Hide the Cable Box

How to hide the cable box when the box has to sit on the mantle along with the television…UG~LY!

I tried to place the cable box in a cabinet behind the mantle and use a mirror to change channels {yes, that does work} but our living room is on the large size and didn’t work from all Mike’s angle.

So I made a box for the cable box…a pretty one.

I used 1/4 inch MDF {medium density fiberboard.} It comes in a 2 by 4′ sheet at Home Depot for under $6. It’s kind of like hard cardboard, except it paints great.

I cut out 5 pieces, a top and bottom, two sides and a front. Leaving the back open so I didn’t have to mess with all the cords. This is the hole in our stone mantle wall for the cables.

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The Ugly

I measured our cable box and added an inch all around and make it high enough to hide the hole in the stone. Because the cable box gets hot and has vents I wanted the MDF box to be vented. Below I roughly marked places to cut vents on the top and two sides.

Making the box

I used the Dremel Saw to cut the MDF and vents.

I used my favorite wood glue…Elmer’s to glue the box together. Since the box just sits on the mantle and I’m not planning to dance around the room with it, the glue will hold it together.

Now for the fun part…the front. I plan on a door that drops down when the television is on, closing with a magnet when off. I thought about adding beadboard to the front.  Then I noticed my scrap pile and remembered making a wood scrap heart and wood scrap trees and decided on a wood scrap front. Below are molding strips glued together onto the front.

Painting the box

I painted the box a creamy white…at least while the white summer mantle is in place. Next month it might be gray or black or brown or red or green. Anyway! Note, I painted the first coat with one of those small rollers. The last coat I used a brush. I’m different I like brush strokes.

Before painting the front I brushed on Bri~wax in Tudor brown in areas I wanted to distress. Notice I put extra where I plan on placing the knob to give a worn look.

I had some hinges from a yard sale that I added with teeny tiny screws. I dry brushed over the hinges and magnet closure.

Here is my pretty box with the front open. My guy is watching Mission Impossible…hum.

And now it’s closed. I added an old wooden knob again from a yard sale.

Closed cable box

I plan to make something like this for our bedroom. Right now the cable box sits on a box on the dresser. Has to sit on an extra box so we can change channels from our high bed.

Update:  We bought a larger TV.  I made a crate to place over the TV on the mantel.  We change the cable box.  This is the update to our TV in a crate along with our industrial farmhouse living room.

This is how I’m using the cable box to hold scrapbook paper in my craft room cabinet.

How do you have your cable box hidden or is it out in the open?

Update and New Ideas to Hide the Wires

Update the TV idea in our new house, the French Country Farmhouse.

After hours of using a stud finder, I realize there were several extra horizontal studs inside this wall. My original plan was to hang the “garden” planter, but have shorter faux plants. This would leave a space between the planter and the bottom of the TV. But, the horizontal studs were in the way. I could not drop the wire inside the wall. So, I left them hanging down and added taller plants.

I chose to leave the floor area open instead of placing the planter on the floor. This gives a cleaner look to the room.

If you look closely, you can see the cable box in the plants.

For more cable cord hide & seek you might like these ideas:

Read more: Hide the Cable Box

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