This one is a pretty simple and “obvious” hack. Last week Cool Tools posted a link to a simple and very ingenous device for holding those extra cords behind your desk, the Keep-a-Cable cord organizer.

While I could have just bought a pack for $5 and be done with it (and I encourage you to do so if you’re so inclined rather than rather blatantly ripping off their idea like I did), I’m just not that kind of guy. I can’t look at a flat 5-cent piece of stamped plastic and not want to make my own.

So I did. Details below the fold.

I used a lid from a plastic Sterilite storage box I had repurposed for something else. In reality you could probably make it out of a discarded milk jug or any similar source of flat plastic, but I liked the thicker plastic of the lid.

Using a ruler and a circular lid from a spice jar, I sketched out a series of half-circles with a rectangular mounting strip about an inch wide. Then I cut it out.

Then (rather crudely if you look at the pictures) I used a drill to hack out some wire-sized holes in the semi-circles and cut through to make a slot.

I used some inch-side double-stick tape to stick it to the underside of my desk. The final result turned out quite well. I hung a couple of MacBook power supply cables (yes I’ve had up to 3 Apple laptops on my desk at a time) and some Cat-6 Ethernet cables back there, and I still have a couple of spots left over. You can’t see the strip from the front side of the desk, and it hides the cables nicely.

See, told you it was easy.

Update: As suggested by some commenters, I ended up securing it to the underside of my desk with three small half-inch screws. The tape really wasn’t holding up as well as I’d hoped.

If so, pick up a can of this stuff. “Wind Jammer” removable caulk. Its made by the same company as Loctite, and I found it at Home Depot. Comes in a convenient can so you don’t even need a caulking gun (because you live in an apartment and unlike me you probably don’t have one). Caulk up your windows in the winter so they’re not drafty, and peel it off in the spring. Your building manager will never be the wiser, and you’ll be much happier.

I’ve had it on my windows for the past month or so and my apartment is toasty warm now. I definitely recommend it. And I’m not being paid to say this (yet).

Tonight I figured out that they make an excellent reusable “ice cube” for whiskeys and scotches. Unlike normal cubes, they don’t water down your drink when they melt.

A friend of mine spent a good amount of money for a similar (but more elegant) solution for her father, involving cubes of granite that one would freeze and then put in their glasses of expensive scotch.

About a two years ago, I moved into my first post-college apartment with my friend Eli. One of our first steps was to hit up IKEA to pick up furniture, given the fact that we were, A.) Cheap and B.) Cheap.

We took a bunch of measurements and headed off to the store with our tape measures and our credit cards in hand. Little did we know that we’d be struck with the spirit of Martha Stewart herself and end up devising the perfect interior decorating plan.

Eli and I, being of a similarly cheap nature, both owned identical IKEA couches, the Lillberg, if I remember correctly. We also figured out that the Norrebo bookshelf unit was approximately as wide as the windows on the two windows on either side of the corner of our apartment. And “two shelves high” was as high as the higher of the windows. We also discovered a corner TV unit (I believe it was from the “Lack” line but I can’t find it now) was just about the right height and of a matching color to both the Norrebo and the Lillberg units we already had. So we formulated a plan.

1. Build up a two shelve high bookcase unit against the wall with the taller window.
2. Put the corner TV unit (obviously) in the corner
3. Use the remaining third shelve of our Norrebo package to build a window seat against the other window.

But the true genius was realized when we discovered that the remaining cushions for our second (my) Lillberg couch were exactly the proper width and height to put on top of our new window seat.

The results were impressive. Even Eli’s (now-ex) interior designer girlfriend was very satisfied with the results.

Not bad, eh? All it took was a few extra random nuts and bolts scavenged from my toolbox and a little bit of extra time.

Update: There seems to be as much interest in the view from my old apartment as in the actual “hack”. The location is on Alki Ave SW in West Seattle, right at the east end of Alki Beach.

View Larger Map

The body of water you see is southern Puget Sound, and the mountains in the distance are the Olympic Range.

I have more pictures from my time on Alki up in my Flickr photostream.

Updated Update: FYI… As the weather gets hotter and more humid here in Seattle, my board has started to noticeably warp and it doesn’t lean nicely on my wall anymore. This obviously won’t be a problem if you mount the board directly to the wall, but if you want a freestanding board like me, you may want to look into using a stiffer backing board such as real plywood or OSB, or build a stiffer frame. I’m going to look at building a frame out of 1″x1″ on the back of the board to stiffen it up.

Update: Welcome, Makers! Hopefully this time I can keep my site from crashing too much.

Disclaimer: I can’t claim to have come up with this myself. I was actually inspired by a post in Cool Tools, an excellent blog full of excellent ideas like this. But I think its a cool project anyway, so I thought I’d write it up.

I’ll admit it, I’m a geek, and a very visually-oriented geek at that. I like to draw big pictures and lists and doodle. At work, I’m fortunate enough to be constantly surrounded by whiteboards. At home, I’m not so lucky.

Unfortunately, big whiteboards are expensive. A quick Google Products search finds plenty of 3′x4′ whiteboards selling for hundreds of dollars. Even a smaller whiteboard at Office Max will run you at least $30.

Fortunately, the same material that they make most commercial whiteboards out of is available at most big-box lumber stores like Home Depot for less than $15. “Showerboard”, which is basically cheap plywood with a waterproof white plastic coating on one side. Its the same stuff that they make cheap showers out of - four walls of showerboard plus a cheap plastic base makes a decent stall. It also makes a great whiteboard.

More details after the jump.

