Challenge #6 of 52 Weeks of Wonder

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Where’s my phone? Did you move my charger? I need a charging cord!

Looking at the kitchen counter I see a Chromebook, a Fitbit, and a dog collar for an invisible fence plugged in and taking up my counter space.

Charging cords and devices are taking over my house! They are on the kitchen counter, the family room floor, bedrooms, the basement, the car, they are everywhere!

Last summer I started this project, and in true Marnie form I put it up in my house without it being completely finished. Its initial use was positive but quickly turned into another place to set papers and store random items. As you know from my how to organize your drop zone tutorial, this can be a problem in my family. Consequently, the challenge is to finish up this charging station physically, determine it’s purpose, and create a habit of using it for the intended purpose. I used a process similar to the one I used when I minimized the drop zone.

Step 1: Determine the Purpose of a Charging Station

The purpose of my charging station will be to keep all electronics organized and have a place for their charging cords. This will not be a place for papers, newspapers, or dog bones!

Step 2: Determine the type charging station

There are so many creative charging stations on Pinterest. I was inspired by a few different types to get my creative juices going. If you don’t want a giant piece of furniture for a charging station you could consider checking these out.

Step 3: Determine the Type of Charging Station You Want

We were lucky enough to go shopping and stumble upon an old secretary desk. Looking at it I could easily envision phones, Chromebooks, Ipads, and laptops each having their own designated space. (Whoa…I think I see a blog post on evaluating our technology use in the future.) At the store 501 in Chaska, MN we loaded up this beauty of a desk and brought it home to give it some TLC.

Step 4: Sand Down the Desk

Power tool time! I used my husband’s orbital sander to sand down the main parts of the desk. I found this to be fun and I always feel a little powerful with a power tool. Then the horror came when I realized that I had to sand down each of the cubbies by hand! It was quite a bit of work but worth it in the end.

Step 5: Paint Desk

Finally, the sanding was done and it was time for the first coat of paint. I chose Rustoleum Charcoal Chalked Paint for my base paint. After allowing a day for it to dry I painted over it with Rustoleum Linen White Chalked Paint. When the desk was completely dry I sanded down sections of the desk to make it looked distressed.

Step 6: Fix Drawers and Cupboard Doors

Since this desk was in pretty rough shape we needed to fix up the cabinets and drawers. The two drawers on the left were not working well so we took them out and knocked out the board that separated them. I decided to replace it with a basket. We also had to clean up the cabinet door to the right. I ended up taking that one out and replacing it with a basket also. These proved to be good places for our camera and our headphones.

Step 7: Sort electronics

Now that the physical work was complete it was time to get busy organizing. This is where we enter the present time. I did the first 5 steps over a year ago. In my first post I explain some of the reasons I started the 52 Weeks of Wonder Challenge. One question I had for myself was, “What if this time I acted instead of getting stuck when it comes to taking action?” This charging station is an example of an idea that I had, got excited about, and never totally finished. I have had it 90% complete in my house for over a year! I have yet to experience how helpful a charging station can be because it was never completed. It became a place for holding paper, notebooks, old electronics, a laptop that doesn’t work, and a copier we don’t use.

Now it was time to sort and minimize. +I took everything out and sorted it into categories. The categories were very simple. Charging cords, computers, devices, and then items we don’t use anymore.

Step 8: Determine where Devices will go and Drill Holes

Now that I knew what was going into each slot I needed to drill holes that were the appropriate size for the cord. I also had to attach a power strip to the back in order to have all the devices plugged in.

Step 9: Charge devices and decorate!

I added the devices, put on a few decorative touches and hooray! My new charging station! Thank you challenge number 6 for forcing me to finish this!

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Do you have some goals you would like to work on or projects you would like to finish? Click here to get my Weekly Newsletter and a free copy of my Five Steps to Simplify Any Space to get you started.

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