My suggestion is manipulate the space. A good finish carpenter with a good selection of router bits can cut into the molding of each vertical piece and refinish the cut out to look intentional. It's pretty common in older homes when switches were added after construction.
Alternatively, could a z-wave thermostat be mounted inside the HVAC closet? If your orbiter controls it there is no real reason to get to its display. In my home the 2gig thermostat is fairly hidden behind a door that is almost always left open and in the main hallway where the old thermostat was mounted is a cradled WebDT.
I set that orbiter to "Hallway" as a room, and created over a dozen scenes that only appear when in room 'hallway.'
Entire house climate scenes: 65, 70, +1, -1.
Hallway scenes: 65, 66, 67, 68, etc..., heat, cool, fan on, fan auto, +1, -1,
Custom scenes I have tried but couldn't get going: energy save heat, energy save cool. Where the 2-stage unit uses its slow response mode to slowly reach a temperature.
