DIY Desktop Outlet

The better half and I both have a thing for hidden cords in out office area. I am sure most like the look of a clean work area. Rerunning and taking out the charger cord for the laptop was getting old. A Solution to this issue was needed ASAP.

I was surfing the net when I found a solution to our work area OCD issue. Here are the easy steps I took to get this set up:

    I began by centering up the outlet and tracing around it to make a perfect template. Our desk is another DIY project from months ago, link. I cut the flooring that we have covering the desk to give easy lines to follow with the skill saw. Also, this will prevent the saw from making any rough edges on the flooring. I then cut a large hole in the remaining board of the desk. This gives plenty of room to move the saw around and get the remaining wood cut away.

 

I then cut a piece of wood, a one by six that I cut four inches, to serve as support to the outlet. Getting the wood attached to the outlet box is very important. I put two screws through the box to attach it to the piece of wood. That piece will be then mounted to the bottom of the desk. I drilled pilot holes to ensure the desktop doesn't break while mounting the box to the bottom to the desktop. I lined the wood and box up under the desktop and attached.

 

 

Now for the fun part. I ran the new cord behind the desk, hopefully for the last time ever because it is not an easy task. Make sure to leave the plug end not pugged in while wiring the outlet. I almost looked past this, would have been a shocking discovery. Cut the outlet end of the cord and run it through the box. Then strip it down and wire tot he two sides of the outlet. If you have any questions about wiring an outlet up, any old guy at the hardware store will be able to explain it no problem.

 

 

All that is left now is just mount the outlet down and put the cover on. We hid the cord on the wall with just a few 3M hooks.