Smart Tips To Hide The Ugly Spots At Home That No One Wants To See

It is very common for homeowners to hire professional interior designers to help design their homes. Even more people attempt to decorate their homes themselves; either way, we’re sure that most people put a lot of effort and money into making their houses beautiful and inviting. However, it is the necessary things like messy cords and routers that we have absolutely no idea how to organize, and the overcrowding of storage spaces in your home may take the elegance out of your best-made decor plans; all that time and money you spent would go to waste which is something nobody wants to happen. If you’re scratching your head on how to make your home stunning again, here are 45 ideas to hide all the “ugly stuff” in your home.

Stairwell Drawers

Many homeowners who have limited storage space in their homes often overcrowd the spaces they do have. Overcrammed open storage spaces often look unsightly and messy, whereas hidden ones don’t, no matter how full they are, because, as the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind.

Therefore, try transforming the unused spaces under your stairwell into hidden drawers that give you additional storage space to keep your open areas looking neater and more elegant. Hidden stairwell drawers are even better than chests or other storage furniture because they don’t take up any floor space.

Stair Drawers

In addition to the idea mentioned previously, turn the original stairs into drawers to get even more storage space! This is an awesome secret organization idea because nobody would suspect that the actual stairs would open up to store more items.

Show your carpenter the picture above and ask them to transform the stairs into stairs that can be opened just like a drawer; imagine how much more storage space you would have with all the stairs in your home!

Invisible Bookshelves

Booklovers often have stacks of books lying around their homes. Storing all of one’s books can be rather challenging, especially if you have limited spacing preventing you from building full-sized bookshelves that could hold all your precious reading material in one place.

Try building an invisible bookshelf just as the picture shown above; the “bookshelf” above has a metal shelf that slides into the cover on the bottom book and can stack up to 15 pounds of books. This invisible bookshelf is innovative and provides storage spaces!

Cord Hair

Cords are one of the trickiest items to organize neatly, especially if you have limited space. Whether you’re a musician who has a cord attached to practically every instrument you own, or you are a student who uses multiple gadgets for online classes, you’re bound to face cord storage problems.

The easiest solution is to make them a feature; this can be done by disguising cords as the hair on a portrait. The picture above is a “portrait” of world-renowned singer Bob Marley; the cords are disguised in plain sight as the singer’s dreadlocks!

Power Cords

As mentioned above, students face difficulties hiding their gadgets’ cords. During COVID-19 especially, students are stuck studying at home due to lockdowns imposed; chaotic cord situations on your desks affect concentration during online classes. Therefore, it is important that your desk is neat and mess-free.

How about turning computer cords into power lines? Take inspiration from the picture above, which uses a model of electrical towers to hold the cords, resembling a power line. This is a cute decoration which is effective in keeping your desk neat too!

Curtains

Another way to effectively hide all the electrical wires on your desk would be to hide them behind a curtain. You would think that this only works if your desk and the sockets are situated near a window; however, this is a trick that works well anywhere.

Be sure to use a piece of fabric that matches the color of your room for this tip. Attach the curtains behind your desk and hide all the wires behind the curtain. Now, all the wiring is tucked safe and out of sight behind the material.

Cord Covers

Alternatively, try buying cord covers from hardware stores and use them to hide all those messy cords lying around your home. Cord covers are very common and aren’t hard to get, but if you’re having trouble finding one, you could try online shopping platforms.

Go ahead and buy cord covers to make them “invisible,” paint the cord covers the same color as your walls. These work great, especially for those wirings for a mounted TV, air-conditioning, or generally anything mounted on your walls that need to be plugged in.

Trim Work

Apart from that, TV cords can be hidden behind the trim, which is fitted around the tv, giving it a “built-in” feel. However, this should be done by a professional for a better-looking outcome. Discuss this with your designer and have them help you achieve this look.

The designer for the TV setup in the picture above installed a small space in the trim work that allows the TV wires to run right through them. As seen in the picture above, the cords are not visible, as they are well hidden.

