I’m sharing how I completely disguised a large ugly electrical box in our laundry room by making a custom piece of artwork to hang over the top!
Have you ever been stumped by a decorating dilemma? When we were working on our $200 Laundry Room Makeover, I had no idea what to do with this nasty electrical box that was smack dab in the middle of the wall!
The issue: an unsightly electrical box in the middle of the wall
We were infusing farmhouse charm into our builder grade laundry room – adding a painted cabinet and new shelving, new DIY flooring, an antique door and other charming elements, but we were stuck with this large ugly eyesore.I couldn’t take it down because giving up electricity wasn’t an option, and painting it would have helped a little, but not much. I didn’t want to see it!
How to Completely Disguise an Electrical Box
I had a lightbulb epiphany, there’s simply no other way to describe it! The idea popped into my head that I could completely disguise the electrical box with a magnetic cover!
Note: For safety’s sake, the artwork is not permanently attached to the electrical panel (please don’t do that!). It can be removed in seconds because it’s lightly secured with magnets.
The solution: a DIY cover posing as art
Working with painter’s canvas drop cloth is so easy…I just threw it into the washer and dryer right out of the package. This removes the sizing and makes the drop cloth soft and nubby. If you can’t find a heavy-weight drop cloth,  canvas duck cloth would also work well.
I like to use stencil vinyl if I have it, otherwise I just use card stock for my handmade stencils; it’s cheap and I weed out the colors I don’t care for, getting rid of unnecessary craft supplies at the same time!
You can still create something similar even if you don’t own a die cut machine! Look for stencils or even stickers (you would use the negative side) that fit with your decor.
Here is the progression of my DIY electrical box disguise/cover…
Pretty cool right? Once the front was finished, I used small button magnets that I glued to the back and so not only does the cover go up easily…it’s totally removable when we need to access the electrical box…in literally seconds 😃
Instead of seeing the ugly electrical box when you enter the laundry room through this amazing antique door, you see the cute arrow art! Nobody even has to know what it’s hiding! It looks like it was intentional decor! And truthfully, that wall needed something decorative, so it was the perfect solution!
This functional and beautiful laundry room has become one of my favorite rooms, and this quick project was a bargain to make, and completely solves my problem of what to do with an ugly electrical box!
Do you want to know a secret? This room, this little 5 x 6 room had two eyesores that needed to be addressed. The electric box was one, and the other was a big ‘ole niche above the washer with the faucets and plug…it was ugly too and also needed to be disguised but also easily accessible.
Here’s a picture…don’t you love how these eyesores are usually installed crooked?
