Special order shutters from your local home improvement store can be made to fit whatever size hole your contractor gave you for your television.
They come with a nice frame that hides all the hardware and you can install it yourself. I took these photos at my parent's house and my dad said if he can install them then anyone can.
A great alternative to looking at a big hole full of TV and wires day in and day out.
I have shutters too but I hang them Sanford and Son Style.
What do you do with your TV hole?
68 comments:
Well, no hole above the fireplace in my new house. What is worse is that we have this incredible stacked stone fireplace and had it all prewired for a flat screen above the stone mantle. Our budget for a new tv completely dried up so we have had wires hanging all over the place sanford and son style leading from beautiful stone fireplace to an old school tv on an end table. Lovely, just lovely. Any ideas what to do about the wires until we get an extra $1500 for a new tv? I was thinking of making a garland of Nester tassles to hang off the wires?? I need to keep remembering...It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful!!
Don't have one of those holes and can't even say we have a fireplace :0(. Miss having one of those but I can say they really aren't needed around here. What I have is what I call the "whale" or the "elephant" that sits in the corner of my livingroom. It's a 52" bigscreen-gads! Hmm, can you come up with a clever fix or some kind of concealment for this thing because honestly I am out of ideas. :0( bah!
I don't have a tv hole either. In fact, I don't anyone that does. But I think the shudder is a great idea.
I would love a nice idea for the large new tv also. Love having it but it can not be hidden as it's way to big.
Hugs,
Joanne
don't got no hole. don't got no fireplace. got me a honey without a lot of money. that's okay by me.
LOL at anonymous. We don't have a fireplace (you know, being Army housing-oh and on the 3rd floor), but when I was a Realtor, I sold plenty of "holey" houses. Man, I hate those things. The shutters are a wonderful idea, but how do you decorate your mantle? Who wants to move everything to watch TV? Bah!
You have the best ideas. I scrolled back to some previous posts.....so creative! Linda
I love the look of shutters. I don't have a fireplace or a hole, but what I do have, that absolutely makes me crazy, is a huge in the wall a/c unit that is just hideous! I can't afford to rip it out and get central air so I have temporarily bought one of those awful quilted covers for it. Hey, it looks better than the unit itself. I think shutters would be perfect..although they'd hve to be built out a little. Then I'll get the famous line, "I am not a carpenter" from the hubby. No harm in asking, though Thanks for the great idea Miss Nester!
P.S. I love your Blog!!
Maybe this would work for some of those crazy niches builders put in houses!
I'm probably the only person happy to not have a fireplace. Esp since we live in Florida. My house is from the 60's. So before the builder's niches.
We had one in our old house. Hated that stupid thing. We nailed a board to the mantle to raise it up a little bit and set a giant painting in front of the hole (the nails also kept the painting from slipping off) and used it for storage. Things like Christmas decorations.
No hole here, either. But I think the shutters look lovely!
Great timing on this one since I am getting ready to move into a house with a hole. I wonder how it would look with curtains? That way when we wanted to watch TV we could just move the curtains....
@Rechelle: divorce? Just kidding I do NOT advocate divorce. No emails please.
@Anon: can you write me a poem everyday?
@Jessica: YES! Holly Mathis Interiors {google her blog} used shutters over an ac unit in a photo in Better Homes in Gardens years ago!
@Heeled Mom: exactly, my mom can only keep like 1 little thing up there and for mine I keep NOTHING. So much for a mantle. but you can't put anything up there anything with the TV showing behind it.
We walled in the hole for the TV in our last house to hang a flat screen instead... we opened that same hole on the other side which was a bedroom and put shelves in it for the guest bedroom.. that way we didn't have wasted space between the wall. Worked quite well.
Di
The Blue Ridge Gal
Great idea,....those holes are so ugly....
No hole in the wall here either. I like what someone else posted - cover it with a picture (mirror, etc.) and use for storage. Our fireplace is a focal point in the room. The tv is in an armoire (can be hidden if we chose) on another wall.
What's the use in having a mantle if you can't decorate it?
tina
tinam62@yahoo.com
I just wish I had a hole I could throw the TV in! No hole so no place for shutters. What I really need is a flat screen, but the cost makes me shudder. Get it....Ha!
Have a great week! - Tim
I don't have a hole either. I have my TV in a big beautiful wood amoire so I can close the doors any time I want and no TV. Which we often do, except when NCIS is on.... then we must be glued to the TV.