Cord Fence

Other than the options already mentioned above, cords can be hidden behind “fences,” too. This is another simple idea to hide the mess cords make, decorative fences can be easily found in both stores and online shopping platforms. They are also simple to install yourself.

Start by choosing decorative fences with colors that match the theme in your home. Next, place the fences where most of your cords are. Finally, shove the cords behind the fence. Now, your cords are perfectly hidden behind a cute decoration.

Router Boxes

Apart from cords, routers and modems that are connected with multiple cords can be an eyesore for homeowners who like their home neat. One simple yet effective fix to hide the messiness of cables and routers is to disguise them as decorative pieces in your room.

Start by finding pretty boxes; alternatively, use some leftover wrapping paper to wrap some unused cardboard boxes. Then, cut a hole that fits around the cords. Finally, place the router in the box and the cables out the hole that you’ve cut.

Router Books

If you think boxes look too simple or just don’t seem to fit with your home’s aesthetic, try this next idea instead. It’s easy, and you can create any kind of look/ theme you’d like it to, all depending on the material you’ve chosen to do this with.

Pick out a book with the aesthetic you’re looking for, hollow it out, and place the router inside it. This might be frowned upon by book lovers, don’t worry, here’s something else you could try: buying just the book covers on online shopping platforms.

Charging Drawer

Chargers are another type of wires that are usually left randomly around the house; this tangles up the chargers and creates a huge mess that is an absolute eyesore. Organizing the chargers is a good solution but is too troublesome to manage each time you need to charge a device.

Instead of organizing after each use, try emptying a drawer and turning it into a charging station. Place an extension cable along with all your chargers in the drawer and charge your electronic gadgets in the drawer. Isn’t this is a great way to hide the mess chargers make?

Cord Box

Another economically friendly option to organize chargers or wires, is reusing finished toilet paper tubes and shoe boxes. This is a great way to manage all your chargers in one place and it can be stored away easily too.

First, collect some paper towel tubes and a shoebox. Next, attach an appropriate number of paper towel tubes into the box according to the number of chargers you have. Then, organize your chargers in the box, and voila, you’re done!

Pipes

Similar to cords, unhidden pipes get on homeowners’ nerves as it makes their homes messy and unpleasant to look at. Fortunately, there is a simple option to keep all the pipes out of your line of vision, and that’s by hiding them behind drapes.

For those unlucky people who have their pipes fitted outside the walls, you won’t have to stare at them anymore once you’ve used drapes to hide them neatly! This is a simple hack that works super well at hiding plumbing clutter.  

Printers

Printers are a piece of necessary office equipment but quite bulky to put on your desk; let’s be honest, printers aren’t used that often anyway, and having them take up a quarter of your desk is just a waste of desk space.

So, here’s a hack that can help save some desk space: move the printer away from your desk and stash it in a drawer that’s large enough. This way, the printer doesn’t take up valuable surface space and is still accessible when needed.

Drape Rods

Drape rods are another thing that looks unsightly when not hidden; occasionally, drapery rods don’t quite fit in with the room’s overall theme, which can ruin the aesthetic, especially if the room has a minimalist theme. Therefore, homeowners frequently look for ways to hide them.

One solution is to hide them using a cornice or moldings, as they are more commonly known. This can be done by professionals or as a DIY project; for those looking to DIY this, there are tons of tutorials you can learn from available on YouTube.

Support Beams

Apart from drape rods, support beams and metal poles look extremely ugly if left uncovered. Unfortunately, you can’t do without them as they are rather important in supporting the structure of your home and would cause major issues if removed.

However, you could “dress them up” to make them more pleasant to look at. Similar to drape rods, hide the support beams and metal poles by using moldings; there are a bunch of molding styles and shapes that you could use too.  

Dog Bowls

Dog bowls are essential in any pet owner’s home, and they are often placed in inconvenient spots and can be in the way. However, they always need to be accessible as pets need them for food and water. An easy fix is to keep the bowls off the floor yet accessible in a custom-made cabinet drawer.

