Are you the proud owner of an imposing flat-panel TV, but would prefer it wasn't part of every occasion? We've got a few suggestions for hiding it away elegantly.

Today's expensive flat-panels look great. But, there are times when you'd prefer not to be able to see them. In general: The bigger the TV, the more obvious (and therefore intrusive) it will be in the living room while it's not in use. Luckily, there are possibilities for hiding the screen away when it's not wanted.

Let's start with how to make your TV disappear. In the days of tube TVs, the screen diagonals were rarely more than 70 centimeters (27 ½ inches), so you could simply tuck the set into a cupboard. New flat-panels, on the other hand, commonly hit the 100 centimeter (39 inches) mark, presenting their owners with bigger and bigger problems when it comes to hiding the screen away.

You have three options: hide it in the wall, buy specially designed furniture or - simplest of all - cover it with a picture or a curtain. The ideal solution depends on your living room and your budget.

If it'll no longer fit in the cupboard, you can hide it behind an artificial second wall. This method means the TV is no longer hanging "on", but rather "in", the wall and has the advantage of concealing all the cabling.

On the other hand, it's an effort-intensive method. The second wall needs to be at least 10 centimeters (4 inches) from the original one just to accommodate the TV, and should also additionally provide sufficient room for air to flow inside for ventilation.

If you're neither a tech-freak nor a DIY dab hand - and you've got some cash to burn - you can get hold of fully-automated solutions from specialized manufacturers. Future Automation, for example, builds thin, individually-manufactured panels to match the size of your TV, which are arranged next to one another in a grid formation. At the touch of a button, one of the panels moves upwards to reveal the TV. This is an elegant solution, but it's also highly expensive.

Just one click away: In fully-automated solutions like this one from Future Automation, the TV appears at the touch of a button.

Wall units aren't just long out of fashion; they're also generally way too small for today's gigantic flat-panels. If you're still set on using a cupboard, you'll need a bit of a talent for DIY, as well as plenty of time and patience. Many modern shelving units do not have doors, so you'll most likely have to attach some doors yourself - or build a entire new unit from scratch.

Things get really complicated if you want the TV to appear and disappear automatically. This practical and elegant option requires time, patience, and technical skill. Some furniture manufacturers offer complete solutions that can easily cost as much as the TV itself, whereby the screen can hide away in a sideboard or even a sofa, as you can see in these pictures.

A tidy solution: Some manufacturers offer furniture that can conceal a TV. The system in these pictures comes from the German company PSP-AV, and is popular in luxury yachts.

Interior design magazines don't offer solutions specifically for hiding your TV, but you can turn to them for some inspiration. After all, modern TVs are now so flat that you can squeeze them into more nooks and crannies than you thought possible.

Curtains, for example, are one way to change the character of a room in just a few seconds. They can even double up: on the one hand to cover the TV, and then also to darken the room when movie-night arrives. A little bit of creativity will get you a long way.

Clever: Many innovative solutions are available for hiding the TV in or behind normal household objects. The "ArtScreen" system from Vutec covers the screen with an attractive painting while you're not watching TV.

A ceiling-mounted "Dellegno" projector lift from manufacturer Beamax. The central section opens when the projector emerges.

Projectors are much easier to hide. After all, they're a lot smaller than TVs. If the projector is nevertheless disturbing the atmosphere in the living room, you can hide it within the ceiling instead of just hanging it from it. Here, there are two options: a lift or a deflecting mirror.

If you use a lift, the projector will move down mechanically in a box attached to the ceiling. Deflecting mirrors bring the advantage that the projector is always tucked away and therefore safe from dust and smoke, for example. Both solutions are quite elaborate and expensive - a projector lift alone can easily cost a four-figure sum, depending on how much weight it has to support.

If hiding your projector in the ceiling seems too expensive or awkward, you can extend your search to the rest of the room. Bookcases, chests of drawers, and wall units can all often accommodate a projector. You can also mount the projector under a table, but this isn't advisable if there are small children or dogs around.

Every projector should have a suitable projection screen. Roll-up screens are inconspicuous by nature when compared with big-screen TVs. Indeed, it's questionable whether you really need to hide them at all.

If the sight of the casing is too much to ignore you can integrate it into the ceiling, but this requires an artificial ceiling - and therefore isn't the easiest of options. Some pieces of furniture offer a great place to mount a roll-up projection screen, which needn't always hang from the ceiling. They can just as easily come upwards out of a flap on a sideboard, for example.

Up and down: German company Holzmedia manufactures "multimedia furniture", into which a projection screen can neatly tuck away.

Of course, the easiest solution is to do away with the projection screen altogether, and simply to project the image onto a white wall. It's not much effort to quickly take down any paintings or posters that are hanging there.

The down side: The picture quality will suffer from lower contrast, less accurate color balance, and weaker black levels. To make sure you don't fall victim to these problems, you can use a special "projection paint" (Screen Goo, for example). On the other hand, these are never as gleaming white as the rest of the walls, so a significant difference in color will be visible.

Half-baked solutions make nobody happy. Simply buying a smaller TV so that it doesn't dominate the room so strongly will take all the fun out of movie nights. It'd be better to buy a large TV and then just store it away properly while not in use.

With energy prices on the rise, you could consider buying a smaller - and, above all, more energy-efficient - display for day-to-day news and entertainment. Then at night, to the smell of popcorn and nachos, the lights go down and - Abracadabra! - the big screen appears.

The alternative: Pay more attention to design when buying, and choose the TV that will suit your living room best. This way, it might never be necessary to hide it in the first place. Of course, the danger is that you may be forced to sacrifice some picture quality in favor of the better-looking design.