This was the sneak peek I gave you of the cord mess going on under my desk:
Well it wasn't nearly accurate enough. It's actually more like this.
That black thing in the right there is my laptop, perched on a little footstool. And if I shove it out of the way for a bit, this is what I'm left with. Mess mess mess mess!
So I decided that I wanted to get all of that junk off the ground and...not mount it on the wall, but under the desk. So I took that poor overworked power board...
And cut a little piece of paper to the same size as it. Then, I marked on that piece of paper where the two screw holes in the back of the board sit.
But before using my little paper template, I first tried holding up the power board in its spot under the desk. And with the prongs facing up the right way, the cord was on the wrong side! I didn't want the cord running down my pretty little turned desk leg.
So I decided to hang it upside down and see what happened. I held up my little piece of template paper under the desk and popped in some screws in line with the holes I'd marked...
And put in the power board.
And then I tried my first plug in the board (and tied up all of the extra cable with a freezer bag tie). That worked ok, but the second plug was too much. Because I'd hung the board upside down, the screws couldn't slot into the little narrow section of the holes on the back of the board, so it simply fell off the screws with the weight of the extra plugs hanging off it.
I cursed myself for not having just paid attention to the little voice in my head that had first known that hanging the power board upside down wasn't going to work. I searched the rest of the house for power boards that might be oriented the other way so that the cord would face the wall, and all we had were the same style of board. So I called it a night.
A trip to Bunnings later, and I had a righty instead of a lefty for a grand total of $10 (with child safety protection cover thingies as well, yay)!
And phase two of Cable Wrangling Part 2 began. I repeated the paper templating process...
And held it up against the underside of the desk.
And then slotted the board in place. Right way up works well, go figure!
Adding in the plugs makes it look slightly less neat...
But this is the important part... I could still afford to pin the cable neatly along the skirting board and up the wall to tidy it up more, but it's still a dramatic improvement!
I wasn't quite finished yet, though. Don't forget my laptop on its little stool! I had grand ideas to make it a little under-desk shelf of its own. this was the spot.
I found these metal brackets at Bunnings...
And scavenged a white melamine shelf from the shed. No idea where it came from. Much contorting under the desk with my drill and a packet of screws later...
You can just see my laptop peeking out from its little spot there.
So now... I am so proud to announce that this is what the underneath of my desk looks like. Improvement or what?
I do have some concerns about whether the laptop has enough space around it to not overheat on its little shelf, so I might consider switching the melamine board out for something that allows some more airflow through. I'll keep my eyes peeled for the right option.
In the meantime, Allie is very much enjoying her much clearer space while I work each day!
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