Your Gallery Wall Is Actually The Best Hack For Hiding Your Thermostat

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Be honest — you really don't love your thermostat. While it does its job, it's a bit of an eyesore on your wall, and the placement reduces your décor options, especially when it interrupts your gallery wall. But it doesn't have to. By working with your thermostat rather than around it, you can either hide or incorporate it into your gallery wall while still leaving it accessible when you need to change the settings.

There are a few ways to hide a thermostat, but a gallery wall offers the most versatility. If you don't already have one, consider investing in a few pieces of art and mismatched frames to get started. A gallery wall can do a lot for your home's aesthetic beyond hiding your thermostat — you can also use a gallery wall to make your windows pop or bring together the different colors of a space. An easy way to start a gallery wall is by focusing on an anchor piece, which tends to be larger and centrally located, and adding smaller pieces around it, one of which can be your disguised thermostat.

Whether you're adding to an existing gallery wall or starting from scratch, you can blend your thermostat into the gallery in a few ways. An easy, quick way to incorporate the wall-mounted device into a gallery is by framing it as if it was one of the pieces of art. This might seem counterproductive, but it's better to acknowledge the elephant in the room than ignore it. Plus, we're confident that you can find a fun or decorative frame that looks a lot better than the device itself. Take an empty frame and remove the glass or acrylic and the backing. Then, center it on the wall around the device, and attach it to the wall with either mounting tape or hanging nails. This allows you to access the thermostat while transforming it to match the room's aesthetic.

Another option involves covering the thermostat. You can hang a canvas painting over it or DIY a hinged picture frame that sits over the thermostat when it's not in use and opens like a door when you need to change the temperature. These options allow you to fully mask a thermostat, but they do come with some drawbacks. It takes a little more work to access the thermostat when you need it, and it reduces airflow to the thermostat's sensors.

Not all gallery wall options are DIY. If you have a Google Nest thermostat, you can purchase a wall plate like the Petrichor Nest Thermostat Wall Plate, which is made to integrate the Nest into the wall and provide a more finished appearance. There are some downsides to smart thermostats like the Nest, however, so if you're not interested in upgrading your device to sleek, modern version, stick with disguising it.

Though it might be tempting to fully encase your thermostat, be careful not to smother it — you need to leave space for air to circulate under and around whatever you cover it with. If you want to cover your thermostat with a piece of art, you must hang it in a way that still allows airflow to the thermostat, leaving at least 2 inches between the art and the device. While this does hinder your options, you can circumvent the air flow issue by installing a shelf beneath your thermostat and leaning a piece of art on the shelf in front of the device. The leaning approach allows air to flow behind the artwork easily.

If you're uncertain about how to hang your art or arrange it on a shelf, triangles can help you make the perfect gallery wall. By using design techniques like the "triangle principle," you can command the viewer's eye to see only what you want it to see, ensuring that your unsightly thermostat goes unnoticed.