We can all agree that an air conditioner isn’t the most attractive appliance we have at home, but it’s essential for comfort. If you live in a hot climate, as I do in Italy, it’s almost impossible to stay home in the summer without turning on the air conditioner during the hottest hours of the day. I know this because last summer my air conditioner broke. Imagine my discomfort as I tried to work from home.
While having a functional air conditioner is important, you probably won’t want to display it in your living room or decorate your garden with it, especially if you plan to spend quality time outside in the backyard. You should never fully cover or completely mask the unit, since it needs space to breathe while it cools your home, but you can make it less visible.
Take a look at some smart solutions for hiding your air conditioner while still ensuring that it’s easy to do seasonal air conditioning maintenance tasks.
How to Hide an Air Conditioner Outdoors
There are plenty of ways you can hide or just incorporate this unpleasant object in your beautiful green garden. It will become part of the garden decor, just by minimizing its visual impact.
Hide It With Greenery
A nice vegetation screen can be a good visual solution to hide your air conditioner in the garden. You can place beans and other climbing plants on this vertical element, and the green will also prevent the area from overheating. Get inspired by these green screen ideas on Pinterest.
Hide It With a Fence
Image via Flickr by vanclark
A fence is an easy and effective solution to hide an air conditioner from view. A fence also lets the unit breathe without obstructing the airflow. Try constructing a fence from a pallet. Have a look at this article on Apartment Therapy for more ideas for using pallets.
Hide It Behind a Small Structure
A well-ventilated structure is a more expensive solution, but you can also use it for other backyard purposes. For example, you can incorporate the air conditioner into the place where you store your tools for the garden or the pool.
How to Hide an Air Conditioner Indoors
Image via Flickr by decor8
You can take a similar design approach inside to hide the indoor air conditioning unit. Take this problem as an opportunity to take on a new design challenge, and think about new ways to mask the unit.
Depending on the style of your home decor, this masking element could be a minimalist slatted wooden panel, a decorated metal grilled panel, or a die-cut wall panel. You could also design a small custom storage unit. Consider a wall-mounted shelf that on one side is open or closed with usual doors, while in front of the air conditioning unit it has a panel that features a grille.
What’s the best solution for hiding the air conditioner in your own home? Let me know in the comments!
