How To Hide Electrical Cords in the Middle of a Room

Giovanni Valle is a licensed architect and LEED-accredited professional and is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). He is the author and managing editor of various digital publications, including BuilderSpace, Your Own Architect, and Interiors Place.

Having a computer desk, lamp, or any other tech that runs off of electricity in the middle of a room might be the best option for you. However, we all know the struggles of dealing with an ugly power cord running through the center of your room. Not only is it an eyesore, but it can also be a tripping hazard if it’s not hidden.

To hide electrical cords in the middle of a room, you can:

Add some area rugs.
Hide cords under furniture.
Move cords under the floorboards.
Add some cord protectors.
Run electrical cords along your walls.
Clip cords to your baseboards.
Get some power strips.
Hide electrical cords in baskets and boxes.
Use them in your decorating.
Combine methods.

In this article, I’ll give you all the tips you need to know to hide any unsightly power cords from ruining the look of your room.

1. Add Some Area Rugs

If you can’t get around having an electrical cord run through the middle of your room, area rugs are the fastest and easiest solution you can come up with.

Whether you want an area rug to be a permanent solution to your problem, or you just need something to hide a power cord until you think of a long-term solution, you won’t have to worry about looking at an ugly cable with this option.

Area rugs are perfect for nearly any space and come in countless styles and sizes, and you’ll be able to find them in most stores that sell home goods and decor.

Even thrift stores are a great place to look for them, especially if you don’t intend to use the area rug to cover your power cords forever.

Try to avoid covering any outlets or plugs with the area rug and regularly check to ensure your electrical cord isn’t getting frayed or worn down dangerously.

The con for this option is that this solution may not cover the entire cord unless you find a perfectly sized area rug that also suits your budget and decor taste.

You may be able to cover up most of the cord in this case, but you might still see a little bit of it peeking out at each end of the rug.

2. Hide Cords Under Furniture

Like the area rug option, using furniture to hide your power cords is another viable option. If possible, rearranging chairs and tables can hide the worst of the power cord from showing.

For this solution, you may not even have to purchase anything new and might be able to make do with what you already own, which makes this a great option if you’re on a very tight budget.

However, this isn’t a perfect solution.

Unless you like the look of a very cluttered room, you likely won’t have enough furniture available to hide the entire cord.

You also might not be able to run the power cord in a way to keep it completely covered by the furniture you have at your disposal.

However, using your furniture to your advantage can keep cords from being too unsightly for a fast solution.

3. Move Cords Under the Floorboards

This option is a little more involved. However, you might find that it’s worth it for you.

You can lift some floorboards and stick the cords underneath and away from plain sight if you have wood floors.

You’ll need to gather some tools like a pry bar and a drill if you want to create a hole for the plug. Then, you’ll need to lift the floorboards up and then put them back in place. Hiding your cables under floorboards isn’t a complex project, but it’s a lot more work than slapping a rug on your floor.

So, if you’re not used to doing DIY and home improvement endeavors, you might want to ask for help if this is the solution you want to go with.

Dissolution is nearly perfect if you can manage it since you can hide the vast majority of the cords.

However, it does have some downsides:

You need to have wood floors.
This project takes more time than simply throwing a rug over the cord.
You need more supplies to do the job correctly.
People renting their homes or offices may not be allowed to do this as it may not comply with lease agreements.

4. Add Some Cord Protectors

Cord protectors are a great solution if it’s the look of the cord itself that you want to hide.

Cord protectors are tubes or adhesive strips (like electrical tape) meant to keep cords together and prevent fraying from wear and use.

If you just don’t like the look of power cords, this might be a solution that will suit you, as cord protectors often come in a variety of colors that might better blend in with your room decor. These are also a great option if your main reason for hiding your electrical cords is to keep them from being trampled and damaged, as they’ll be much more durable with a protector.

5. Run Electrical Cords Along Your Walls

If you’re willing to do a little bit of strategizing, using the layout of your room can work to your advantage.

Rather than just plugging your electrical cord into the wall and letting it lay on the floor however it happens to fall, you can see if there’s a way you can run your power cord along your wall.

Sure, if the cord is connected to a lamp or other device in the center of the room, eventually, you’ll have to have the cable on the floor.

However, there might be a way you can minimize the amount of cord you need to see.

Maybe what you’re plugging in is slightly closer to one wall than another, but that wall doesn’t have many outlets.

If that’s the case, you can just use adhesive cord hooks or wall clips and maybe an extension cord to keep your cord flush against the wall, so it doesn’t just cut through the center of your room.

The con to this option is that you haven’t entirely hidden anything.

However, an electrical cord attached to the wall may be less noticeable, and it may be easier to hide with couches and shelves.