This is great as the dog bowls can be tucked away for a neater home when it isn’t used yet easily accessible by your dogs when they need to use them. The remaining drawers can be used to store your pet’s other stuff.

Cat’s Litter Box

While on the subject of pets, a cat’s litter box is something else that will become your biggest nightmare if not cleaned daily. Therefore, you’d need an idea to keep the mess contained and hidden and your living space clutter-free.

Try building a secret compartment in a cabinet that allows your cat to go in and out of; this would turn into your cat’s secret litter box! What a great idea for an unconventional litter box that is well hidden in plain sight!

Electronics Cabinet

Like dog bowls, some electronics such as gaming consoles and TV boxes need to be hidden; otherwise, it would make the room look messy; however, they need to be easily accessible or it could cause functionality problems.

Therefore, you could get a cabinet that has a metal grate or glass window to store things like TV boxes and gaming consoles. The cabinet hides all the electronics from the “surface” while the cabinet’s glass windows let you get the signal and airflow through.

Soaps

Soaps and dishwashing detergents can cause quite the mess on your sink when they’re not neatly organized. Also, soap and dishwashing detergents should be easily accessible; otherwise, it’d be too much of a hassle to get it from the cabinets every time you need to clean something.

All you need is a cake stand, and you can make a focal and attractive feature next to the sink; choose a cake stand that matches with the rest of the decor in the room, place the soaps and dishwashing detergents on it, for it to stand out more, try adding some plants and other decorations.

Trays

We’re sure that most of your countertops are cluttered with random objects. For example, the countertop in your living room is most probably cluttered with house keys, car keys, and other stuff, which makes the countertop look incredibly messy.

An easy hack to arrange the clutter is to utilize trays; place a tray on the countertop and put the loose objects on it; place plants near or on the trays for decorative purposes. Alternatively, you could use cake stands as we have already seen. This way, all the random objects are gathered in one place rather than spread all over the countertop.

Laundry Hampers

Everyone needs laundry hampers for dirty clothes, but where do you normally store them? Most of us just leave it in the corner of our bathroom or bedroom; however, dirty clothes spilling out of a laundry basket is an absolute eyesore.

Fortunately, there’s an easy fix for this; the only downside for this tip is that you will need to sacrifice some cupboard space. You’d have to find a deep drawer that fits your laundry hampers and simply place the hampers in the drawer.

Trash Bins

Similar to laundry hampers, trash bins are another household item that is normally left in the corner of the room. Nothing can ruin the feel of a room more than a full trash can. While many homeowners look for trash bins with covers, which helps a bit, many people still prefer to have an open bin.

For those who own trash bins without lids, you could ask your carpenter to build a secret compartment under one of the counters that would hold the trash bins. In the picture above, the trash bins are hidden in a secret drawer, which is the best solution.

Air-Conditioning Units

For the people out there who have air-conditioning units near a window and think that they are too much of an eyesore to be left there, here’s an extremely simple solution for you to hide the air-conditioning unit in plain sight.

Hang café-style curtains on a tension rod in front of your air-conditioning unit; the curtains are light enough that they don’t block the airflow while perfectly hiding the air-conditioning unit. If you need to access the air-conditioning unit, simply part the curtains.

Air-Conditioning Chalkboard

Ordinary air-conditioning units are rather boring to look at, not to mention that it is the same in every single home; here’s an unconventional and unique way to hide the unit, and actually make a feature of it: a chalkboard display. It is special and will definitely draw the attention of your guests.

This is a great DIY project to do alone or with your kids. Start by building a big wooden frame to cover up the air-conditioning unit. Then, add the chalkboard onto the wooden frame. Finally, write or draw anything you’d like on it.

Wallpapered Refrigerators

Other than air-conditioning units, refrigerators are another household staple that is bland, boring, and pretty much the same in every household. Refrigerators are a blank canvas for you to go crazy, unleashing your creativity decorating it, so be bold in trying different decorating techniques on this.

