I used to have a wall phone in the kitchen. The metal plate is still there and as you see in the photo, it's unsightly.

Question

What can I do to get rid of this, or do you have suggestions for covering it? It's on a part of the wall between the door and a cabinet and is maybe 1 ft wide at the most. The plate is only about 1.5 inches from the cabinet, so if I were to hang a small picture or something there, I think it would look odd being so close to the cabinet.

Kathleen M · Answer

I hope you get some answers/ suggestions, I have the same problem with one in my kitchen too. I do think you can remove it and put a blank in its place but that doesn't really solve the problem but a sheet rock patch would I guess. Good luck, where mine is I can hang a pic but it might look awkward lol

SLS Construction & Building Solutions LLC · Answer

As it is low voltage you can simply unscrew the plate off snap the connector out from the plate & leave it in the wall where you can either mud over it / slap a blank plate there or if you want to keep it - just find a nicer cover that blends in
 
As for drywall - If there is a box there that prevents you from drywalling over it, you can generally just knock it loose or back far enough. Beyond that I have seen where people will fill the box with foam (great stuff) do a little trimming / sanding and simply skim coat over it. The other trick is a patch screen which can be skimmed over & painted

Louise · Answer

SLS, you have such good ideas!! It sounds to me like foam would be the easiest, but any are doable, even for me!! Thanks sooo very much!!!

KMS Woodworks · Answer

We had one of those ugly things too, but still 'needed' the phone jack. I picked up a better looking plate and used it to connect our answering machine / phone. The Phone 'base' unit sits on a nearby bookcase that holds our fancy glassware and cookbooks.

Great Home Painting · Answer

Buy a decorative wall plate http://thd.co/V4SvVP or decorate the one you have http://www.mysweetthings.com/2010/02/25/decorative-switch-plates-using-mod-podge/

Louise · Answer

KMS, I really like your lamp. :-)

Lin R · Answer

I was so happy to see this post. I was just looking at mine today and wondering how I could make it look better. Thank all of you so much!

Tanya Peterson Felsheim · Answer

I did what the person did in the very first post since I no longer used the jack at all cannot even tell it was ever there.

Susan · Answer

I had one that I replaced with a flat one, then painted it along with my wall, looked great and blended in nicely

Z · Answer

Since you never know if you'll want to use this jack again I would suggest finding a frame that could be centered on the wall and still cover the the jack completely. You might have to add a foam dot to the back the frame on one side to keep it from hanging crooked. Maybe make yourself a write on wipe off board using scrapbook paper in the frame.

KMS Woodworks · Answer

@Louise My sweetie made that lamp some years back...I keep telling her she needs to do more stained glass...after all I did build a complete stained glass work bench for her in my shop...

We had this lamp in the living room and moved it to the kitchen when we pulled an end table and set up our christmas tree...we like it there so much we need to find another lamp for the end table,

Tanya Peterson Felsheim · Answer

Since my phone thingymabob was very high on the wall..I covered it but then covered with something that doesn't even show what I covered with. I didn't want to forget where the wiring was so I splayed out the wires under the cover here are some pictures of my answer to the same plug you have

Leslie D · Answer

Are you ready to abandon every phone jack in the house, or just this one? If you have others in the house that are remaining active, I would be hesitant to bury this one without access unless you are positive that this one is not 'daisy chained' to others. It makes trouble shooting for the others much more difficult in case something goes wrong.

Tanya Peterson Felsheim · Answer

Mine were as you say 'daisy chained' and we switched to Cable phone however they are using all of our existing wiring for the old phone line so we still can use those outlets. But this is one I never liked where it was. But didn't want to lose it completely so covered it. Good thought @Leslie D

Universal Air Conditioning & Heating of NY Corp · Answer

I saw somebody suggested putting a blank plate. That seems the best. But you could hang a small decorative ceramic tile. They come with flowers, inspirational quotations, animals etc. that are painted or carved into them. Usually these hang somehow with string or wire.

Tanya Peterson Felsheim · Answer

Yes the blank plate is what I put in my photo...but depending on where the plug is a simple tile as suggested would also work...

Louise · Answer

So, if I remove my current plate and then put the 'guts' back into the wall, that might mess up my other phone jacks? I use Magic Jack for my home phone, so don't use any of the jacks, so would that be a problem? I don't plan to ever sell the house so don't have to worry about anyone else needing the jacks.

Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com · Answer

Louise, just put some electrical tape on the ends of the wires so they do not short out and you will be fine pushing them into the wall and covering it up.

Hamtil Construction LLC · Answer

@Louise, do you have an unfinished basement below or any access? Is it possible that you can see the wire coming down and pull it down after you unwire it? That would only be useful if you wanted to keep the wire accessible for some reason. 
Otherwise, you can cut each wire and tape or cap it and then push it in the wall and patch with drywall mud.
Another option is to add the blank cover plate, but you might want/ need to cut in a 'low voltage old work frame' first if you go that route. It's basically a plastic frame that goes in the wall and makes installing the blank cover plate easier.

Louise · Answer

Thanks, Woodbridge.

Louise · Answer

No, Hamtil, I have a basement room under the kitchen, but it's finished. I'm leaning toward the drywall patch.

Nance Greenwell · Answer

I maybe wrong, I don't think it would hurt to take the plate off and use electrical tape on the ends then tuck in and cut drywall to fit leaving some paper of drywall a half inch over and patch it. There is only a small amount of current in those wires. I've done this and never had a problem. Our cable TV company is also our land line phone supplier, they are changing this out to cable feed phones, whether you want it or not. This will mean in bad weather if the cable goes out, so will the phone.

Tanya Peterson Felsheim · Answer

I would have done that @Nance Greenwell and maybe the person who posted this but I have a 'just in case' mentality....might need this someday....I'm terrible about that! lol

Brenda Smith Wingo · Answer

The only way to remove the existing plate is to disconnect the wires from its backside; they're not modular and just plugged-in but wired to the wall plate. Detaching them would disrupt any current or future phone service (that 'just in case' thing). I would go for a galvanized blank plate (under $2) and see if I could apply it atop - never tried that specifically so I don't know. If not because of lack of depth, I'd try using some narrow moulding and making a frame for the blank plate to give it the necessary depth to accommodate the plug-in. Paint to match the wall so the whole thing would would disappear.

Jonna Regel · Answer

Why not just plug the telephone back in?

Ken Erickson · Answer

Remove the plate and disconnect the wires inside. Tape the wires separately so it doesn't screw up the rest of the phone lines. Buy a blank single wall plate and paint it to match the wall color. All of these plates are the same size and hole location. Probably less than a $.

Deb K · Answer

Hi Louise, I would k=just remove it, hope this helps

https://www.charlestoncrafted.com/patching-drywall-old-phone-jack/

I used to have a wall phone in the kitchen. The metal plate is still there and as you see in the photo, it's unsightly.

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I used to have a wall phone in the kitchen. The metal plate is still there and as you see in the photo, it's unsightly.

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