So glad I don't have a TV hole in this house but our last house did. Hated it. Great idea with the shutters.
I choose to hide the tv in the playroom for the occasional movie or video. And no built-in tv hole in our soon-to-be-built-in-1910 house!
We did something very similar - only the "shutters" have spots in them for pictures! My friend built them:
CLICK HERE for a picture!
or here for a blog post about my TV hiding doors!
I just wrote about this last week. We have a huge hole, but they didn't wire it for electric or cable. It was just... a hole. Here's what I did with it: http://www.vitafamiliae.com/?p=1909
I don't have TV whole, but I do have a few others around the house...kid induced..hmmm...guess there's no decorating technique for that. :)
I think that is a fab idea.
If I ever buy or build a new home, this is something I would love to do.
We live in an older home. Our big screen tv is housed in an antique jelly cupboard and the other tv is built in the wall surrounded with storage cupboards...I love it. Not into seeing tv's all over the house on display. LOL, someone I work with came to my house once and said she felt bad for me because I didn't have a big screen tv!!! I said- Oh, we do but it's in that jelly cupboard. The look on her face was priceless.
mary
Forgot to say...our fireplace is in the dinig room...no tv in there!
BEAUTUFUL! hmmmm.... I just need a fireplace now.
Karol :0)
Great convo going on here! I don't have a hole either, sometimes I wish I did because the TV takes up a LOT of room!
Ah this post makes me long for a gaping hole in my wall. Very charming!
I prop my shutters...sanford & son style;0)
Love this idea!! i dont have a whole but had looked at houses that did and it kind of drove me crazy. now i know what I could do with them!
I'm comin' Elizabeth!
what a Great idea! I'll be over with the popcorn and coke to watch a movie- ha!
I have been following you for a while now! Love your ideas. We have a TV hole above our fireplace and I love it! We have a little house and it sure frees up a lot of space (we have a huge TV and don't want to spend $$ on a flat screen). I do like this idea though because I could close it off when I wanted to...hmm...I will have to show my husband. Thanks for the great ideas!
"what do you do with your tv hole" made me laugh! We have one but we're not planning on using it for the tv. We're going to put a big mirror in front of it and then use it for storage. I'd love for it to be the main focal point but it's at a weird angle in the corner.
honestly, we are not snobs, but we thought about it and decided not to buy a house with a tv hole above the fireplace. Like hello, the fireplace is supposed to trump the tv! For us anyway. Not judging those who have one. I like the shutter idea, but wonder if you have to move all the stuff on your mantle to open and close? If so, we'd end up leaving them open anyway.
I say we all throw our tv's out the window!
I love this!! Shutters thrill me...so does creative concealment. Well, when it comes to design...not politics or anything, LOL!
Absolutely, positively a great idea!!
Y'all are cracking me up with all your talk of holes and no holes and junk.
I think whoever the "genius" man was who came up with this hole idea needs to be hurt. And come on, we all know it was a man--no offense Remodeling Guy.
But y'all are right--what good is a mantle if you can't decorate it! I guess I should just be thankful for the hole.
I don't have a tv hole, but I certainly will now.
No hole. We have a (bigger that I would like) flatscreen hanging. I wish I could find a way to hide that. Or make it look like a piece of art instead of a giant blackhole on the wall.
have you come across a media room hole? we have a media room hole that is HUGE! about 3 feet off the ground and probably 6' x 9'...and we have no media to put in it...i store my fabric in it right now, but i've thought about knocking the bottom part out and installing a murphy bed-but the room has no windows...so i would need to put some in to really make it a guest room...anyway, any cheap ideas in the meantime?
-kristen
Great idea! Please pardon a quick off-the-subject question, but do you happen to know the color and brand of paint that your parents' walls are painted. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Thanks!
That looks great! Our tv is huge and on a stand. I did cover the glass windows with fabric though as to hide the wires/movies... and I top it off with a faux mantle that I decorate!
What a great idea, I love how the shutters turned out. But I really love your Sanford and Son style! That is completely how I decorate too -- I figure if the casual observer doesn't notice it, who cares if it's a little junky? As long as nothing falls on anyone, it's fine!
Now that's just fantastic! It makes me want to bash a hole in my wall just so I can cover it up with custom-made shutters.
Kimba
Oooh, those are gorgeous!