In the picture above, the refrigerator is covered up with stick-on wallpaper, which is a great and eco-friendly decoration idea that elevates the look of your refrigerator. Since the wallpaper is stick-on, you could switch it out easily when you get bored of the design.

Chalkboard Refrigerators

If you prefer, try using the chalkboard idea we have already seen to switch up your fridge! This is where you can get creative with chalk drawings, quotes, or even update your reminder list to spice up and cover your dull-looking refrigerator.

Firstly, clean the surface of your refrigerator. Then, give it a coat of chalkboard paint which can be easily found in hardware stores; this would transform the regular refrigerator into a writeable surface. Finally, get creative with what you want to put on the chalkboard, and you’re done!

Taped Dryer and Washer

Apart from air-conditioning units and refrigerators, dryers and washers are other everyday household items which you could decorate to make them look more appealing. White dryers and washers are the easiest to decorate because it’s like a blank canvas.

One example is to use tape to create different patterns on your dryer or washer. In the picture shown above, this homeowner used black tape to decorate one appliance with stripes, the other with dots; an easy decoration that looks fabulously chic too!

Cleaning Supplies

Speaking of dryers and washers, most homeowners have laundry detergent and other needed cleaning supplies stacked up in the laundry room and kitchen, making the rooms look messier and cluttered. Fortunately, there’s a rather simple solution to keep things more organized.

Start by mounting a pegboard onto the wall of your laundry room. Then, attach little wire shelves on the pegboard. Finally, organize the cleaning supplies as well as clothes washing supplies on the wire shelves, just as in the example shown above.

Laundry Detergent

Continuing on the topic of laundry supplies, laundry detergents are pretty much the most frequently used item in the laundry room. Most homeowners buy the big industrial-sized ones because they’re cheaper; however, this makes them heavy to lift and pour into the washer.

Therefore, try this easy hack that makes storing and pouring laundry detergent easier; pour the laundry detergent into a drink dispenser. When you need some detergent, get a cup and get it from the drink dispenser; wash the cup to reuse it.

Sticker Light Switches

Light switches can also be blank canvases that homeowners can get highly creative in decorating because they are typically plain white in color and practically the same in every single household. Decorating light switches can also be turned into a fun family activity!

There are hundreds of ways to decorate them; you could paint over them or use stickers or tape. The picture above shows a light switch with a cute CO2 sticker; this reminds the family to save energy by turning off the lights when not in use.

Doors

Doors are another ugly but essential household staple that can be personalized and made to be more attractive. Door art is a great project for your kids to do! Start small by adding chalkboard paint, stickers, or simple decorations to the door, or go big by repainting the whole thing and adding contrasting moldings and panels.

You could either paint it in one solid color or use patterns on the door or a combination of both. Take inspiration from the picture above, where the artist combined molding and paint to create an all-new, interestingly personalized, and stylish door.

Appliances Makeover

Occasionally, appliances aren’t available in homeowner’s color preferences which is a big letdown because this means that the machine may not match the theme in your home. Fortunately, there’s an easy fix that can turn your appliances into any color or pattern you’d like.

There are numerous types of contact paper you could choose from to stick on the surface of any appliance to transform it into a statement piece. Just take a look at the picture above; this homeowner transformed a black appliance into a modern-looking one with faux stainless steel contact paper.

Bathtubs

Other than the “blank canvases” mentioned above, bathtubs are another basic item that can be elevated into something beautiful by making simple tweaks and adding simple touches. Waterproof and splashproof wallpaper or tiles are the best tools for this.

Take inspiration from the picture above that uses faux rocks to cover the sides of the bathtub. It is easy to attach the rocks to the bathtub without making too much mess. Alternatively, you could choose wallpapers and contact papers that you like and stick them on.

Jewelry Paintings

Ladies, do you have a bunch of jewelry you don’t know where to store? Storing jewelry is rather tricky because some jewelry tends to get tangled up easily if not properly stored; you’d need a large enough container for this.

