How to Disguise an Ugly Electrical Box

I'm sharing how I completely disguised a large ugly electrical box in our laundry room by making a custom piece of artwork to hang over the top!
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Have you ever been stumped by a decorating dilemma? When we were working on our $200 Laundry Room Makeover, I had no idea what to do with this nasty electrical box that was smack dab in the middle of the wall!

The issue: an unsightly electrical box in the middle of the wall  



We were infusing farmhouse charm into our builder grade laundry room - adding a painted cabinet and new shelving, new DIY flooring, an antique door and other charming elements (you can see the full room transformation here), but we were stuck with this large ugly eyesore.

I couldn't take it down because giving up electricity wasn't an option, and painting it would have helped a little, but not much. I didn't want to see it!

So what did I do? I ignored it and carried on with the rest of the room....and that's when it hit me (in the words of Gru from Despicable Me,  'lightbulb' ).

How to Completely Disguise an Electrical Box


I had a lightbulb epiphany, there's simply no other way to describe it! The idea popped into my head that I could completely disguise the electrical box with a magnetic cover!

Note: For safety's sake, the artwork is not permanently attached to the electrical panel (please don't do that!). It can be removed in seconds because it's lightly secured with magnets.

The solution: a DIY cover posing as art

Working with painter's canvas drop cloth is so easy...I just threw it into the washer and dryer right out of the package. This removes the sizing and makes the drop cloth soft and nubby. If you can't find a heavy-weight drop cloth,  canvas duck cloth would also work well.

I measured the electrical box, added an inch on each side for the hem and tore the drop cloth to the size I needed. There's no need to use scissors when cutting drop cloth, it rips beautifully and straight. Ripping fabric not only produces straight edges, but they will be lightly frayed, which is very popular in farmhouse decorating! Just remove the messy strings that are loosened when tearing the drop cloth.

I used PicMonkey to create my arrow artwork, uploaded it to my Silhouette machine and let the machine cut it out for me creating an instant stencil!

I like to use stencil vinyl if I have it, otherwise I just use card stock for my handmade stencils; it's cheap and I weed out the colors I don't care for, getting rid of unnecessary craft supplies at the same time!

You can still create something similar even if you don't own a die cut machine! Look for stencils or even stickers (you would use the negative side) that fit with your decor.            

Here is the progression of my DIY electrical box disguise/cover...


Pretty cool right? Once the front was finished, I used small button magnets that I glued to the back and so not only does the cover go up easily...it's totally removable when we need to access the electrical box...in literally seconds 😃


Instead of seeing the ugly electrical box when you enter the laundry room through this amazing antique door, you see the cute arrow art! Nobody even has to know what it's hiding! It looks like it was intentional decor! And truthfully, that wall needed something decorative, so it was the perfect solution!



This functional and beautiful laundry room has become one of my favorite rooms, and this quick project was a bargain to make, and completely solves my problem of what to do with an ugly electrical box!

Do you want to know a secret? This room, this little 5 x 6 room had two eyesores that needed to be addressed. The electric box was one, and the other was a big 'ole niche above the washer with the faucets and plug...it was ugly too and also needed to be disguised but also easily accessible.

Here's a picture...don't you love how these eyesores are usually installed crooked?


If you want to see how we cleverly disguised our washer/dryer connections in the laundry room, you can read about that project  here.

The whole room is so pretty now, light and organized and charming. C'mon in and take a look around. You can see all the pictures in the final reveal right here as well as get links to all the projects and tutorials we did to infuse our builder grade laundry room with farmhouse charm and character for under $200!    

You may be interested to see what a disaster this room was before its transformation; I'm happy to say that since the makeover, I've had no problem keeping it tidy, aside from a few dust bunnies (the bane of my existence!)



Do you have something ugly on your walls that you need to disguise? Maybe this DIY electrical box cover is something that you can adapt for your space.

I hope I inspired you today to to see past the ugly and add a touch of beauty and charm to an area in your home!

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Comments

  1. This is a genius idea!! Our electric box happens to be right where our family room is in the basement. So excited to be able to cover it so easily and decoratively. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much! I hope your makeover turns out awesome!! I'm so happy not to see that ugly box anymore in my laundry room!

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  2. Visiting from Funky Junk. Love it!

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  3. Did you use a regular sewing machine for the edges?

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  4. Lovely laundry room and the electrical box camoflauge art is perfect! This is off-topic a bit but did you know you can easily change the direction your dryer door swings? There are numerous diy videos on YouTube that show how easy it is to do. Just thought that small change would make it easier to load the dryer if it opened from the right side closest to your washer.

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  5. I LOVE your laundry room makeover! Very efficient AND lovely to look at!
    The only thing left to do is take 10 minutes and reverse your dryer door to open on the right. Then it will be perfect!!

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  6. We use a linen calendar. It comes with dowel and string to hang, just need magnet hooks.

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  7. Not to be a noodle but camouflaging your electrical box is dangerous, the idea being that in the event of an emergency the box can be quickly dentified and accessed. This may be a firefighter, disaster relief personnel, family member. Function has to trump form in this case.

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  8. I love the idea of hiding the electrical box this one I will copy

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  9. Looks great “BUT” it’s also a huge safety hazard

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