How to Hide Cords on a Desk: 15 Ideas

The modern desk is a landing spot for technology essentials that are designed to improve efficiency and connectivity. As the equipment on your desk grows, so does the chaos from cords and cables. Laptops, keyboards, power strips, and charging cords start snaking around your workspace, leaving your desk feeling disorganized, disheveled, and downright distracting.

However, by employing a few simple ideas on how to hide desk cords, you can turn your jumbled workspace into an organized space free from visual chaos. Keep cords from taking over your work or study space with these 15 options to hide cords. 

1. Use potted plants

Incorporating plants on your desk not only brightens a space and makes it feel more relaxed, but also creates a great way to hide unflattering cords. Cords can be tucked behind the pots or foliage, hiding them from sight. Try incorporating trailing or vining plants, as the cascading foliage is the perfect camouflage for trailing cords.

2. Place a Cable Box on Top of the Desk

For cords that need to be accessible from the top of your desk, try adding a cable box. These boxes are designed to house cords or power strips and come with convenient holes for the cords to run through. 

3. Display Books

Whether these books are notebooks you use daily or simply your favorite novels, displaying books creates another easy way to hide cords. Simply stack books or display them upright with some decorative bookends and trail the cords behind them.

4. Attach Cord Clips

Cord clips are a great way to guide cords on a certain path and keep them effectively tucked in place. Many cord clips even come with an adhesive side, meaning you can place them on the back of the desk and the desk legs. This creates a path for your cords to travel and keeps them from tangling.

5. Use Metal Binder Clips

If your cords are cascading down your desk in a tangled mess, try organizing them with metal binder clips. Simply clip the binder clip to the edge of the desk and bend the arms back. Cords can be run through the loops of the clip arms, effectively holding them in place and preventing them from tangling.

6. Use Cord Management Pipes

Cord management pipes or tubes can be attached to the back of your desk and desk legs, accomplishing much the same purpose as cord clips. However, these tubes can hold multiple cords at once, keeping a larger amount of cords corralled and hidden. 

7. Organize Cords With Zip Ties

Even if you have the cords organized or hidden on top of the desk, cords can easily pool on the floor around your desk. Many cords are just too long for the hanging space available, resulting in a big pile of extra cord length. To eliminate this, try gathering the cords together and using zip ties to keep them contained and organized. These organized cords can then be tucked away and kept out of sight.

8. For Multiple Cords, Use a Cable Sleeve

Another great option for keeping multiple cords joined together and organized is to use a cable sleeve. These sleeves often zip up, containing all the wires neatly inside. The sleeve then makes it much easier to hide away all the cords at once. For the sake of simplicity, you might want to use a cable sleeve to group together cords for the same or similar devices, like your laptop and keyboard or phone and tablet charging cables.

9. Use a Cord Tray Under the Desk

Sometimes, the best option is to keep cords off the floor altogether. Under-the-desk cord trays are great for housing your cords in a simple, organized manner. This also keeps the cords from hanging down the back of the desk and creating an eyesore.

10. Place Cords in a Decorative Basket

Baskets are both useful and decorative. Try finding a unique basket to place underneath or next to your desk that can hide coiled cords. This not only keeps the cords out of sight but also adds a pleasing decor item to your workspace.

11. Take Advantage of Desk Drawers

If your desk has drawers, take advantage of the built-in storage space. Some drawers have a hole or gap in the very back where cords can be run through. Other times, you may need to drill a hole. Either way, simply run the cords through the hole to keep power strips and extra cord length hidden away.

12. Create a Faux Wall Behind the Desk

Similar to putting up a pegboard wall, making a faux wall is a perfect way to hide cords completely out of sight. This keeps things simple, clean, and cohesive, although it doesn’t offer an area to store or display office supplies like a pegboard does. This idea fits well in streamlined workspaces or modern home offices.

13. Hide cords behind art or picture frames

Adding art to any space adds warmth and a feeling of completeness, and a desk is no different. If you are trying to hide some cords and add a touch of style, try placing a frame with a photograph, art print, or painting on your desk. The piece will add some personality, as well as offer a perfect place to tuck away unwanted cords. 

14. Lay Down a Rug to Hide Floor Cords

Sometimes cords must be run across the floor to reach outlets. In this case, you won’t be able to wind up the cord in a basket or tray. However, adding a decorative rug is a simple and effective way of hiding floor cords, as well as making your desk area a bit cozier.

15. Incorporate a Pegboard Wall

If you have a lot of cords accumulating at the back of your desk, install a pegboard wall to hide the cords. Use furring strips to hang the pegboard an inch or so away from the wall of your room, creating a gap where cords can be run and hidden. Using a pegboard wall also creates the opportunity to hang other desk essentials, such as pencil holders, pictures, whiteboards, and other supplies. 

Read Next:The Best Cable Management Options for Taming Unruly Cords