Wednesday, June 20, 2012

unsightly cables - how dare you?

After Albert's miraculous installation of the bedroom TV that allows us to see the living room cable DVR in the remodeled bedroom (See Part 1 and Part 2), we were left with a nasty cable problem.

Boxee and cables
Boxee and Cables

Boo. Come to think of it, cable messes are pretty common place in our house. We have the usual 2-5 cell phones, 3-4 laptops, 2-3 ipads, a tower, a few servers, and who knows how many wireless connections. That is pretty normal, right?



When I was out buying new hampers (due to remodeled bathrooms and master bedroom) at The Container Store, I spotted something really interesting.

BlueLounge Cable Box
BlueLounge CableBox
What have we here? An over priced box ($29.95) designed specifically to store a power strip and all the plugs and wires? Count me in.

BlueLounge CableBox
BlueLounge CableBox Installed

Now I had a new problem. Although my cables were less unsightly, I still had the unsightly box. I started looking for pieces of furniture to put on top of it. I searched for "modern bench" on Google and came up with this classic little mid-century gem:
Nelson Platform Bench
Nelson Platform Bench @ HermanMiller.com
At $849, it was just a tiny bit steep. So I searched for "Nelson Platform Bench" and discovered kock-offs for like $240 or so. The Amazon comments indicated the finish was poor, but over all does the trick and fools the eye fairly well. I ordered one immediately, very anxious to take care of this latest stumbling block to decorator perfection. When the bench came, it had been packaged so poorly that a huge noticeable ding had been taken out of one corner by Parcel Post.

Amazon Knock-Off Nelson Platform Bench
Amazon knock-off Nelson Platform Bench

Amazon has an incredible return policy and procedure. You simply print out a parcel post return slip and Parcel Post is scheduled to come back and get the offending item, at no cost and no hassle to you. I am now stalking "modern benches" on eBay and CraigsList. Let me know if you find anything. Meanwhile, I am busy hiding the rest of our cords.

Before unsightly cords
Before unsightly cords in the master
clearly visible from the entry hallway

BlueLounge CableBox Mini
Cord problem be gone!!! 

The above and below is of the BlueLounge CableBox Mini which includes a mini powerstrip as well. Also $29.95.

cords
And more unsightly cords under
Alex's desk

BlueLounge CableBox Mini
BlueLounge CableBox Mini - Cords be gone!

What is not to love about a cable management solution? How do you solve your cable problems?

Related posts: Phone charging Challenges Be Gone!


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