How To Hide Your Flat Screen TV in Plain Site
I don’t yet have one of those super-duper big screen HD TVs for my house yet mostly because I don’t yet have a place to really put it. Right now I just have a 20 year old particleboard entertainment center along a large empty wall in my living room. I’m thinking about designing some built-in cabinets for that area, but I like the idea of “hiding” my HD TV when it isn’t in use so my living room can be both a formal room with no TV and an informal room when I have the TV on.
It turns out there are a lot of cool options available that will help me have my HD TV and hide it, too.
Picturehouse Cabinet’s Plasma TV Fireplace – This is pretty darn cool and it’s definitely at the top of my list for neat ways to hide a big screen TV. It’s an electric fireplace cabinet with a lift built into it which raises up when you want to watch TV and sinks back down into the fireplace (out of site and safe) when you don’t want to see the television. Each fireplace is made of solid wood and has a host of great luxury features include a remote control for the lift and the fireplace, hidden wires, and Smooth-Glide operation so you can still decorate your mantle. This free-standing fireplace requires no flu, can hold a TV up to 50″ in size and serves as a unique focal point and conversation piece! They really do have a lot of different fireplace styles, so they almost definitely have one that will fit your decor. They’re from Britain and they’re not cheap.
Media Decor Moving Art and Media Mirror – Media Decor has two different options available to hide that wall-mounted flat panel TV. They manufacture frames which you put around your TV that mask the television when it is not in use. The Moving Art actually has a piece of artwork scroll down over your TV when it isn’t in use. They have a wide selection of artworks you can choose from or you can even submit your own custom piece of art. The Media-Mirrors are really pretty amazing looking. It’s sort of like a high-tech two-way mirror over your TV, but there’s more to it. They use “beam splitter” technology which means the mirror has a “high efficiency dielectric coating designed to transmit the TV picture at maximum brightness and reflect like a mirror when the TV is off.” These incredibly cool flat TV covers come with a variety of frames and customization options. They even have a version which rolls up the artwork and then slides out the TV out from the frame.
MK1 Studios Plasma TV Underbed Lift – So maybe you like to watch TV in bed but don’t really have anyplace to put that 50″ Plasma screen. That’s not a problem anymore with this underbed lift. This system actually fit around and under the bed and stores the TV completely out of view under the bed until you want to watch it. Then it lifts out from under the special bed frame and flips around for your viewing pleasure. The entire system is remote controlled and from what I can tell this is one heavy-duty lift system. The lift takes about 35 seconds to deploy from under the bed and allows you to rotate the screen so you could watch it from anywhere in the room, not just from the bed. They can fit a 50″ flatscreen TV under a king size bed.
Frontgate Reversible Media Center – This is the cheapest of the options, but it’s also no longer available according to Frontgate’s website. This bookcase actually slides out and then turns around on a platter to reveal a wide screen TV. So you can impress your girlfriend’s parents with your leather-bound editions of Shakespeare and then chill with the guys and watch NASCAR two hours later. As far as I can tell this isn’t being made anymore mostly because it was fairly expensive for a cherry veneer product that you had to manually turn around.
So it looks like I have some options. I’m not sure if I can actually afford any of them, but it’s fun to dream and see what’s available! It also makes the idea of building my own method for hiding a flat screen TV a good idea for a home project that I’ll have to plan out sometime soon.
Update: I now have a flat screen LCD HDTV and I’ll probably try mounting it on the wall in the next month or two. When I do I’ll have to work on hiding my tv wires that trail down the wall before I come up with a long-term plan for running my TV wires and cables inside the wall or simply hiding my whole TV.
Comment by Robert
There are even more options to conceal your TV!
http://www.importadvantage.com/Remington
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[...] Ken wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptPicturehouse Cabinet’s Plasma TV Fireplace – This is pretty darn cool and it’s definitely at the top of my list for neat ways to hide a big screen TV. It’s an electric fireplace cabinet with a lift built into it which raises up when you … [...]
