Technology, though undeniably useful, is rarely aesthetically pleasing. It is particularly jarring when you spend months and months carefully layering a space with beautiful fabrics, precious antiques and meticulously sourced pieces, only to have it dominated by an unsightly television, speaker, set of ceiling lights or any other wired-up monstrosity. The fact that technology seems to be getting smaller and smaller is proof of the fact that even manufacturers know it is better left unseen. Interior designer Hollie Bowden sums it up nicely, saying that ‘home tech is great but you don’t want to use anything that reads too gadgety, or that makes your house look like a spaceship’. To avoid the dreaded 'spaceship' look, designers have come up with a number of clever ways to conceal the much needed technology.
Often, one of the first considerations is lighting. It is no secret that many - if not most - interior designers have an aversion to overhead spotlights. Some choose to eschew with them altogether, favouring table lamps and wall lights instead, all connected to a 5-amp switch which can turn them all on and off at once. Others have found a happy middle-ground which sees the installation of a subtle, recessed downlight, like these from Corston Architectural Detail, which sit a centimetre or so above the ceiling.
When it comes to lighting, there are several other game-changers that designers turn to. ‘I love using motion-sensor lighting in bathrooms – a low, gentle light that comes on automatically at night without waking anyone else. It’s one of those quiet luxuries that people really notice’, says Bryan O'Sullivan, whose interiors represent that perfect marriage between highly functional but deeply comfortable.
Televisions seem to be among the most contentious of devices, but for every ugly TV there is an ingenious solution. You may choose to heed the advice of design power couple Lucy Barlow and Joshua Sear, of Barlow & Barlow, who ‘hide them away as much as possible through sliding artwork, bifold pocket doors or tapestries on a blind systems’. If this all sounds like too much extra work, Emma Sims Hilditch, master of the traditional, elegant interior, has found a solution that doesn't require any extra artwork, joinery or textiles: a mirrored frame surrounding the television, such as this one from Neptune. 'It cleverly disguises the offending object and the frame can be made bespoke to tie in with any interior style. The only consideration is if you're planning to watch the TV in the daytime, reflection from windows opposite can sometimes cause an issue, depending on placement in the room so that's worth considering. Ideally mirror TVs are best for watching at night or position your tv in a location facing a blank wall', she advises.
It's all well and good having your TV cleverly hidden but what about the speakers? Well, James Thurstan Waterworth, whose interiors are distinctly lacking in anything that could be found on a spaceship, has the answer. ‘I’ve done a lot of plastered in speakers in my projects,' he says. It is exactly what you are picturing: speakers which have been integrated into the recess of a wall or into the ceiling itself, before being plastered over, rendering them completely undetectable (except for the sound, of course). Such magical solutions are available from speaker specialist brands, such as JBL (try the ‘Conceal C62’), and promise a completely invisible speaker that doesn't compromise on sound. That being said, James points out that ‘if you’re a serious sound enthusiast then it might not tick all the boxes, but if you just want nice background noise then it is pretty brilliant. You walk into a room and you have no idea where the sound is coming from’.
Extractor fans, whether in the kitchen or the bathroom, have to be one of the least appreciated pieces of technology in the home. They are as unsightly as they are necessary, and their ability to ruin a the look of a room has long aggravated designers. Luckily, today there are solutions. In the kitchen, there is a rising appetite for hobs with integrated extractors (one of our favourites is from Smeg), which allows you to keep the area above your cooker pleasingly clear. Hollie Bowden is a fan of a ‘downdraft extractor hood’ (try this one, from Elica), which pops up from the counter when you need it and sits discreetly flush with it, behind the hob, when you don't. Just as inconspicuous is the ‘Sirius hood' from Westin , a favourite of Nicholas Spencer, one half of interior design studio Spencer Wedekind. ‘It’s a brilliant thing, because you can have it painted the same colour as the ceiling and it's powerful enough that you can put it anywhere in the kitchen and it will remove the cooking smells', he raves.
Of course, cooking smells aren't the only thing that can go wrong in the kitchen, and to mitigate the risk of such disasters, smoke detectors, though hardly pretty, are a necessary addition to all houses. For those searching for a chic way to incorporate them into a room, Hollie Bowden has a brilliant solution. 'I love an air sampling fire alarm system, which just requires a pin prick in the ceiling and a concealed unit above. This is a bit of an investment but it means you don’t need to have chunky fire alarms spotted about that can be a bit of an eyesore. It's especially useful for heritage architecture too, if there's beautiful cornicing you want to keep unspoiled', she says.
Whether it's as simple as hiding gadgets and wires in joinery or beautiful antique cabinets, or going the whole hog and hiding everything, including the smoke alarm and the speakers, in the ceiling and walls, there are myriad ways to save your home from feeling like a control room. Leaving you to enjoy the simplicity and calmness of an – apparently – tech-free life.
