This Might Be the Most Stylish Way to Hide an Ugly Air Conditioning Unit

If you’ve made it to this corner of the internet, it’s likely the weather outside is… boiling. Blistering. Sweltering. So hot that your only hope is cranking up your air conditioner to full blast. But while an air conditioner is a godsend come the dog days of summer, we have to be honest with you: They’re not particularly stylish. Whether you have an integrated thermostat you use year-round or an in-window air conditioner you bust out during dire times, any kind of heating or cooling system can appear clunky and…truthfully, awkward. Well, until Leah Harmatz of Field Theory stepped in, that is. 

The San Francisco designer was recently tapped to put the finishing touches on the Quilt Home, a property in Los Altos, California that showcases the offerings of a new brand called Quilt. As the self-proclaimed “smartest way to heat and cool your home,” Quilt trades in the bulky—and costly and energy-wasting—air conditioners and heaters for slim, wall-affixed units that use heat pumps to make a room appear warmer or cooler. Are they more stylish than a typical air conditioner? Definitely? Are they invisible? Well, no. However, in one bedroom, Harmatz disguised the setup by covering an entire wall and the front of the unit in Chasing Paper’s Stripes Away wallpaper.

Margaret Austin

“We chose to apply a wallpaper here because we wanted to add some character to this teenage girl’s room, which previously had very simple white walls,” Harmatz says. “If tastes evolve in a few years, it can be fairly easily swapped out.” 

Wallpaper is a great way to add some texture to a wall—and camouflage a wall-mounted unit—but Harmatz says Chasing Paper’s mix of traditional as well as peel-and-stick coverings made this an uniquely good fit: The peel-and-stick could glide onto the Quilt unit’s removable front panel, while the designer says that traditional covering can be pasted on the room’s “heavily textured” walls.

While a busy pattern like these stripes can help camouflage a unit, a wallpaper’s proper placement is the difference between a polished setup and one that looks unkempt. “I made sure the stripes on the unit lined up with the wall behind it, in order to look continuous,” Harmatz says. “It’s all about the small details!”

So, the question everyone wants to know: Can this trick be applied to all air conditioners? According to Harmatz, not necessarily. “I don’t think this technique could work with a more traditional mini split because they are usually curved,” she explains. “The wallpaper can’t be applied to a curved shape.” (Though you could try this on a boxier setup, it’s always a good idea to consult your AC’s safety precautions. After all, zhuzhing up your space shouldn’t be a fire hazard.)

Margaret Austin

Don’t worry, this designer has plenty of tips for masking an ugly air conditioner. “To conceal a more traditional mini split air conditioner, you could build a slatted wood box around it,” she advises. Alternatively, anyone with an in-window unit can mask the appliance with a stylish room divider. (Our advice? A trifold rattan panel can offer an easy, breezy effect—not to mention it can be moved once you take out your unit.) She also recommends being thoughtful about accessorizing. “Placing beautiful tall plants near a unit to distract the eye and help the unit recede into the background,” she says.

Another takeaway: Placement is key. “The instinct is to center it on a wall or over a bed, but I find it looks more natural and subtle to place it to one side,” she shares. “Then art can be strategically hung to balance out the other side and becomes more of a focal point, as we did here.” A simple scooch that can make a big difference? How cool.

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