I haven’t lived in a house built before 1995 since 1995. My current and previous house were both built in the 1970s. Before that, the apartments IronFish and I lived in were built in pre-WWII. Or, you could say, all of these homes were built pre-cable. Obviously, accommodations were made to enable our electronic dependent society to access the 11 million channels of television we must need. But those accommodations aren’t always the nicest looking. Today I’ll show you the easy and inexpensive solution to the jumble of cable cords running through my house.
I Want My MTV!
In this day and age, the location of the television often sets the stage for the furniture layout of a room. Especially in a living or family room. When we first moved in, we needed to decide where the TV would go so I could determine how much space I had for a couch. There needed to be enough room for several of us to be able to see that TV also. We’d need some chairs too. But none of those decisions could be made until we knew where the couch was going to go!
Isn’t that the way it works for everyone?
But we were limited as to where the TV could go because we needed cable and outlets. Just like in our old house, the cable had been run through the basement and holes were drilled through the floor to bring the wires up. This was fine for our office and bedroom (yes, we have a TV in the master bedroom, yes, I still consider it a relaxing space, partially because it does have a TV!). The living room, however, is over the slab portion of our house. With no basement below it, the cable still needed to get into the room.
The Solution
The solutions decided by whomever originally had the cable installed into our house, was to drill a hole through a step and just run a long cable cord along the baseboard. Not the end of the world. Not necessarily a tripping hazard. But definitely NOT attractive looking.
Especially once I painted all the baseboards white. The dingy ivory cable actually distracted me from relaxing and watching TV. Ok, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the cables really did bother me. Add in cords from a nearby outlet and I felt like there were wires everywhere I looked.
Hiding the Cords
Opening the wall and running the cables through the studs would be ideal. But the mess and the time wasn’t.
Thankfully the solution was quick and inexpensive.
These cable tracks are made to conceal the wires. Even though they were white to begin with, they were a different shade of white from my trim. I pre-painted them using my trim paint. Once dry, covering the cords only took a matter of minutes.
I used a leftover piece of Union Jack punched metal from my doorbell cover and vent cover projects. The hole isn’t as noticeable now. Plus, it’s less likely something (eek, mouse!) can get through it!
First I determined the lengths I needed. Using my utility knife, I cut the pieces.
With the cord inside…
…the track snaps closed.
I made sure the floor where the track would be installed was clean and dry.
Then I peeled away the paper to reveal the self-adhesive backing. A little bit of pressure and the track has adhered.
I’m so happy with the results. The cord is now neatly concealed!
Pin for Later
As always, I’d love for you to pin and share!
Thousands of channels, cords covered, and still nothing good to watch on TV right now!
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