advice on hiding cables

How about duct tape ? A million roadies can't be wrong. It comes in loads of colors these days, so you'll probably find a pretty close match.
( I think you should pass this suggestion along to your wife and try to keep a straight face while doing so).

Actually I think Ultraviolet's idea is a really good one .. tucked away in my mind for possible future use.

I know a gentleman(?) who drilled a hole in his floor and ran his cables under the floor. He has a basement so the whole thing was pretty easy. Is that a possibility?

Pull off the baseboards, use a router to make a nice groove in the back and run the cables in the groove--this way there is no sheet rock repair. If you do it carefully, you shouldn't even need touch up paint.

When I had my speakers in the living room with equipment across the room about 18 feet from the speakers, I thought about going through the basement floor and up but realized this would take a lot of extra cable and a lot of extra work. I got some Goertz MI-2 cables and ran them under a rug in front of the speakers and then under the speakers (they were raised up on spikes). The rug ended a few inches from speakers, so all that was visible was a few inches of nice copper flat cable. My wife was very happy and it was a very practical solution.

Sorry guys, I was not very clear on my room description. I have hardwood floors and house is built on a slab foundation, no basement, So you now can undestand my dilemna.

Slipknot has the best answer I know of. For my "living room" system, I run the cables through the floor, through the basement, then back up. If you have that option, you can also "hide" your amp in a closet or in the basement and score some WAF points.

If you are sure that the speakers will reside where you have them currently placed. I would consider mounting jacks in the wall or the floor if the basement is unfinished. You don't mention the distance. Can you ,if you definitely don't want to cut holes, run the perimeter of the room with both runs? If this is possible, buy a matching peice of trim and tie the cable to it and wedge it along the baseboard so it won't be so obvious.

I've always wondered why cable manufacturers don't use neutral colored jackets instead of black or other bold colors.

Hardwood floor, or , wall-to-wall? How about flat cables run under the carpet if it's wall-to-wall. If hardwood, run the cables under the floor (provided there is a crawl space or basement beneath your room).

Try here:
http://cableorganizer.com/?src=googlewords

Purchase $6000 cables, and display them with pride.