Paintings are the best “containers”; attach your chosen wall painting with hinges that allow the painting to be folded down. When the painting is moved, it reveals a secret compartment where you can store all of your jewelry safely and out of sight.

Alarm Paintings

Another way to use beautiful paintings is to hide alarms or other things mounted to the wall that you don’t like seeing. Honestly, this trick works on about everything; however, depending on the size of the object you want to hide, you’d want to select paintings that are larger. This is also a good security feature.

Simply attach hinges to the edges of the painting prior to mounting the artwork onto the part of the wall where the alarm is situated. Now, your alarm is perfectly hidden and tamper-free, and only you know where to find it!

Breaker Box Picture Frames

Circuit breaker boxes are bulky and ugly; if your breaker box is installed in a storeroom, you’re one of the lucky ones because your circuit boxes are in a room that is rarely designed or decorated and doesn’t have a theme that could be ruined.

For those who have their breaker boxes in noticeable spaces, here’s a neat trick to cover the breaker box up: use magnetic picture frames. Since the breaker box is metal, the magnetic picture frames would stick right on; use your favorite pictures or pictures online that fit your home’s aesthetic.

Thermostat Picture

Other than alarms and breaker boxes, thermostats are another object installed to our wall that seems rather incompatible with the rest of the room; a simple solution is to hide the thermostat behind a picture or a piece of art.

Go ahead and find art or pictures that fit the aesthetic of your home and mount them on the wall. Keep in mind to remove the glass from the art or picture as the glass may affect the thermostat readings.

Wall Vents

Wall vents are another ugly addition in many homes that most homeowners wish to cover up very badly. Wall vents are rather difficult to cover up as using solid objects to cover them up would only block airflow, which we don’t want.

Hanging metal doormats or grills over wall vents would cover them up well; however, be sure to choose doormats with many holes to allow the air to still circulate freely.. Alternatively, you could paint over the wall vent to “dress it up”.

Water Pipes

Another common unsightly addition that most households have is water pipes sticking out of the ground; this is usually seen outside the home and looks unpleasant to passersby. Unfortunately, this isn’t something that can be removed, as they are vital for water supply.

So, the only thing you could do is cover it up; this can be done with fake rock domes that are easily accessible on online shopping platforms. Place the fake rock over the water pipe, and it will be hidden in plain sight.

Towels

Ordinary paper towel holders seem too conventional but going without one is not an option as it makes retrieving paper towels a little bit more inconvenient and messes up the room. Here’s an unconventional paper towel holder that you can either buy or make yourself!

Use molding to act as a paper towel holder; it hides the paper towel entirely and has the added use of being a small shelf that can hold some decorations or other stuff. Simply go onto YouTube for tutorials to DIY the molding or purchase finished products off of Amazon.

Plants

Most homeowners install security cameras in and outside of their homes to prevent thieves from robbing them; security cameras should be placed somewhere that is secure and not easily noticed, which is usually the corner of the ceiling. Alternatively, try this instead.

Use plants as camouflage; plants are great decorations to place in your home, even better to hide the things you don’t want to be seen. Placing one in front of a home security camera can camouflage it entirely which makes it difficult to notice.

Styrofoam Coolers

For the homeowners who have a backyard, we bet that you have a Styrofoam cooler to keep all your drinks chilled when you’re relaxing in your garden; unfortunately, Styrofoam coolers aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing items. Fear not; there’s an easy solution for this.

Simply place the Styrofoam cooler in a wicker basket, which can be bought or made yourself if you are crafty. Putting the Styrofoam cooler in a wicker chest is like putting your doll in beautiful clothes; it makes it look presentable and pretty.

Box Springs

Mattress box springs are another household item that isn’t exactly pleasing to the eye; many wish to change this but have no idea how to. The simplest way is to cover it up with comforters and sheets, but you can’t fold them up when they’re not in use.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t hide the ugly box springs. Fortunately, there’s something else you could do; you could upholster your mattress box springs with fabric and a staple gun. For a minimalistic themed room, try opting for primary colors or choose any material of your preference really.