Comment by Peggy
The writer is mistaken about the Reversable media center. I saw it in Oct 2007 made by Norwalk.
Comment by Tom
Peggy,
Can you find any other references for that reversible media center? The Norwalk Furniture website doesn’t seem to list it as a product. Could you have simply seen one that was left over and not yet sold?
Comment by Patricia A Burr
Where can I purchase one of the above. I live in Poole Dorset England.BH17 7YN.Also can I use a LCD wide screen and not a plasma..I love the idea of it being in the mantel,but would the television still be covered by the warranty..?being over a fire..
Comment by Jay P Gibson
I am interested in Media Decor Moving Art and Media Mirror for covering a flat screen tv. When I try to activate your link it DOES NOT work.
Thank you for your help.
Jay P Gibson (5-28-08)
Comment by Tom
Hey, you’re right! Media Decor used to have a forwarding page, but apparently it doesn’t work anymore. I changed the link for Media Decor… Try it now!
Comment by Orlando Mike
Media Decor wants almost $8000 for their art lift. They are out of their damn mind. I can fabricate one for a hell of a lot less. Keep dreaming and serving the extremely rich Media Decor. I’ll pay $500 and no more.
Comment by Jaime
COOL IDEA: A decorative frame to fit around your flat screen TV!!!
I bought one (at a killer deal) from:
flatscreentvframes.com
Jaime
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[...] How To Hide a Flats Panel TV: Now that flat panel televisions are really coming down in price it looks like a lot more people are buying them and realizing how BIG they really are (or your spouses are complaining that these televisions are taking up too much space on the wall!) Either way, a lot of people have been looking at clever ways to hide their large flat panel TVs from view and this post offers a few different solutions and ideas that are commercially available. [...]
Comment by David
I don’t know if Jamie is the guy I bought my frame from. I bought a frame from flatscreentvframes.com and put it up last night. My wife was about ready to take my 6K investment and throw it out. According to her Flat Screen Tvs are the anti-christ of home decorating. Now that the TV has a frame she wants to decorate the house with Flat Screen TVs. If your in the same boat check out this site and frame the TV before your wife makes you take it back.
D.W.
Comment by Desi Doise
I am looking for a powered mount for a 60 inch flat screen. I want to build a cabinet above my fireplace mantle and have the tv drop down in front of the fireplace, hiding the fireplace. When it acsends back up, it hides itself up above the mantle.
Can you help me?
Comment by Steve
Try HD Envy, I got a frame from them for about $500. It uses a special bracket that mounts to your TV, I think the installation took me about 15 minutes. I got the Traditional in Cherry, the quality is awesome. You won’t be disappointed! http://www.hdenvy.com
Comment by Jenny Bland
http://www.finearttapestries.com has a great solution for hiding flat screen tvs. They use contemporary wall decor woven into tapestry that rolls up and out of sight. It looks good. For decorators and designers.
Comment by Peter Maxson
You all need to take a look at http://www.tvcoverups.com. Prices start at $399 allowing you to use your ow. Art to hide your flat screen when not in use. Also available in automatic for half the price of the roll-up!! We have even lifted a wall section with a model ship on it.
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[...] and lighter and can easily be mounted on walls in a number of different ways. There are lots of custom options for hiding your TV when you aren’t using it, but if you’re like most people then hiding the TV itself is [...]
Comment by John
check out http://www.television-art.com
Comment by John
Another affordable alternative is a fine art TV cover from http://www.television-art.com It looks good, easy to place on the TV and is a fraction of the cost of TV mirrors or a TV lift system.
John
Comment by Rob
I love seeing all the different ways people come up with to conceal or camouflage their TV’s. They’re such an eyesore on the wall most of the time.
LCD Cabinet just came out with a new remote control product that’s pretty cool for concealing a flat screen. It’s a big, modern mirror that is automated and motorized. Here’s a link:
LCD TV Cabinet
Comment by redbpower
great article. great ideas. i blogged it: http://wp.me/pdi8M-5k