Reader Renovation: Happy Husband

You've heard the expression: happy wife, happy life? Well, this reader and good friend, Sara, brainstormed and completed a little project to make a happy husband. What a great wife! But more importantly, a great project that I just had to share on... 

{Reader Renovations}

Every single time my husband walked through our living room to our front door, he shook his head and grumbled. They violated style, yes, they did, but even more than that, they violated order. Yet there they were: the cords, the cords, everywhere the cords. A tangled mess of wires and cables and cords of the phone, lamp, DSL, you-name-it-variety lay on the floor behind the desk that was ousted from the office to make room for a crib for the third bundle of joy. 

You know how you start to get used to something that used to bother you in your own home? Well, that didn't happen to my husband. While it kind of did to me, I decided to devise a plan to hide the cords and restore order to my home (or at least to the floor by the desk). I thought that if I somehow made a back to the open desk, the cords could be hidden and life could be neater. And my husband, happier.

First, like any good wife, I gave my husband a few jobs: measure the space behind the desk, buy plywood (the thinnest he could get), and cut it to the measurements. Meanwhile, I went to the local fabric store and searched for fabric to wrap around the plywood. Now, I must pause for a moment and say that I get TOTALLY overwhelmed at fabric stores. Like, I really need my mom next to me to tell me what to buy. Either that, or I need one of my kids with me as an excuse to leave the store empty-handed, because, well, I am too distracted to make a decision. However, since I didn't have my mom or my kids with me, I circled the upholstery section and forced myself to narrow it down to a couple fabrics, trying to decide if I wanted something that would stand out (a pattern perhaps? a complementary color?) or if I wanted something to blend in. In the end, I decided to go the blended route and chose a textured gold fabric (on sale too!). 

I ironed the fabric, grabbed the cut plywood and a heavy-duty stapler. I enlisted the help (supervision?) of my oldest child while the younger two napped and got to work. I basically wrapped the board like a present, stapling the middle of all four sides before doing the corners and edges so that it was even. I only covered one side since I knew the desk was always going to be against a wall.

Once the fabric was stapled to the board, my husband got a hammer and used brass brad nails and began pounding the board to the back of the desk. A few in each side worked out just fine. 

We were able to hide all of the cords behind the board, but one problem remained: the DSL modem and wifi router. The modem needed to be plugged into the phone jack located behind the desk, but because of obvious dimensions, it could not hide behind the board. I wanted to hide the modem/router in something, and after a shopping trip to Homegoods, I found a canvas box to do the trick.

And that’s where this story ends, with hidden cords and a happy husband. Life is good.

Thanks so much Sara for sharing this project. Such a great idea and one I might very well be taking on to hide all the TV cords in our living room.

Remember, I'm looking to feature at least one reader a month, so if you have a design dilemma or a project you're particularly proud of, please get in touch.

Until next time,