A little while ago I showed you the new desk in our office (the building plans at here)
Well we didn’t really ever get around to showing you how we decided to corral out cords. First when we weren’t sure what to do with them we did this with a little bill box, we just cut the back side and put the cords in through that slit.
When the lids were on you couldn’t tell they were even there. But I wanted to clean off the desk top, so I got to searching for ideas…
There are a ton of great ideas from Pinterest (I would love it if you follow me) like these:
The first image is a pvc pipe that have been painted and screwed to the back of the desk! (Lifehacker)
The second picture is rain gutters just under the desk (Apartment Therapy) genius!
I love how they used binder clips on the side of their desk. such a great non permanent solution. (Sources: Image 1 and Image 2)
The picture we loved the most was this:
Ya gotta hand it to Martha, she (and –ahem- her team) have SUCH great organizing ideas.
(The link was to the main page of a blog, sorry, so here it is on Pinterest)
Okay so here is what we did we purchased a drawer organizer from target, and dug into our nail supply for some screw in hooks:
Then with the help of two little girls, Justin marked the place to hang the organizer.
( I love how Lydia’s pants were all bunched up from crawling around)
Because the wood was too hard to just screw the hooks in Justin predrilled some pilot holes.
Then just install (by hand cranking the little hooks in place! It is sort of neck breaking…) Make sure all the hooks open up to the same direction so you can hook on the basket.
I wanted the cord to go through the corner of the basket, so I just clipped off on of the metal rods in the corner closest to the plug and fed the plug through. Plug all your plugs in, gather the excess and tie with twist ties…
There you have it, nice and clean cords!
Now that I have the cords controlled, I think I need to label them. I love these ideas, which one do you like?
File folder labels:
I do this with charging cords, only with masking tape or my label printer… and write what they charge. (Real Simple)
These look nice too! (Martha Stewart)
I love reusing bag ties idea… (Apartment Therapy)
What simple projects have you been working on lately?
I totally need to do some kind of organizing system for my cords. My boyfriend says to me daily, “Shannon, you’re going to burn this house down with this rats nest!”
What a great idea! I pin this idea so I can do the same. Thanks for sharing!
I really need to do this behind our desk. Thanks for your idea and all the others as well. I like the bag tie idea.
Here is something I recently did to contain my mess.
Similar to the basket approach just a bit more home brewed. You have to go into the album about 20pics or so.
http://imgur.com/a/qIoPf#0
Love the site BTW.
Chris
looks great I just checked it out!
Very clever and simple. I love it!
Looks great! I like the idea of reusing the plastic bread ties to mark the cords. Great reuse idea! Thanks for sharing.
Now this is the best idea I have seen out there! Thankyou so much for offering this one to us. I plan to do this the weekend.
I love all these ideas especially the bread tag idea.
Thanks for sharing.
Traci
Clever idea! I’ll copy it!
This is a great idea! I’ve been trying to figure out how to hide them, without making them difficult to get to! This is perfect!
I loved your idea and excitedly showed my daughter, who is rebuilding her house after loosing it in last spring’s tornadoes. She said that she just stuck a strip of commercial strength Velcro (self-adhesive) to the back of her power strip and stuck it up under her desk. No need to buy supplies, no work, and it pops right off when she needs to access it up close, then reattaches in a heartbeat. Couldn’t be easier to replace when it gets old. I was stunned. Sometimes we make things so much harder than they need to be! Myself, I’m still vacuuming around them – never thought of getting them up! LOL Oh and by the way, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the wonderful post on picking a color scheme for your entire house! Oh why didn’t you post it months ago as we agonized about her house! Sadly, it’s all done for now, but we’ll be much better informed in the future!
I am SO GLAD you posted this! So many great ways to keep organized!!! I have an ugly power strip in plain view and I hate it but this is defiantly something I will be doing this weekend!!! I’m your newest follower 🙂 Thanks for sharing all your organizing finds! Have a great week.
Stay crafty x0x0
Jess
{www.CraftyNonsenseNoted.com}
Awesome, I love it!
Anna
http://www.askannamoseley.com
These are such a great ideas! I would love for you to link up at my Link Party via: http://www.ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com
Mrs. Delightful
http://www.ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com
Great idea 🙂
Wow I love all these ideas! I am going to do this too! Glad I found this post at Let Birds Fly. 🙂
What a fantastic idea! Our lil miss 11 month old has just started trying to get into EVERYTHING! I’ll have to do this one for sure! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Love the basket idea! Oh I am so pinning this. It also keeps those cords away from roaming toddlers. Like it. Thank you for the idea!
Labelling cords: I avoid using anything sticky on cords -ever- at all costs. Eventually the labels need to come off or start to fall off or *something*. And getting rod of that sticky residue and any dirt that has adhered to it is just not pleasant. Love either of the other two ideas!
LOVE your ‘recycling’ organization ideas! For the creative designer in me, going to also create patterned colored avery labels for the binder clip base (smile).. gotta have some color in your life also!
Thanks Cynthia!
Brilliant idea – and very timely – the mess behind my desk is driving me insane
Thanks so much for sharing!
Visiting from Remodelaholic!
Happy Valentine’s day 🙂
EVEN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS – THE IDEAS PRESENTED HERE ARE SPECTACULAR!
YOU ARE THE BOMB (and I don’t mean the stink bomb).
Wow! I’m so impressed with this article and your site. Thanks for using so many pictures, even the same pic- just different close ups or angles. So helpful! Thank you!