With our technology collection growing it is becoming harder and harder to convince the boys there was a life before “electronics”.  Determined to reign in some control of screen time I decided to centralize all the electronics in the house.  Of course, it had to have some flair – so after months of searching, I found the perfect desk to house it all.  With a little bit of elbow grease & imagination, I have the perfect electronic storage unit for all our gadgets.   Now all I have to do is pat the boys down each night so they can get a good night sleep & the electronics can recharge as well.

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The best part of about our internet world is that it is so much easier to search for things you never knew you needed.  While I hate when I find myself wasting time scrolling through Facebook garage sale sites, I can rationalize it just a bit when I find my diamond in the rough.  The timing was just right, I was the first one to claim it and the proud owner of a small secretary desk for less than twenty bucks.  Only problem: it is was ugly.

So I moved from scrolling Facebook to scrolling Pinterest.  So many idea and crafts, so little time.  I found what I was looking for – an easy, without too much additional supplies – distressed look for my future electronics storage desk.

Operation: Distress the Desk

Super simple, this is really all you need to know:

• Remove all hardware
• Drill a hole in the back for power strip cords to be housed wherever is most convenient based on the desk you choose.
• Sand and prime the whole thing.
• Pick a fun color & layer on 1-2 coats.
• Stock up on some old rags, latex gloves … you’re going to need them
• Pick a stain color (I prefer black, but any color stain will do)
• Working in sections using a foam stain brush wipe on the stain over a small area and immediately wipe it off with a clean rag.
• Let it dry.  Replace all hardware.
• Voila – distressed look accomplished.

Organized Electronics

More time consuming then the actual desk destressing was rounding up all the electronics.  They were everywhere.  Drawers, closets, nightstands.  We have cords that we don’t even use anymore (found my Palm Pilot cord) and more earbuds then can count.  It took some time and quite a bit of motivation.  This weekend the stragglers were rounded up, extinct versions of our iPods and iPhones were charged for the last time, wiped and placed in the electronics recycle box and the rest found new homes in the empty drawers of the desk.

While many of us have moved away from the traditional alarm clock, we thought it was important to expose the boys to life before iPhone alarms to get out of bed.  You can’t start scrolling on an analog alarm clock.  We picked a sunrise alarm clock from Amazon, not only does it have the option to awaken them softly by increasing the lighting in the room & slowly increasing the music volume.  While we can’t prevent them from using their iPhones as alarm clocks in college, for the next 2-4-6 years we can at least help form new habits.