DIY Air Conditioner Cover

by Alana

4 Materials

$40

1 Hour

Easy

Do you have an ugly air conditioner you hate having to look at when you're not using it? Well, me too! I'm a renter and we live in the downstairs apartment of a two family house. We have a window unit in our living room. I love home decor and decorating my space, and I like to take pictures of my home! (I post these pictures on my home decor Instagram - @myhackedapartment) However, the AC in the background of the photos is just awful. I used to close my curtains just to hide it. Until, I came up with this DIY cover! And you can make one too!

Here's how!

First things first - you'll need to measure the top of your AC as well as the front of it (horizontally and vertically) so you know what size your cover needs to be. I used a 2x4 as the piece that actually sits on the top of the AC and a piece of plywood as the front piece. We attached the two pieces together and then painted them white. Now of course you can totally make yours differently, with different material. But this is the type of lumber I had on hand! We also purchased a 2 inch thick piece of molding from Home Depot then cut it down and to the length of each side of the plywood and also cut each piece as a 45 degree angle to create a frame.

I also purchased these "room dividers" from Amazon. They're more or less pieces of lattice, made of a thin plastic. I used two panels but had to overlap them, because putting two of them side by side, the length of them was longer than the front of my AC. I just overlapped them and cut out the design where it didn't line up.

We super glued the lattice to the front of the cover and then also superglued the molding! And ta-da! Now you have a much prettier sight to see! Of course you need to take the cover off to use the AC, but at least it can now be hidden when it's not in use!

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Plywood (Home Depot)
2X4 (Home Depot)
White Paint (Home Depot)
Room Dividers (Lattice) (Amazon)

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3 of 9 comments

Jerri on Jul 17, 2020

I too have an issue w window units being seen. My bff has window units due to the time period the house was built & I abhor how they look period. But in a pic? Awful! I have said for years I needed to create something to cover it up. Then I would say, but surely I am not the only person in the world with this issue, surely someone somewhere has come up with SOMETHING!! Lol! So thank you! However, my problem still isn't solved completely. I need it to camouflage it, yet still be able to operate. We live in the deep south so we run ours some days during the winter even. Covering it up would hardly work the majority of the year. So please keep that thought in your mind while creating please! Love it!! Thanks so much for sharing!

2 Reply
- Alana on Jul 18, 2020
  
  Thanks so much, Jerri! Your point totally makes sense! This DIY cover works for me, as I live in NY, so this cover will be great during the cold winter months! (Especially during the holidays, as I put my Christmas tree up in front of where my AC is!) So this will work for anyone with a similar situation as me - living somewhere where there are cold winter months and the AC is not needed! I also don't mind having to take it on and off because I really only use the AC at night, so it's nice to have this eyesore covered up during the day! But if I lived somewhere where it was a warmer climate year round and I would need access to the AC regularly (without going back and forth with removing the cover) there's two things I can think of that could work! One would be to do as I did with the lattice, but not have the wood backing, so the air can flow through it. I'd use the lattice and attach it to the 2x4 that is on top of the AC and also attach it to the frame around. You could cut out the area where the power button is, but if you have a remote for the AC, you wouldn't need to do that, which is even better! The second option would be to create "door(s)" that you could close when the AC is not in use and open when it is. When I was looking up some AC cover ideas (couldn't find much surprisingly!) I did see some instances where people had an AC unit in the wall and they created "a box" or frame that they placed over the unit with doors. I believe they were attached to the wall as well. I saw two that specifically that stand out in my mind - one had lattice doors and the other had shutter doors. Each of these had small knobs attached for easy opening! I think either of these could work for a window unit as well! I hope you find the perfect solution for hiding your AC unit!
  
  4
Betty Newton on Jul 20, 2020

I have a suggestion for those who live in the warmer climates, like me....I live in Texas so mine runs more than it’s off. personally mine doesn’t bother me much, it’s new and as long as I’m cool, that’s all I worry about. But I did come across a room divider that, I briefly thought about adapting for that purpose. It was made of lace and if if you could find some loose enough for the air to come through or set it out far enough for the air to go around it, it Might work for you. It was on YouTube and the name of her channel starts with “youdo.....” I Think! If you search for a lace room divider, you should be able to find it. You’ll have to make some changes. But I thought it might help. Hope it helps

2 Reply