In our high-tech world, cords are a necessity. But when they get in the way of design, they’re just annoying, so knowing how to hide lamp cords is a must for anyone who wants to keep the integrity of their beautifully styled spaces.
When we gave our son’s room a makeover we installed wall lamps on either side of his bed. They looked great – that is, except for the cords. We brainstormed and came up with a way to hide the unsightly cords and incorporate them into the design with a simple budget-friendly DIY project.
- Budget: $12
- Level of difficulty: Easy as pie
- Time: 1 hour
Before:
How to hide lamp cords step-by-step
It only requires two products that can easily be found at your local hardware store: plastic adhesive cord covers and spray paint!
Cord cover: White straight channel cord cover from Lowe's.
Spray Paint: Rust-Oleum Painter's-Touch Black General Purpose Spray Paint from the Home Depot.
The best part? It only cost around $12 total! Follow the steps below to get rid of those ugly cords!
1. Measure and cut
Start by measuring the length of cord that needs to be covered. Then cut your cord cover accordingly. Lay your cord cover on a sheet or piece of cardboard to prepare for paint.
2. Grab the paint
Spray paint works great for this project and we chose one that was a paint and primer in one for maximum adhesion. We went with the color black so it would blend in with the color of the lamps.
The nice thing about this project is being able to customize the color you need! Spray the cord cover lightly back and forth, you don’t want to do too much or it will cause the paint to run. Continue in this way until it’s completely covered and allow it to dry.
3. Install the cover
Once your paint has completely dried, you’re ready to install the cord cover! Carefully insert your cord into the cover and push the cord in moving down the length of the cord cover.
When the cord is inside the cover make sure it’s positioned in the right place. Remove the adhesive backing and attach it to the wall making sure it’s straight.
The results:
Now, instead of an eyesore, your cord is a beautiful part of the design!
Other ways to strategically hide cords
We’ve lived in a lot of houses over the course of our marriage, all with different layouts and designs. We’ve had to be really creative in coming up with ways to hide our cords so they’re out of the way.
1. Run the cord along trim and baseboards
This trick can be used for many different situations. If you’re running wires from a speaker, you can tuck them under the baseboards. We used to have our TV over the fireplace so we tucked the cord in between the bricks on our fireplace, drilled a small hole in the side of our built-in shelves and ran the cord along the back corner of the bookshelf. You could do the same if you have shiplap over your fireplace.
2. Hide them under a rug
Our recliners are electric and sit in the middle of our living room. In order to hide the cords that ran across the floor we hid them under the edge of our large area rug.
3. Run them behind furniture
If you have a desk that backs up to a wall you can tape the cords from a monitor, printer, etc. along the backside of the legs of the desk so they can’t be seen. If you’re in the market for a new desk, accent table or night stand, many of them now come with built-in outlets and ports to conceal phone chargers and more!
4. Paint them to blend into the background
If none of the above works for your situation you could opt to paint the cords to blend into the background and make them as inconspicuous as possible!
