Stowaway cable and router storage boxes

Alex finally had enough of ugly cables snaking under his new LCD TV and decided to put them in place, in a box.

He says, "A Mac Mini, Nintendo Wii, PS3, external hard drives, a router and a 5.1. surround system meant a lot of cables. So I decided to 'pimp' 2 Ikea Emu belonging to my girlfriend with my Dremel.

Materials needed:
1 Dremel 3000
2 Ikea Emu
3 power strips
some zip ties

1. In the larger Emu I cut a little rectangle in the front for reaching the main on-off switch with the lid still closed. So after watching TV, DVD or playing PS 3 I can easily shut off all media units (red switch). No 'stand-by' all night and day. Saves me a lot of money due to no unnecessary energy consumption!

 

 

2. I cut a rectangle hole at the backs of each Emu for cable routing from the back.

3. The only 'always-on' unit is my router due to VOIP and WLAN for my notebook in another room.

In the smaller router Emu I also cut a little square in the lid so that the antenna is can work properly.

4. To help the boxes glide smoothly I glued some felt-gliders under each corner of the Emu.