How to keep wires out of sight and out of mind at home

Technology makes our lives so much better (when it works).

But one of the biggest drawbacks homeowners discovered is the sheer amount of wires and cables needed to power your home's gadgets.

To stop your home from looking like a dreary castle from a Disney film, here are simple cable management ideas to keep your home looking sharp and sleek.

5 simple cable management ideas to stop wires sprawling throughout the house:

1. TAPE WIRES ALONG DESKS

As far as cable management ideas go for home offices, there will always be a sea of wires to manage.

Instead of letting them unseemingly dangle over the edge in plain sight, you can tape them along the frames of the desk. This way, all the cables are gathered neatly and aren't visible.

If this proves impossible, make your own DIY baseboard to cover pesky lamp wires and the sort.

2. INVEST IN CABLE TIES

If you've settled where you'll keep certain gadgets and applications like printers or TV's, then the wires won't be going anywhere.

You can afford to use cable ties to bunch all the cables together. When they're more compact, it's easier to feed them all through desk grommets.

3. CREATE A DIY CABLE CHARGING STATION

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The best cable management ideas combine function and style in one go. Creating a DIY charging station in a decorative box adds colour to shelves while also being extremely handy to keep our devices topped up.

Or if you have a spare drawer that isn't being used, you can use it as a discrete charging station.

4. SIFT THROUGH YOUR PILE OF WIRES

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The first thing to remember about cable management ideas is you only want to be dealing with essentials. If there are any cables that are past their usefulness expiry date, then it's time to part ways.

You might have a hidden drawer or a box that's rammed with these outcasted cables.

Go through it and keep only what you actually need. But the chances are, many of these cables haven't seen the light of day in a while. A rule of thumb when deciding what to keep and chuck is to ask yourself if you needed that wire in the past 6 months. If the answer is no, then you know what must be done.

5. USE CABLE RUNAWAYS ALONG THE WALL

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Sometimes, there just aren't enough plug points in strategic parts of your house. So you have no choice but to run a longer cable or extension from the nearest power socket.

But this can create a trip hazard while leaving snaking wires running across your home.

Discrete cable runways can house these cables along the edges of the walls so it's not so obvious. And you can spray paint it so it's the same colour as your backdrops for full incognito effect.

This article was first published in theAsianparent.