Extra electrical wires can be a complete eyesore. And it seems like we still have so many of them, despite many products now being wireless. It’s especially a pain when you have to run the wires along the walls, where it’s a challenge just to hide them. Yet some apartment owners have steered right into the skid and made wall art out of their wires. Below, I show you how.
#1. Get some cheap, black tape from the dollar store. Many people have used superglue and even screw-in wire clamps for this type of art, but the goal is to not ruin your walls if or when you have to move again. Electrical tape will peel off pretty easily and was made for holding wires.
#2. You need to measure out your wire and decide what kind of pattern you want to go for. For short wires, you’ll probably have to go with a more circuit board pattern, which I’ll cover below. Longer wires allow you more artistic freedom.
#3. I’ll start with a basic quasi-circuit pattern. These will tie into the techie nature of the wires and really make them look like they’re supposed to be there. Start by taping the two ends of the wire to the wall.
#4. Lead the wire upwards and tape at the next break. Lead the wire off to the side and tape at the end.
#5. Twist the wire around and lead back, doing the same as in step four, until you have the pattern you desire. You can also see how we hid the wire ends behind the curtain and could move the bookshelf up to hide the other end. This version is very rough, but you’ll get practice working with the wires and tape. Since it’s not a strong tape, it pokes up when you don’t use enough.
#6. This is where we decided to get creative and work the tape into the design so we could use enough tape to keep the wire more secure. Since this is speaker cable, we went with a music note pattern. Start by forming the staff lines with a straight piece of tape, as in the photo.
#7. We went with just three lines on this one, using each end of the tape strips to secure the wire.
#8. Curl the wire with your hand into a loop to form the notehead.
#9. Lead some wire up and secure it to form the flag of the note. Attach with three strips of tape.
#10. Tape the loop so that the tape is above the staff lines, remaining hidden.
#11. Lead the wire to the side using tape. Again, tape over the staff lines to hide the wire.
#12. Repeat steps six through 11 for however many notes you want to create. You can add some extra lines of tape at the top to create different types of notes. Isn’t it pretty?
And there you have it. Instead of being ashamed of our wires, we made them useful. Look here for more help with hiding wires and cables in your apartment.
The post Don’t Hide Your Wires, Create With Them! appeared first on Apartment Living Blog.
from Apartment Living Blog http://www.forrent.com/blog/diy/dont-hide-your-wires-create-with-them/
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