Hidden TVs & moving screens: technology that disappears
We are called Hidden Home Technology for a reason. The founding idea behind the company is that a home should not have to look like a showroom for black rectangles. You can have a serious screen in every room you want one, and see none of them when they are off. This page covers the ways we hide televisions and cinema screens, how the mechanisms work, and what to think about before you build one in.
Ways to hide a television
Mirror TVs
A television mounted behind optical mirror glass. Switched off, it is simply a mirror: in a bathroom, a dressing room or above a fireplace. Switched on, the picture shows through the glass. The frame, glass finish and size are specified to the room, so the result looks like it was always meant to be there.
TV lifts and drops
Motorised lifts raise a television out of joinery at the foot of a bed or inside a sideboard, drop it from a ceiling void, or fold it down and rotate it to face the seating. When you are finished watching, it returns to hiding and the room goes back to being a room.
Moving panels and artwork
Sliding and pivoting mechanisms move a section of wall, a framed piece of artwork or cabinetry aside to reveal the screen behind. Done well, the joinery and the mechanism are designed together, so the moving section matches the wall it lives in and the reveal feels like theatre rather than machinery.
Disappearing cinema: projector lifts and in-ceiling screens
For living-room cinema, the projector rises into or drops from the ceiling only when the film starts, and the screen unrolls from a discreet slot that all but vanishes when closed. Paired with the right lighting scene, an ordinary sitting room becomes a cinema in moments, then gives the room back afterwards. You can see this thinking taken to its conclusion in our award-winning home cinema installation in Bath.
Invisible sound to match
A hidden screen deserves hidden audio. We install invisible speakers that are plastered directly into walls and ceilings, alongside in-wall and in-ceiling designs with paintable grilles, so the sound system disappears as completely as the picture. Our designer’s guide to invisible speakers covers how they work and where each type makes sense.
How we design and install it
Hiding a screen properly is a joinery, building and engineering exercise as much as an audio-visual one. We survey the room, agree sight lines and viewing heights, specify a mechanism rated for the screen it carries, and coordinate with your builder, joiner or interior designer so the finished work is seamless. Cabling, ventilation and service access are designed in from the start rather than discovered as problems later.
Hidden Home Technology has been designing and installing concealed technology for over two decades. We are a CEDIA Professional Member, our work has won international industry awards, and hidden screens are a natural part of our wider home cinema design and installation service.
Where we work
We are based in Bath and design and install hidden TVs and moving screens across Bath, Bristol, Somerset and the South West, with projects across the UK including London and the Home Counties.
See one working
The best way to understand a mirror TV or a disappearing cinema is to stand in front of one while it happens. Get in touch to arrange a visit, or bring us your drawings and we will tell you honestly what will work in your room.