We don't have a fireplace or a TV in our living room, but I'll keep this idea in mind if we move again.
No t.v. hole above our fireplace but that sure is a great solution for those who do.
Mom and Dad's walls: Ripe Wheat--but I totally forget the brand. I would guess it's a Home Depot color but I'm not positive.
No hole here. Gotta love flat screens that hang on the wall!
do you ever NOT have good ideas??
Hmm, I could divorce the TV, lol! Don't worry, I know you were jesting and I've a pretty good sense of humor myself as I've often said to dear hubby that big screens are "grounds for divorce"...At least if it were a flat screen I could frame it, make it look pretty (like silverware!, lol!) but seriously! What does one do with a bigscreen. sheesh!
Enjoy your day. I think you're fab!
What a great idea! We don't have the whole above the fireplace because we asked the builder to not include it.
I have a hole above my fireplace, but our tv is on the opposite wall because it is too wide. I have a few decor items in it, but it still looks empty.
It drives me crazy every time I look at it!!!!
i hated the hole for almost 7 years. The doors would never shut b/c when we wedged the 300 lb. dinosaur TV up there they would not shut. We recently just had it covered up with big piece of wood and painted it and it looks like it was never there! Its on my blog.
I have one of those huge, HUGE holes above our fireplace... I'm considering trying to find a piece of art (a canvas) big enough to cover it. It's pretty big though! The shutters are a great idea, thanks!!
Don't have one but YOU ARE BRILLIANT. As always ... xo
Totally love this idea! I'm all set in my current home, but ya never know! I read your list below...I echo you!
I have a "media niche" AKA Hole about the fireplace. At first I thought it was a good thing because I wouldn't have competing focal points in the room. then I started living with it and want to cover it. I like the concept of the shutters but not inot their traditional look. I think I'm going to do something similar but but cut a photo in half and mount it on sliding panels.
I always HATED that hole above the fireplace, something about being told where furniture MUST go... but we don't have a tv in the living room any more, so I had to cover the hole. I used 4 hand-carved Japanese soapstone screens from my grandmother. They make an awesome focal point!
you know - I lived in a townhouse that had one of those awkward holes, and this would have been a great way to cover it up ... thankfully, I'm rid of the townhouse, and the weird hole in the wall ... I like the idea of the shutters above the fireplace though - gotta keep that one in my idea file! :)
I think it looks a little bit odd, like there is a poorly placed window behind it. I think I would search for a more attractive solution.
The shutters may not be the best idea -- we're thinking of taking them down and doing puppet shows in there. Then it'll be the puppet hole.
And I canNOT believe you know OUR paint color! I don't even remember and it's my house! I do remember it's Behr, though.
Well I always thought those were too high for good tv viewing anyway, but I like the way you helped hide it. You always have some great ideas. I used a couple of them in my bathroom remodel over at my new site
http://www.myrealisticlife.com
Nester rocks...
We stayed at a beautiful Inn in Door County Wisconsin, a few years ago that used the shutters as a solution for the over the FP TV hole. We also rented a condo in Mackinaw City Michigan, on Lakes Huron and Michigan that used the shutters for the TV, also. Both gorgeous!
We have one of those tv holes at out second home at the lake. For now, I've done a little painting trick that seems to be working. Still debating the shutter issue. Would love to have them.
I don't have TV holes, but I have the "plant niches" that were briefly popular back in the late 80's and early 90's. You have given me an idea. What if I put shutters over these dust collectors and used them for storage in my bedroom and bathroom Thanks for the inspiration!
Brilliant idea!!!!!!!!!!
Oh this was a rant of mine for a long time! I wanted distressed shutters. It took me a while, but I found them! They are not functional since I don't keep anything in that stupid hole. I found them at an antique store for only $10 each!!!
I have no "hole" but I DO have a hideous gas fireplace. I framed two huge mirrors and attached them to a plywood backing. Stratigically placed mouldings hide the seams and beveling. Once I slid that bad boy into position I painted it to match the rest of the mantle and voila. Whenever I want I can easily remove the cover, do a little touch up work and painting, and all is back to normal.
Most people have a hard time understanding why I did this but I feel that if it ain't a real brick fireplace than it's an eyesore. Besides, fiery death and destruction with the flip of a switch is something of a concern with two young children in my home.
Your shutter idea would have worked beautifully and saved me a lot of swearing.
Looky here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/37350806@N03/3439441284/
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