How to hide Christmas tree cords (without hiding them under the rug)

Is there a pile of plugs and cords sitting at the bottom of your Christmas tree? For years mine had what I called “the nest.” It was a pile of white plugs and adapters at the base that you could see through the bottom branches, with one ugly cord running across the floor. Today I’m sharing how I got it down to one cord so you can hide yours too (without tucking it under a rug!).

The short version is this. Plug every light strand into a green multi-outlet extension cord zip tied up the trunk. Bring that one cord out the back of the tree, run it along the baseboard to the outlet, and cover any piece that has to cross the floor with a flat cord cover.

What You’ll Need:

1. Green Extension Cord - 12 feet long with nine outlets spaced along it

2. Zip Ties

3. Command Cord Bundler

4. Paintable Cord Raceway Kit - Only if your cord has to go up a wall

5. Floor Cord Cover - Only if your cord has to cross the floor (more on this in Step 5)

6. Remote Control Outlet

Step 1. Pick the tree spot by the outlet

Before the tree goes up, find your outlets. The shortest cord is always the easiest one to hide, so the best spot for your tree is right in front of (or right beside) an outlet.

If the spot you love means running a cord across a doorway or a walkway, I’d honestly move the tree. A cord crossing a path gets stepped on all season. That’s how cords get worn, plugs get yanked, and somebody trips carrying a tray of cookies!

Step 2. Run one green cord up the trunk

This is the trick that finally got rid of my nest! I use a green extension cord that’s 12 feet long with nine outlets spaced along it. I run it straight up the inside of the trunk and fasten it in a few spots with zip ties.

Each light strand plugs into the cord at the height where it sits on the tree, so you don’t have every strand traveling all the way back down to the floor. The plugs end up tucked in the branches near the trunk where nobody sees them, and only one cord comes out the bottom.

A few rules I follow:

• Keep the zip ties snug, but not tight. You don’t want to pinch the cord’s insulation.
• Check the cord’s rating against your lights. LED sets draw very little, but if you have old incandescent strands, add up the watts on the tags.
• Don’t plug this cord into another extension cord or a power strip. It goes straight into the wall (or into a remote outlet, which I’ll talk about in Step 6).

If you’re adding lights this year, the per-foot numbers are in how many lights your tree actually needs. The more strands you have, the more this up-the-trunk cord helps!

Step 3. Bring the cord out the back

Bring the cord out of the tree on the side that faces the wall, right at the base, then straight back to the baseboard. The tree skirt or collar covers the first few inches and the branches cover the rest.

Coil any extra length loosely behind the tree, or bundle it with a Command cord bundler stuck to the back of a piece of furniture. Don’t wrap a big tight coil and shove it under the skirt, because a tightly coiled cord can hold heat.

Step 4. Follow the baseboard

Once the cord is at the wall, keep it there. Run it along the baseboard to the outlet and tape or clip it in place so it can’t get kicked out into the room.

If it has to go up a wall (say the outlet is behind a console or you’re running lights to a garland), a paintable cord raceway kit is a great option. It’s a plastic channel with adhesive backing that you can cut to size. Paint it the same color as the wall and the cord disappears! I used this behind our TV and I talk about it more in how to decorate around a TV for Christmas.

Step 5. If it has to cross the floor, cover it

Sometimes there’s just no way around it. When that happens, use a floor cord cover. I like this beige one because it’s less than half an inch tall, so it doesn’t make a big bump, and the channel fits one tree cord perfectly. It’s a flat, sloped rubber strip with a channel underneath for the cord. It lies on top of the floor so you can see it and nothing is hidden.

What I won’t do is run the cord under a rug. I really wanted to (it looks so tidy!), but electrical safety groups and utilities say plainly not to. A rug traps heat around the cord, and a cord that gets walked on all December can fray where you’d never see it. A cord cover you can see is a little less pretty, but it’s a lot safer.

The same goes for running cords under furniture legs or through door jambs where they get pinched every time someone shuts the door.

Step 6. Add a remote outlet

This is what keeps everything hidden all season. Plug a remote control outlet into the wall and plug the tree into it. Now you can turn the tree on and off from across the room!

Before I had one, I was reaching through the branches twice a day to get to the plug. It pulled the cord out from where I’d tucked it, knocked ornaments off, and undid all my work. Mine has three outlets on one remote, so the tree, the mantel garland, and a little table tree all turn on together.

Step 7. If you have a little one (or a cord-chewer)

When my daughter was a toddler, the cord was the first thing she found. A few things that helped:

• Nothing loose at floor level. The cord goes up the trunk, out the back, and is clipped to the baseboard.
• Put the plug behind something if you can, like a heavy chair or the tree itself.
• Keep the remote up high so there’s no reason for anyone to be near the plug at all.
• Use battery fairy lights on anything at kid height (a low garland, a little tree in a bedroom) so there’s no cord to find.

I wrote up everything else we did that year in my toddler-proof Christmas tree post. If you have a pet that likes to chew cords, this post on keeping pets away from your tree covers that side.

Quick Safety Checks

While you’re down there behind the tree:

• Throw out any cord or light set with cracked insulation, a damaged plug, or exposed wire.
• If a plug or cord feels warm to the touch, unplug it and find out why. Too many old incandescent strands on one cord is the usual reason.
• Turn the tree off when you go to bed or leave the house. The remote makes this so easy that I actually do it now!
• If an outlet sparks, feels hot, or keeps tripping a breaker, stop using it and call an electrician.

Do you have a cord nest under your tree too? I hope this helped you get it down to one tidy cord! If you try this out, be sure to post on Instagram and tag me @sugardesignco because I love seeing the beautiful decor y’all create!

-Ciera

Made something with this? Tag me @sugardesignco — I love seeing them.