall plus textile sleeve on the cable that drops to the floor. The rule, no more than one visible cable per wall.