The little things: Making Cords & Cables "Disappear"

Oh, electronics, my love/hate relationship with you never ends does it?  No matter how well put together a room, the minute you go to plug all your "stuff" in, you run the risk of detracting from all your (or your minion's) hard work.  Seriously, when did an ugly black cord ever ADD to a room?  Um, let's go with never.  I'm convinced that a big part of why people tend to rely on those huge entertainment units is that it mostly takes care of your cords and cables problem, hiding them away behind their bulk.  But it doesn't have to be like that, kittens!  I've got this cute little number as a media stand:

And look!  Not a cable or cord to be seen (or barely, anyway)!!  "But all that open space, Leah!  I must have way more cables than you because I could NEVER do that with mine!"  Lies.  You can, and you WILL tackle the rat's nest of cables at the back of your tv, and I'm gonna help!

1. Give yourself some space  You want to actually be able to see what you're working with, so pull everything away from the wall and make sure you've got both room and light enough to see what you're doing
2. Disconnect  Unplug EVERYTHING and straighten out each cord and cable; make sure everything's untangled.
3. Downsize  Do you really use that DVD player?  Or maybe you use your PS4 for everything?  If it's extraneous, remove it.  My secret weapon is this little black box of wonder: the Apple TV.  An Apple TV isn't actually a tv (which is obvious to some, but confusing to others).  It's a TEENY 4" box that stores everything in our iTunes account plus Netflix.  So for us it has replaced our stereo, our dvd player, our cable box, and our need for an gaming system to stream Netflix!  Can't say enough good things about this bad boy.
4. Power up  Ideally you've gotten your selection of gadgets down to a minimum, which should easily all fit onto one power strip.  Place your media unit as close as possible to your power outlet so that you can either hide it, or have the least amount of cord showing.  A little trick is to select a power cord that best blends in with either your baseboard or your floor, making it significantly less noticeable.  Before you plug anything into your power bar, plug it into the wall, running the cord straight down to the floor, then angle it so it runs snugly along the baseboard right up to your unit.  You can find masking tape is a million colours at your local craft store (try looking for Washi tape); a couple well placed pieces in white (or whatever colour your trim is) can keep your cord tight to the wall, and much neater.
5. Bundle Up  At the back of the unit, neatly run each cord/cable along the back edge, gathering them at the corner that will be closest to the power strip.  At this point join the cables together with a zip tie, velcro strip, even a piece of painter's tape will do.  You can place extra ties along the length to keep them all together.  Basically, you're forming one larger cable, instead of a million that just end knotted together.  Keep bundling the cables together all the way to the ends.  Undoubtedly the ends will be different lengths at this point;  keep grouping them together by length until you reach the longest cord.
6. Plug In  Now that all your cords are neatly bundled, you can plug everything into your power strip.
7. Hide Out  At this point, you want to find an unobtrusive place  to tuck your power strip: you can place it under the unit or just behind it, or you can pull a "Leah" and get a little creative.  Three option I've often used are:

• taping the power cord right to the back of the unit.  Just be sure to keep the tape away from the outlets (fire hazard).
• instead of taking up room behind the unit, tuck the power strip just underneath it (one of the reason I love pieces with legs)
• place the power strip inside a basket or bin that can sit right in the unit itself.  Admittedly you need to be careful about heat with this option, but I've found it's a great way to corral extra cords and the power strip, and it blends right in!  No one ever notices that one of the four baskets hold extra cord lengths.  Just make sure that it's well ventilated and you should be fine.  One of the things I really  like about this option is that it gives you access to everything from the FRONT of your unit.  Just gently pull out the basket and it's all there, without having to pull everything away from the wall

 The Finishing Touch  Everything's bound together now, and mostly out of the way, now you just need to grab several pieces of painter's tape (or masking tape, whatever) and you're going to tape the bundle of cables you made out of your way, working your way along the perimeter of the unit.

And VOILA!  You can't see a darn thing from the front, and your airy, open shelving gets to STAY airy and open without being ruined by a bunch of gnarly black cords!