Blimey, that’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into a friend’s lovely living room—all tasteful throws and mood lighting—only to be confronted with what looks like a robot octopus explosion behind the telly. Wires everywhere, black boxes blinking like airport runways… proper eyesore.
I remember helping my mate Sarah in Clapham last autumn. She’d just bought this gorgeous mid-century sideboard to go under her new telly. “It’ll be perfect,” she said. “So much storage!” We spent a whole Saturday wrestling with her Sky box, a gaming console, one of those chunky old hard drives, and a maze of cables that defied the laws of physics. The cabinet looked sleek from the outside, but open the doors and it was pure chaos. Heat was building up, remotes wouldn’t work through the wood, and we had to leave the door ajar just to stop everything from overheating. It was a right mess.
So, learn from our mistakes, yeah? First thing’s first—**airflow is your secret weapon**. Those boxes need to breathe, or they’ll cook themselves. I’m a huge fan of cabinets with either a mesh panel at the back, or ones where you can discreetly cut a few ventilation holes yourself. My current setup in my flat in Hackney uses a unit with a slatted wood back. Lets the air circulate, no problem. Some people swear by those tiny, silent USB fans you can stick inside, but I’ve never needed to go that far.
Now, the **cable tango**. This is where you can get properly clever. You know those fabric-covered spiral wraps? Lifesavers. Or even simple velcro straps. Bundle the cables from each device together *before* they head to the back of the cabinet. Then, guide them all through a single **cable grommet**—that’s a posh word for a rubber-lined hole—in the cabinet back, straight to the wall socket. It creates one neat trunk line instead of a spider’s web. I picked up a pack of adhesive-backed cable channels from a DIY shop on Tottenham Court Road, painted them the same colour as my wall, and you literally cannot see them. Magic.
Oh, and **remote controls**! Don’t get a beautiful cabinet only to have to keep its doors open forever. Either get a unit with doors made from a material that’s IR-friendly (some woods and fabrics are surprisingly transparent to the signal), or invest in a little **IR repeater kit**. You stick a tiny receiver on the outside of the cabinet, run a wire inside, and place the transmitter blaster right in front of your gadgets. All your remotes will work flawlessly through a solid door. Honestly, it feels like witchcraft.
Here’s my personal, slightly obsessive trick: **modular inserts**. I found these brilliant little adjustable shelves and dividers meant for kitchen drawers. I fitted them inside my under-TV unit to create a dedicated vertical slot for the game console, a cubby for the router, and a little raised platform for the set-top box. Everything has its own home, no piling, and the air can flow around them. It looks like a tiny, organised city for my tech.
And finally, **the human touch**. It doesn’t have to be a sterile tech cave in there. I’ve got a couple of my favourite vinyl records leaning at the back of my cabinet, just visible behind the gear. My partner keeps a small, smooth piece of sea glass from a trip to Brighton in there. It’s your secret space—make it functional, but make it a little bit *you*.
The goal isn’t just to hide the clutter. It’s to give yourself peace of mind. You know it’s all in there, tidy and safe, not overheating, and working perfectly. Then you can just kick back, press one button, and actually enjoy the telly—without that nagging feeling of visual chaos lurking just out of sight. Pure bliss, that is.
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