The “Shelfie” Method Is Key to Solving This Common Living Room Eyesore

One of the most perplexing design dilemmas to exist is the television — a necessary evil, to say the least. TVs are great when we need to watch movies, the big game, or binge through a viral series. When they’re not in use, however, they can feel like an eyesore. DIY and brand-name TV frames have made disguising flatscreens a bit easier, but one Instagrammer just took this idea a step beyond — she tucked her TV into a bookshelf.

Shelby Vanhoy from the Pretty in the Pines Instagram account posted a video detailing her living room renovation. After fully decorating the space over the span of nine months, Vanhoy admitted she still needed to do something about the family’s flatscreen Samsung Frame TV.

“I’ve been procrastinating on one thing in this room and that is mounting our TV,” she said in a voiceover. “I didn’t necessarily want the focal point of the room to be the TV, but if people were over, I wanted each seat to see the TV.”

She came up with an idea, inspired by fellow content creators Brigette Muller and Mallory Fletchall — what if she nestled it into one of the bookshelves that flanked her fireplace? “I removed one of these shelves, and what do you know? It’s the perfect size to fit our TV,” she continued. 

The key to really making the bookshelf placement work is the swivel mount she and her husband put the TV on. It can be pulled away from the wall and angled toward the couch for easy viewing, and then tucked back into the shelf when not in use to become a piece of artwork. Vanhoy had also previously DIY’d a wooden frame for the TV, applied using Command Strips, that further helps it to blend into the bookcase.

“I organized the surrounding bookshelves, added some flameless pumpkin candles — because happy first week of fall — and I love the end result,” Shelby said, and others love the end result, too.

“This is gorgeous, what a great place for the TV!” one person wrote in a comment. Another said, “It looks amazing! [The] TV is so blended in with the rest of the interior. Such a nice solution!” And someone else added, “It looks soo beautiful and cozy!”

Think outside the box (and maybe inside the bookshelf) when it comes to disguising your flatscreen TV, and you won’t even know it’s there … until it’s time for movie night, that is.