Step 1: Procure Your Supplies

Everything you need for this (except whiteboard markers, etc) can be found at your local big-box. Scout out the paneling section of the store, usually near the back, where you’ll find the tacky wood paneling that was in every finished basement when you were growing up. Look for the showerboard, also called “tile board” or other similar names, in big 4′x8′ sheets. I think my sheet cost $11.

While you’re at it, also pick up a matching 4′x8′ sheet of luan plywood. It’ll be the cheapest plywood you can find, usually around $8-$15 per sheet. They were out of the cheapest stuff, so I paid about $14.

You may want to cut your whiteboard down to a smaller size. I cut mine down by about 18″ because I planned to orient it vertically, and I didn’t need an 8′ tall whiteboard. You may want to cut it into smaller boards, funny shapes, whatever. Just make sure the luan and the showerboard are the same size and shape.

Also pick up a tube of Liquid Nails. I picked “Liquid Nails for Paneling”. Supposedly it’s designed just for paneling, so I figured it would be perfect for this project. If you don’t already have a caulk gun, you’ll want one of those too.

I also picked up some stick on felt pads so the board wouldn’t scratch the floor. You might want to pick up wall anchors or hanging stuff, depending on how you want to mount your board.

Step 2: Glue

This step is pretty easy. Pierce the Liquid Nails and load it into your caulk gun. Apply the liquid nails liberally to the back of the showerboard. The Liquid Nails only has a 10 minute work time, so work quick.

Avoid the edges so it doesn’t ooze out too much. Liquid Nails is easy to clean up before it hardens, but then it gets really difficult.

Step 3: Laminate

Match up the edges of the luan with the showerboard, and lay it on top. Be careful and try to get it right the first time, because you don’t have long to work with the Liquid Nails before it hardens.

Then weigh it down with random stuff to compress the layers. I used random stuff I found around my apartment.

Yes, that’s my wine collection and my dining room furniture.

Let it cure for at least a few hours, preferably overnight.

Step 4: Enjoy!

After leaving it out overnight, you’re ready to go. Mount your board as you see fit, and start drawing.

I just leaned mine up against the wall. If you’re fancy, you might want to wall mount it or hang it somehow.

My grand total was $28. Numerous improvements could be made, including a wood frame to stiffen it, or a nicer way of hanging it on the wall. But I’ve been using it like this for about a month and I’ve been very happy with it so far.

I’ve recently been building out my home theater system. One thing that’s always difficult, especially in an apartment without a dedicated TV or home theater room, is where to place your speakers.

Traditionally you’ll wall-mount them or put them on speaker stands. But wall mounting isn’t a good option for me, since all the “good walls” are too far away or obscured by doors or bookshelves. And stands are out, because they’re prohibitively expensive ($40-100 each) and generally too short to stick up above the back of my couch. Plus I have an overactive cat who gets her thrills by bouncing off of and knocking over things, so normal speaker stands generally aren’t stable enough to withstand her abuse.

So I decided to build my own. What, I thought, is:

• Tall
• Black
• Stable
• And most importantly… cheap?

The answer came in the form of a pair of Walmart “torchiere lamps”, those tall, wide-based lamps that are pretty much ubiquitous in everybody’s first apartment. The results were quite impressive, given the materials I started with.

Read on for more details…

Step 1: Acquire Parts

I attempted to scour Craigslist for second-hand torch lamps, thinking I could pick them up for free or near-free, but I never managed to find them for less than $10 each and I never managed to find a matching pair. So I broke down and bought a pair new for $13 each at Walmart. I’m cheap, but I’m not that cheap.

You’ll also, obviously, need speakers and whatever parts you need to attach said speakers to your speaker stands. My speakers hang off of a screw in a keyway, so I just used some sheet metal screws I had laying around.

Of course you’ll also need about two beers.

Step 2: Temporarily assemble and measure

Go ahead and cut the lamp cord and remove it from the pole segments and base, since you won’t be needing it. If you’re cool you’ll save the lamp and make a chandelier or something out of it. I’m not that cool.

Temporarily screw together enough of the segments and the base to get something approximately the height of your final speaker stand. Have your nice and very understanding girlfriend hold the speaker for you at the right height so you can mark where the top of the speaker will be.

Step 3: Cut your stands to length

If you’re lucky (or lazy), your speakers will line up with one of the existing lamp post segments and you won’t have to cut it. But, if you’re like me, you’ll need to hack-saw off one of the segments to make the whole assembly the right height.

Draw a line to cut on around the circumference of the segment to be cut. There are fancy ways of doing this but the simplest way is to just wrap a stiff piece of card stock around the pole and use that as a straight edge. Yes I used a mailing from the Pacific Northwest Ballet. And I’m OK with that.

You’ll want to use a miter box otherwise your cuts will come out crappy like mine.

Step 4: Install your “speaker mount”

This will largely depend on what kind of speakers you have. Mine have a simple keyway, so I just measured down the appropriate distance from the top of my cut segment, drilled a pilot hole, and drove in my machine screw partway.

Step 5: Cut exit hole for your speaker wire

You’ll want to find a good point on your post to create an exit hole for your speaker wire. I’m using somewhat large gauge speaker wire, and the terminals are about halfway down the speaker, so I created a large squareish hole approximately where the terminals line up on the pole.

I still don’t have a proper workshop, so I basically drilled 4 small pilot holes and then expanded them with a larger bit, so it’s messy and embarrassing. Don’t laugh. Fortunately the speaker covers it up pretty effectively.

Step 6: Run your speaker wire

Feed your speaker wire up through the holes in the base where the lamp cord used to run, then up through the post and out your new exit hole.

Step 7: Assemble and hang your speaker

Now screw together all of the pole segments you haven’t already assembled, connect your speaker, and hang it on your new speaker stand.

There you go. Perfectly serviceable, some would even say attractive, custom speaker stands, for only $26 a pair.