Do you guys remember when I chattered on & on about my undying love for the Bluelounge CableBox? I use one on my desk to hold my external hard drives & help corral all of my computer cables, and I also have one that I use to organize cords in our little tv cabinet!
The De-Cluttering Plan:
- Hide all of the wires & keep them untangled.
- Find a place to the keep extra cords we use when we hook up our laptop/ipad and stream shows through the tv.
- Find a subtle way to sneak the wires out through the cabinet to reach the wall outlet.
- Keep our DVD player protected & ventilated (it overheats if anything is placed on it).
- I wound up all of the excess power cords & secured them using twist ties & my handy-dandy velcro cable ties. (Love those things!)
- Then, I popped everything into the CableBox (I used the regular sized version bc it fits full-sized power strips). The speaker wires didn’t need to go in there, so I just wound ‘em up and hid them behind it. You can only see them if you’re laying on the ground (the angle in the first photo) — from the couch height, they’re invisible!
I also wanted to pretty up the wires where they run from the CableBox to the wall outlet, so I covered them with a white cable sleeve (I found this little one at a really cheap price on Amazon — LOVE that!).
Tips:
- Mine was 3ft, but you can buy it in longer sizes, too.
- If you need to shorten it, you can carefully cut the end down to size & then seal the loose threads by melting them with a lighter (you can hold the flame close to the threads — it doesn’t need to actually touch them). Obviously, you’ll want to do that BEFORE you run the electrical wires through it! That’s what I did, and it’s been holding up pretty well!
I also wanted to designate a little area where we could keep our extra cords handy. We stream a lot of movies & tv shows through our laptops & Ipad to watch on the big screen, so we have extra cords & cables that need to be easily accessible. These little adhesive CableDrops (also from Bluelounge — they should just hire me to be their spokesperson, haha!) were just the right thing!
Tips:
- As with any adhesive product, be careful if you are applying them to any delicate surfaces.
- If you decide to take them off, you may want to use Goo Gone.
- Sandra over at Simple is Pretty just wrote this great little Goo Gone tutorial.
I drilled a little hole in the back of the cabinet so that the wires could reach the wall outlet, and used a cabinet shelf to create a space for my CableBox to rest (you guys know how much I love creating extra space with cabinet shelves!). Our temperamental DVD player is nestled safely underneath with plenty of ventilation & nicely protected from any temptation to place items on top (it’s awkward to reach under there & set things on it, preventing us from using it as a lazy stashing space!).
Oh, and the binder on the top shelf? That’s our easy-as-pie space-saving solution for DVD storage! Go ahead, check out that project — there’s more to it than meets the eye!
Badda Bing, Badda Boom: my super simple, space-saving, cheapo DIY tv cabinet organization is complete! It’s not perfect, but I think it’s about as chic and clutter-free as a $20 Craigslist cabinet can get!
What are YOUR favorite DIY organizing tips and storage hacks? Leave a little comment — I love hearing from you!
P.S. I’m sharing this project at The Scoop & The House of Smiths!
Great post, as always I love your pictures!!
Thanks, Sandra!