DIY Phone Charging Station

I’m thrilled to be joining 19 AMAZING bloggers in a monthly challenge where we transform a thrift store item into something for our home. Naturally, I’m taking this challenge with organization in mine. My love for organizing is only met by my obsession for saving money, so this monthly series right up my alley! Make sure to stop by the b log on the third Thursday of every month to see what new organizing challenge I’ve tackled at thrift store prices!

Amanda | The Kolb Corner    Chelc| Inside the Fox Den    Erlene | My Pinterventures    Kim | Made in a Day    Sara | Twelve on Main
Debra | Shoppe No. 5    Shirley | Intelligent Domestications    Marie | DIY Adulation    Lindsay | Crazy Organized    Michelle | Our Crafty Mom
Julie | Live From Julie’s House    Dru | Polka Dot Poplars    Maureen | Red Cottage Chronicles    Pili | Sweet Things    Channell | Hobnail House
Colleen | Life on Kaydeross Creek    Ann | Duct Tape and Denim    Paula | Virginia Sweet Pea    Sherry | Savvy Apron    Stacy | Anastasia Vintage

You can also follow our board on Pinterest for more upcycled decor inspiration!

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Cords cords cords literally EVERYWHERE. Joe & I have more electronics and gadgets than we likely ever need. Our counters and night stands are filled with electronics and cords… to the point that I don’t even know which cord is for which gadget. I’m convinced we have cords sitting out that don’t even fit anything.

So this month we’re tackling phone cords with a

 ||| DIY Phone Charging Station |||

Supplies

• Thrift store / used wooden box
• Washi tape
• Contact paper or scrapbooking paper
• Drill (I know NOTHING about drills, but this is the one Joe swears by)
• Clear labels or label maker

THIS is the box I picked up at the thrift store hoping to solve all my phone charging problems!

The first step after deciding how many electronics you’re going to store (I’m fitting 5 in this box) is to drill the holes. I first took a marker to denote where the holes should go. No need to use a pencil because you’ll be drilling through your marks (and painting). I didn’t feel like measuring was super important as it was pretty easy to eyeball.

No joke this was the first time I’ve ever used a drill. Obviously not an expert, but a couple things to remember:

• Drills need to be charged ahead of time! Charge overnight (NOT 5 minutes before you need to use. Lesson learned.)
• Once you’re finished drilling the holes, test out your largest electronic cords and make sure they fit through the hole. I eyeballed this when I did it and it wasn’t large enough. I then had to re-drill the holes AFTER I had already painted. Another lesson learned.

Once the holes were drilled, I sanded the entire box, including inside each of the drilled holes. Since this box hadn’t been painted before, the goal of sanding was to create a smooth surface. If you’re using an item that has been painted, stained or spray, the goal will be to strip away the previous application to ensure your paint will be able to ‘grip’ on to the wood. In general a light sanding will work for both. It’s human nature to oversand (is that a word?).

Paint away! I used paint from an old paint sample from our laundry room, but acrylic paint would work just fine as well. You’ll notice the bottom isn’t painted. I’m going to place some fun colored contact paper on the bottom to serve as a ‘place-mat’ so why spend time on something that will go unnoticed??

Two coats of paint later, we’re ready to accessorize!  To add a pop of color, I put a piece of contact paper at the bottom. If contact paper throws you for a loop and you’re nervous about laying down contact paper due to potentially bubbling, you could skip pealing and just place inside. Yes, it’s kind of cheating, but who’s keeping tabs? OR you could just use standard scrap-booking paper and tape it down. I PROMISE no one is keeping tabs!

Now you’re ready to charge! Like I mentioned above, I spent some time figuring out what the best placement for each of my electronics would be. I strongly recommend doing this step BEFORE putting the washi tape labels on. Putting the larger electronic cords at the ends worked better for this size box, but it will take a little trial and error to see which ones fit best.

I’m a sucker for labels, but even more for this label maker. It’s portable and has an iphone app (doesn’t everything nowadays?), making it really easy to make labels. No need to run to our office to print labels on my computer. (Joe didn’t necessarily share my excitement in my new found ease in labeling 🙂 .)

UPDATE: a couple of you asked what the ‘charger’ was. We have a portable charger for when our phone battery is running low and we’re not near an outlet. Highly HIGHLY recommend.

Before applying the labels, add washi tape around each cord. I cut the ends at a diagonal and attached my clear labels on top.

Now that my electronics are organized, let’s hope I remember to CHARGE them! 🙂

 

 

Check out how my fellow bloggers transformed their thrift store finds!

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