Home improvements: Cable management to banish ugly wires

Unsightly black wires can kill the look of your home. Here are three solutions to end your cable woes.

You know that sinking feeling: you buy the newest, coolest gadgets to put the finishing touches to your designer home, only for all those unsightly black wires to kill the look. Here are three solutions to end your cable woes.

Hiding is the most common, tucking wires into or behind furniture and rugs – but it only goes so far. Flat-screen TVs mounted on walls are the worst offenders for leaving ugly, hanging wires.

All hardware stores sell cheap cable ties and trunking tubes, but they look grim. Instead, try using a solid cable raceway in a designer finish, such as brushed aluminium or high-gloss plastic. A bolder option is to turn the wires into art by attaching to the wall in funky geometric patterns.

Concealing is the trick that retail stores use. They run wires behind the wall. This is easy in a shop, but harder in a home when you may have to attach your LED TV to a concrete wall. Concealing will almost certainly involve a professional contractor.

Technology can help. Most gadgetry – speakers, printers etc – has wireless options. An alternative is a product called “Flatwire”, which is a strip of flat copper wire that’s almost invisible when painted over. A version for power cables is imminent.

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