You are fully capable of giving your home a maid-like cleaning. Continue to decorate and organize till the cows come home. However, in nine out of ten cases, the first thing that visitors to your home would see are the minor eyesores that you have become so accustomed to seeing that you no longer notice them.
It’s the tangled mess of cables and cords near the television and/or the computer, the artwork that’s hanging too high, and the mail and car keys that are carelessly thrown on a table or counter somewhere in the room. The tidier and more organized the property is, the more a visitor’s attention will be directed to the unsightly areas; these areas stand out because they are out of place.
We rounded up some of the more common household eyesores and the solutions for them. Easy DIY projects, you can get started on them this weekend.
1. Cords and cables galore
They can be discovered in the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, the bedroom, the workplace, and even the workout area. Cords, chargers, and cables can almost always be seen hanging around in a tangled mess anywhere there are electronic devices.
Even a single cord, such as the one leading from the cable outlet to the television that is hung high on the wall, can be an eyesore.
To assist you to cover up the mess, there have been some fairly clever innovations developed in recent years.
Check out the cable management boxes at Amazon.com. We like the D-Line Cable Management Box for its understated branding, making it a bit more stylish than the others.
Other ideas include:
- Clipping the mess to the back of the furniture. Amazon carries non-damaging plastic clips for this purpose.
- Hide that cord from the wall-mounted TV with a cord concealer kit.
- Check out the Cable Slinky, a rubber, spiral cord wrap.
- For cords and cables that snake through the home, consider baseboard cord channels. These self-adhesive channels are attached at the bottom of baseboards for a seamless solution to the cord clutter problem.
- Finally, check out this ingenious solution (fake books!) from an Etsy seller.
2. Heating/cooling ugliness
The air conditioning unit that is installed in the window can be an eyesore because it is only used for a few months out of the year. During the times when it and its close relative radiator are not in use, we discovered a number of ideas that will assist you in hiding either one.
- An adorable DIY window AC unit enclosure that cost the creator only $30 in supplies. Find it online at vintagemeetsglam.com.
- Wall-mounted radiators? We love this clever DIY solution we found at thespruce.com.
- Camouflage air vent returns with covers. You can buy them online at beaux-artsclassicproducts.com or fancyvents.com.
- If you’re handy with tools, you may want to try this DIY hide-the-AC-unit shoe rack project at engineeryourspace.com.
- Love Ikea hacks as much as we do? Check out this amazing, trendy project to hide the AC unit at popsugar.com.
3. Dress up the box spring mattress
Sure, you can buy a dust ruffle to hide the box spring mattress in the guest bedroom, but there are more on-trend solutions you can try.
DIY the project with stunning fabric and a staple gun. Get the how-to at rainonatinroof.com or thisoldhouse.com.
Earlier we touched on one eyesore that drives designers nuts and is an eyesore to visitors: pictures hung too high. So, just how high on the wall should you hang them? Find out from bobvila.com.
