no more wires

So you want your husband to have that wonderful, big TV, really, you are okay with it, it’s fun to watch movies on a bigger TV and you want him to be happy. So he gets his TV and hangs it really high on the wall where it’s not close to anything else–no furniture to be friends with, no surfaces to hang out around, just a lonely TV all hanging on the wall with a tail of wires hanging down.

And really, you both mean well and you were going to find a way to hide those wires one day, but now they are still there. And you look at them daily. And you just live with a bunch of wires hanging at eye level in your family room.

Everything that sits out in your house becomes a decoration–whether you like it or not.

So if you have the option to make something beautiful or ugly, why not choose beautiful? Why not take a few moments to make it pretty?

How about a trade-off?

He gets his manly TV and you get to decide what goes with the TV?

Might I make a suggestion?

How about sitting the TV on a surface? And if your TV is hanging, place a surface underneath it to help balance it out.

As you consider surfaces, be aware of scale and mass…

 

no more tv wires

 

hide your tv wiresunbalanced tv

ahhhh

 

A big television is a solid black rectangle, so pairing it with an open framed table might feel unsettling and like something is off. I want all TVs to feel safe and secure and like they aren’t on the verge of crashing through a dainty table or falling forward into the room–even if the TV is truly secure, pairing it with a thin table with an open bottom sometimes just doesn’t feel like a good match. It might make a room feel awkward–like something isn’t quite right.

Consider a similarly hefty friend for your TV. A nice chunky piece of furniture that can balance the perceived mass and scale of the TV is a great match. A rule of thumb is that an item over a piece of furniture feels most balanced when it’s about 2/3rd the size of what it’s hanging over. No need to measure, just get a feel of it.

Don’t feel like I’m telling you that now you need to go out and spend hundreds of dollars on a new surface for your TV, shop the house, it’s yard sale season, look on craigslist–

tv

Our TV is still very happy with his friend, the $18 yard sale dresser that I painted white. It’s not about spending a bunch of money, sometimes we just need to let ourselves pay attention to balance in our spaces.

This post was adapted from The Cozy Minimalist Course which is now available as a self study version!! See more before and afters here.