6. Clip Cords to Your Baseboards

Using your baseboards to hide a power cord is similar to the wall solution. Once again, you’re going to use your room layout to your advantage with this option.

Using this method to hide your cords involves using wall or baseboard clips or cord hooks to keep your cables up against your room’s baseboards.;

This way, if there’s a different part of your room that will allow less of the power cord to show, you can just circle it around the baseboards until you get there.

Again, this isn’t a perfect solution. You aren’t entirely hiding the power cord, just moving it a little further out of view where it might be less noticed.

Depending on where what you’re plugging in is placed in the room, you will still have some of it showing on your floor. Clipping the cable to your baseboards isn’t a great option if you have doorways that will cut through the path you’re using to hide your power cord since it will create a tripping hazard.

7. Get Some Power Strips

If you find yourself needing to run multiple electrical cords from the middle of a room to an outlet, power strips might help you hide the worst of the mess.

A power strip or surge protector will let you plug multiple cords in one place, which you can then plug into your primary outlet.

If you go with this route, rather than having two, three, or more cords creating chaos on your floors, you’ll just have the power strip cord to deal with.

It’s still a possible eyesore, but it’s a step in the right direction, and you can use one of the other methods on this list to deal with your power strip’s cord.

You can also hide the power strip on a table leg or underneath your furniture. I like to stick my power strips in hidden, convenient places with zip ties or adhesive strips.

8. Hide Electrical Cords In Baskets and Boxes

Depending on what part of your power cord mess bothers you the most, you can try to find another simple way to hide, or at least obscure, them to make them less noticeable.

Baskets and decorative boxes are great for this, particularly if you’re trying to hide a group of power cords that you might have in the corner or the middle of your room.

These sorts of decorations let you tuck away any loose cords.

Even if you can’t completely hide an electrical cord this way, having cords taught and not loose with a lot of slack in them will make them easy to trip over, and it will hide the messy appearance of having cables everywhere.

This method is relatively cost-effective since you can find boxes and baskets to fit any budget, style, and size.

Much like the area rug and furniture hiding options, you might decide this is a short-term solution rather than a permanent fix.

However, if it can keep this particular problem at bay, especially if you have more important projects to worry about, then it’s an option that is worth considering.

9. Use Them in Your Decorating

If you’re a creative type and love a decorating challenge, this might be the perfect way for you to hide an unsightly electrical cord you have running in the middle of your room.

Most electrical cords aren’t particularly decorative. However, they are also blank canvases, ready for decorating!

Power cords are usually a plain, neutral color like white or black. While these colors may clash with the color scheme of the room you have them in, it’s likely their color isn’t what makes them an eyesore for you.

By incorporating your cords into your room’s decor, you’re hiding them in plain sight.

You don’t have to stress yourself too much about something coming undone or moving to make them visible because they’re already visible!

You can carefully wind them in ribbon, string, fake vines, Christmas lights, or clip artificial flowers to them.

This project can stretch your interior design muscles and challenge you to make your power cords a beloved part of your room’s look.

10. Combine Methods

This option may seem a bit too straightforward, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t realize they can combine methods for hiding their electrical cords!

All the solutions listed above work well on their own, but you can mix and match them to best suit your needs if you want.

For example, you may want to attach an electrical cord to your baseboards and then use an area rug to cover what needs to lay across your floor. On top of that, you can add a colorful cord protector to better include it in your decorating.

There’s no limit to how you can combine hiding methods, and by doing so, you might turn some more temporary solutions into long-term ones.

Honorable Mention: Install Floor Outlets

Of course, the best way to plug something in that’s in the middle of your room is to install a floor outlet.

Floor outlets will allow you to hide most power cord messes because the cord will have its own outlet. From there, you can bunch your cord together and hide it in a basket or tie it in a way that you likely won’t notice too much.

However, while this is the ideal solution, I understand that it’s not an option for everyone. Installing an outlet takes a lot more work than pulling up a few floorboards to hide your cord under.

You’ll probably need to hire an electrician, which means it likely won’t be a quick fix if it’s something you can do at all. In addition, you might not be able to install an outlet on your floor if you’re not on ground level or if you have cement flooring, for example.

This option is also an unlikely solution for people who don’t own the property they need a solution for.

Final Thoughts

Hiding electrical cords in the middle of a room can be a headache. However, you don’t have to stress too much. There are plenty of solutions you can try out to see which works best for your room.

You can use other decorative furnishings to obscure most of your cords, use the layout of your room to minimize the amount of cable you’ll see on your floor, or use them in your decorating.

No matter what your need is, there’s a way you can hide unsightly cords so they don’t ruin the look and feel of your room.