One year I finally said, "To heck with it" and called the electrician to come and put an outlet at the end of the mantle. What little damage he did to the drywall, I patched and painted over. Not an expense one wants to have in the month of December, but since then, every Christmas I smile as I plug things in. Now, more to your question: Sometimes I want tiny lights down the center of my table. I had a new leaf cut out of MDF and had a big hole drilled in the center. I attached a surge protector to the underside. From the surge protector, I run an extension cord under the table and down the table leg. I tried and tried to think of something that could camouflage the extension cord from the bottom of the leg to the wall outlet. I came up with NOTHING. So, instead of trying to hide it, I took the cardboard roll that holds Christmas wrapping paper (sort of a very long toilet paper roll) and threaded the extension cord through. Then I wrapped Christmas paper around the roll and tied off the ends with ribbon, letting the extra paper at each end flair out. Now, instead of trying to hide it, I purposely bring attention to the cord - which I think is a good thing, as I know people won't be tripping on the way to the buffet table. P.S. Of course, I have to put a large button hole in the center of my table cloth, but if I don't use lights, I always have some sort of centerpiece that sits on top of the buttonhole.

LMAO. I would strongly argue it's coincidence.....however there IS a tiny bit of physics in there, as the knot may be acting as a sort of poor person's choke despite the lack of a ferrite or amorphous iron core. I created my own with a video camera power supply that had a lot of hum, by winding a spiral of the cord up a ferrite rod til the hum disappeared... There is a proper formulae for creating chokes but they are more for filtering noise than 'protection' but most good surge protectors incorporate chokes - and good mains chokes are wound around a donut-shaped core, rather than a straight one. However, as I indicated , lots of things that shouldn't work, often do. HOWEVER- as for the knot in the cord - has nothing to do with any 'straight path' and is more likely to do harm than good, if it damages the insulation or inner stranded wire, it could overheat and cause a fire, similarly, coiling or knotting a wire also (in ac power-land) causes a 'transformer effect' which will create noise, and potentially heat, therefore again a fire risk. If you have a lot of electrical problems/burnouts, you either have loose neutrals in your house (not uncommon) a poor supply from the poco (rare) or above ground lines in a lightning-prone area. A decent surge protector will help but mostly by preventing your death in a lightning strike - I have provided tech support to many customers who were victims of lightning strikes - a line conditioner is better, and an UPS that provides line conditioning and switchover to backup power when poco power is subpar is ideal, however, they will not necessarily protect equipment downstream in all cases but increase your chance of survivability in a catastrophe. Amongst recognised/respected brands of surge protectors etc the warranty/insurance may be worthwhile (surely keeping/preserving receipts is not rocket surgery) but for the most part I suspect the warranty/insurance is a gamble for the company, for every 10,000 units they sell, they might get one claim. Many household insurance policies protect against electrical damage. Personally, I'd start with a whole-house surge protector. Remember that surge protectors are consumables and need to be replaced periodically, when and if they do absorb a big surge, they may fail completely (but have hopefully saved devices down the line) For those tempted, "Monster Cable" type premium cables/suppressors 'audiophile power cables' do not work. Their benefits are purely subjective. There is no scientific evidence they work. Don't be sucked in http://hydrogenaudio.org/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t29989.html I have no doubt Monster cable et als surge protectors etc are nice quality products but I would not pay the premium. Nor would I buy audio cables at the dollar store. Here is a link that might be useful: Choke theory

Thanks for all of the ideas. I will look into the cord winders, cable ties, etc. Jeannine, the computer is on the left side. You can see the monitor if you look closely - just a sliver as it is a side view. All of the "stuff" is to the left of that. Ideefixe, yes I did plant the flag. I have made several changes since this pic. I bought a new desk lamp ("antique" apothecary), put a different lamp behind the desk, filled in the credenza, bought a tropical palm for the area between the credenza and the window. Right now it might be the baskets to start. That would be pretty easy. DS just bought a house and tonight I am going to help him strip 100 years of paint off the woodwork - so not much time this weekend -- but I do want to get all of these cords tucked away.

For lamps, I use extension cords that have flat swivel plugs and tack the cables down as neat as possible. For the TV area, look for a surge protector that has a flat plug. The cord will be a tiny bit bulkier but it's worth it to protect your TV equipment (it's not a good idea to plug a surge protector into an extension cord). If the setup like above was still a little bit too messy for you, you can hide the cables in a "raceway" and then paint them to match your wall to help them blend in. Or the best option of all: ditch that TV stand and get one that's wide enough to cover the outlet. Or Patricia's suggestion below of hiding it with a plant is a good idea.