Let’s face it. It is no secret, really. We’ve all got them. Televisions, I mean. For most of us, our lives don’t revolve around the black rectangular screens…but our furniture arrangements in a room with a TV can be so blatantly TV-focused that no one would believe us.

If you’ve ever wondered how to have a TV in your living room without having the thing take over the aesthetics of the space, here are some easy (read: requiring no expensive custom-built TV-hiding cabinetry) tips and tricks to try. Who knows, maybe you’ll figure out something that works for your style AND your favorite shows.

A TV can seem to be almost an afterthought – in the best way possible – when it’s casually and quietly placed in a corner of the living room. Particularly if the corner shares part of a visual plane with another focal point (for example, a fireplace or a large piece of art…or both), you can easily get away with arranging furniture to work with the TV while not making it obvious. It looks like you just want to sit on the sofa and stare at your beautiful artwork!

Because a TV mounted above a fireplace will immediately become the focal point of the living room, you can counteract the force of this impact by angling two chairs away from the TV, toward the rest of the room. This provides visual acknowledgement that, although the TV is in the room (and meant to be used), it does not dominate life.

In a small living room, sometimes the space of one wall serves as a kind of walkway. This is an excellent place to mount the TV. Your other furniture can then be arranged so that at least some of the seating faces the hallway. Because the spaces (living room and walkway) technically serve two separate distinct purposes, your TV almost becomes invisible and your hallway-facing furniture arrangement completely natural.

Simply give all seating furniture pieces a great view of the TV, but provide as much space as you can between the TV and the furniture itself. This provides a perimeter that is great for watching TV, if necessary, while also allowing excellent conversation and flow in the space overall.

Mount the TV, then ignore it as you create more intimate conversational spaces in your space. If people want to watch the telly, then they can turn sideways in their seats. You’re not hiding your TV, but you’re not making a huge deal about its being present, either. (By the way, symmetry helps with making those large black rectangles seem less aesthetically bothersome.)