hiya, Ian, and welcome.
I'm not sure about the cover (most people don't want it covered up) but a simple solution is to use a fine grit wet-n-dry to take off the chrome coating. I intend to get the rid of the ugly thing anyway so wasn't too concerned about how it looked but it of the result's not too bad; it actually looks like a worked piece of metal now, rather than a lump o' plastic!!!
An alternative would be to get a piece of self-adhesive vinyl or similar and cut it to shape.
Whatever you do, post pics of the results.
