I love the look of using a dresser as a TV console as opposed to an actual TV stand. But, there’s always the question of what to do with those annoying—but necessary—boxes.
In our last house, we used a smaller TV in our family room, which I off-centered and sat the cable box to the side of it. In our Better Homes & Gardens feature, they disguised the box by stacking games around it:
But, in real life, it looked like this:
When we moved, we did some TV swapping between rooms and ended up with our bigger TV on the same dresser in the living room, which left no room for cable boxes on top.
So, we removed the two top drawers and the drawer glides to house the boxes. To give it a more finished look, we attached two pieces of trim across the facing, which I painted to match:
I painted the insides of the openings a dark color so that the boxes blend right in:
And, I think adding artwork (and in this case, wall lamps) always help the TV to seem like less of a presence in a room:
Sabrina Soto on The High/Low Project once built a mirrored box to hide the cable box for a client. She used two-way mirror which allowed the remote control to still work – I loved this idea and it certainly looked better than an ugly cable box sitting out. Which makes me wonder why cable boxes are still so big – in the era of Apple TV, Roku, etc., can’t we engineer something smaller?
We’ve done the same thing with our old dresser. I never thought to paint the insides of the shelves black to hide the boxes. Great idea.
I love all the storage you get in the dresser and your eye doesn’t go to the boxes when you have two pretty vases to look at. I love those sconces by the way.
My in-laws has there boxes behind glass. It would look nice with mercury glass stick-ons to hide them even more. Once we got Dish we didn’t have to worry about setting out a cable box any longer. My husband wants to switch network providers, but I don’t want to have to go back to cable boxes!
I love it, looks fabulous with the drawers missing. Great idea. Hugs, marty
Love this, looks great! How do you keep little fingers from going near the cable boxes (or maybe you’re lucky & don’t have that problem!)? Our set up is quite similar & our 10 1/2 month-old is like a moth to a flame. I’m telling you…if I say the word “no” one.more.time!? I’ve considered getting an entirely new consul/set-up just to avoid this issue!
I’ve thought about painting the insides of mine too but not that dark and I absolutely love that idea! THANKS! :) Love reading your blog as well.
Great idea! I’ve also put my boxes in baskets with a wide enough weave that the remotes will still work.
Why not hide all the equipment behind door (or even in a nearby closet) and use an IR extender? You can pick one up at best buy or order on amazon… http://optimum.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2483/~/using-an-ir-extender-to-operate-your-hidden-cable-box
Perfect now Emily – pretty and functional!
yes i love the idea and have a dresser for my TV too – but i wish i could style it better.. the only place to put it is beside the fireplace. there is only one solid wall in the den and if i moved it there then the furniture won’t work. le bummer. so we have our ugly boxes out on top, but i should investigate removing a couple of drawers.. hummm great idea!
Great idea! Those ugly boxes, and wires BTW, We hate them, but can’t live without them!
You don’t even need an extender. You can program your DirecTV box to work using RF without line of site. This means you can operate it with the remote while the box is behind closed doors. Your receiver and blu-ray are another story, but you could always call a custom home electronics expert to program an all in one remote and hide all your components in the basement or nearby closet. My husband and I have a home electronics business and do this for people all the time. It’s life changing not seeing all those boxes, cords, etc. Just options to consider…
This is so clever and it looks great!
Your timing is impeccable! I was going to Ikea today to buy a TV stand but I like your idea much better.
Love this – and it looks great! Such a clever idea in repurposing!
This is a fantastic idea. Im looking for something to put our tv on in the basement, and guess what? I have a dresser about the same size as your sitting down there as well, unused. My only problem is, there are no doors, only two banks of drawers. I’m thinking take out the two top drawers and paint black like you did… THANKS!
Great idea painting the inside dark. You can barely tell there are boxes in there. Looks great!
Okay, great idea about the dresser … but what I am REALLY loving is your gallery wall around the tv. Looks fantastic and looks so much better than if the tv was standing alone! xo
Bravo Emily! Face it we all have televisions and they cannot all be completely hidden. Love the changes; the urns, the wall sconces and the art of course!
xoxo
Karena
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That cabinet reminds me of the china cabinet I made over… same details and painted it white! White sure can make things over! I think it works great in the space and I love how you added the trim so it looks finished. Loving it!
I love this look! x
I think if this was my living room I would stare at the gallery wall all day…love it!
I looks great!
I like it! Well I like it at the old house and now this one. We are one of the few that still have the old TVs and we made ourselves promise that we wouldn’t buy a flat panel t.v. until ours died; but I love looking to see how people decorate around this kind of t.v. and what it sits on.
Yep…those cable boxes can be eyesores but you managed to disguise it pretty well! I have mine in a basket but I like the idea of a looser basket so it will still work. I might try that!
How did you install the shelf thats holding up the boxes? I am trying to do this now with an old dresser. Also, What color did you paint the inside? Im trying to decide if I should go black or not :)
We didn’t have to install any shelving; just took out the drawers. The inside color is Urbane Bronze (a dark charcoal) from Sherwin Williams.
Where are your wall sconces from? :)