Sure, we love watching our favorite stars on TV but that doesn't mean your television needs to take center stage in your living room. Even with today's innovative designs making TV's as thin as a supermodel, they can still over power a room and no matter how beautiful you design the space, it's often tricky to hide the big white elephant in the room. Many newer homes are designed with electronic niche's above mantles, like the one photographed above. While I'll give them an A for effort, it still doesn't hide the problem. With the help from my great carpenter, I added drawer slides to the back of a mirror and the wall surrounding the opening. Adding a locking mechanism to the top slide, the mirror can slide open to reveal the TV underneath (we argued back and forth about making it slide to the side (my choice) but in the end he won with this version. In the kitchen, another room hungry for space, we had to creatively disguise the washer/dryer unit so designed a cabinet door that looked like a wall of drawers (by simply adding pieces of wood to mimic the refrigerator next door. If you're looking to hide unsightly appliances and electronics, seek no more for great ideas...just head to the Home Depot!
