“An air vent in the middle of a wall is like a wart on the face of an otherwise beautiful person,” said Annie Elliott, the principal designer of Annie Elliott Design. That’s why interior design magazines typically airbrush these eyesores out of pictures, she said.
Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the benefit of Photoshop when it comes to the air return grilles and supply registers that are a necessary part of our HVAC systems. So when I wanted to disguise the air return grille in my foyer, I turned to camouflage. On Chairish, I found a vintage console table with an open base. Its sinuous, branchlike legs distract the eye while still allowing air to flow freely.
It turns out I was onto something.
If you leave some breathing room around air return grilles and supply registers, you can hide unsightly vents without compromising the function of your heating and cooling system, said Ed Janowiak, the manager of HVAC design education at Air Conditioning Contractors of America.
In his own home, Mr. Janowiak placed a breakfront with feet over a return vent on the floor, while in his living room, he positioned a couch a few inches in front of a return vent on the wall. A low shelving unit, decorative screen or Windsor chair would have also done the trick, as would décor like a faux tree, pile of woven baskets or stack of decorative boxes.
Not just any item placed in front of a vent will work, though. Mr. Janowiak recommended avoiding placing real plants in front of air vents because the air flow might cause water to evaporate from the leaves.
But even if you don’t block vents, you can make them less noticeable.
Some homeowners opt to swap their existing grilles and registers with more pleasing designs. When replacing typical steel, plastic or anodized aluminum grilles and registers, Ms. Elliott recommends choosing materials and finishes that will complement your space. Other than wood to match the floor, muted metals (like brushed aluminum and unlacquered brass) tend to be more attractive and less noticeable, she said. Polished silver or lacquered brass can draw too much attention.
Decorative grilles and registers vary in price based on size, materials and design. Expect to pay anywhere from about $25-$200 each, or as much as $550 for more elaborate custom options. “You’re not looking for focal points here,” Ms. Elliott added. “If they’re the most interesting thing you have on your walls, you have much bigger problems.”
Mr. Janowiak also cautions against buying decorative return grilles and supply registers chosen solely for aesthetics. “It’s very common for people with hardwood floors to remove their off-white or brown floor registers and replace them with wood ones from Etsy that are going to match their wood floors,” he said.
This can lead to systems that don’t perform as well as they should, he said. The unsightly slots or openings on grilles and registers provide a specific amount of total area through which air can pass (this is called “free area”). The amount is optimized for a home’s particular HVAC system. When there’s a discrepancy in free area between original and new grilles or registers, functionality can suffer.
In a home, return vents tend to be larger and fewer in number than supply vents. Typically, you’ll find one per floor, said Mr. Janowiak. They suck in air, which is then fed into and mixed by the HVAC system. You can change out your existing return grille for one with more free air — just make sure the replacement allows air to move across its face at the right speed, said Mr. Janowiak.
But returns with too little free area are problematic. They lead to an increase in the velocity of air flow — you’ll know there’s an issue if you can hear a humming or whistling sound and can feel air blowing into the system.
Supply vents, which are smaller and greater in number, push air throughout the home. In a 10-room house, expect to find about 10 total, said Mr. Janowiak. Replacing these is riskier, he explained. Too much or too little free area can interfere with air circulation. Too little can also cause whistling.
If you’re still set on replacements, ask your HVAC installer for product specs or recommendations, Mr. Janowiak suggested. “Don’t be tricked by fancy marketing,” he said. “Often, the expensive grilles on social media don’t have engineering data proving they work. They might be made by expert woodworkers, but do those woodworkers know about creating enough free area to promote air mixing?”
Perhaps a more foolproof solution from Ms. Elliott is to integrate vents into a gallery wall. “The more, the merrier when it comes to adding pictures,” she said. Ideally, the art will steal all the attention, helping the vent effectively disappear.
For a successful gallery wall design, surround a vent with pieces of art that are the same size or larger. Small pictures around a large vent “won’t work and might even look worse,” Ms. Elliott cautioned. Using the same finish, like antiqued brass, for picture frames and grilles or registers adds cohesiveness.
Of course, the simplest approach is painting vents to match the wall color, said Gideon Mendelson, the founder and creative director at Mendelson Group. You can also cover them with the same wallpaper you used on the surrounding walls. Ms. Elliott suggested papers with darker, busy patterns, which enable vents to blend in more seamlessly.
But this tactic can be tricky. Some wallcoverings, like grass cloth, are unpliable and too thick to wrap around vents. Aligning vents with patterns in wallpaper — necessary for their disguise — requires a skilled installer. Plus, the wallpaper could partially obstruct the openings, reducing free air. Over time, its edges could peel or flap, making matters worse.
As a final option, arrange your space to divert foot traffic from the vent, said Mr. Mendelson. Include eye-catching elements, like an arresting painting, elsewhere in the vicinity. “Design around the vent so you don’t notice it because there’s so much else to see.”
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