There are all kinds of options for hiding the wires of your television, each with their strengths and weaknesses. But when you know your television will be on a specific wall for the long term, why not actually hide them inside the wall? Adding cable access brush plates to your wall is easy to do and takes less than 30 minutes.
Materials Needed:
• Cable Access Brush Plate (single gang) x2
• Old Work Low Voltage Wall Electrical Box (single gang) x2
• Drywall Jab Saw
• Screwdriver (I use this electric one and love it)
TV’s should be hung on interior walls (not a Universal rule, but good rule of thumb), which is good for this project because interior walls are often open inside (no insulation) so you can run your cables through the wall easily.
Step 1: Trace and cut the holes
Place your electrical box on the wall where you want it to end up, and trace around it. Use a stud-finder if necessary to ensure there are no studs in the way. You want to cut your hole about 1/8-3/16 on the inside of that line, to give space for the lip of the electrical box to catch. Do this in a location that will be behind the TV, but not where you will need to put your TV mount. Then repeat the process, adding another box where you want the cables to come out. Make sure it’s somewhere that will be hidden, either down low behind a dresser or credenza, or you can even go through the wall to the room behind if you have that option and it makes sense.
Step 2: Screw in the electrical box and feed the cable
The great thing about TV cables is you can use the low-voltage electrical box, which is basically completely open into the wall. Screw it in place and run your cables through the wall. I find it a lot easier to run the cables before you add the brush plate. If the second box is directly below the first one, as in our case, simply drop the cable end down and pull it out.
Step 3: Add the brush plate and close up
Slip the cables through the brush plate and screw it into the electrical box. Then add the plate cover and you’re done!
We’ve done this trick with several of our TVs, and love housing our TV components in a piece of furniture or something that blends naturally into the room. For example, in our bedroom, our dresser.
We drilled a small hole through the back of the dresser and ran all the cables into the top middle drawer. Some components will require quite a bit of ventilation so they don’t overheat (gaming consoles, for example), so wherever they’re stored you’ll want to plan for that. But this is a simple project that you can do with minimal tools and time. And it makes such a big difference in keeping your space looking clean.
Would love to see how/what you did to your dresser to accommodate housing, as described!
Any suggestions for how to hide wires when hanging above a fireplace?
Mind blown! My electrician just left those rectangular holes on the wall after mounting our tv. Someone suggested I get a brush plate which I did but couldn’t attach it directly to the wall. Now I know we need that orange electrical box? I’m adding those plates tomorrow. Thanks Chris.
Do cables and cords run in a wall like this have to follow electrical code?
It depends on what kind of cords they are. Low voltage (like audio or phone lines) can be run where you want, so long as you follow guidelines to prevent interference from other electrical wires that may be in the wall.
How would you suggest routing through the wall if the placement is over a fireplace? This is my diy hang up.
That’s a different beast and all depends on the access you have around it. Doesn’t hurt to hire an electrician to help consult on that.