The post in which I conquer my fear of cords and electronics.

One of my biggest pet peeves in a room is cords. And it seems like they cannot be escaped. Take a look at what I have to deal with in our office:

Seriously, it looks like some electronic monster spit up a hairball. And as far from my limited technology understanding it is to grasp, we need every single one of these wired beauties. Believe me, I have tried to eliminate some. Rick has joined the cause by attempting to talk me into a wireless printer, but I just can't justify that kind of money in the name of eliminating a cord (especially since our current printer is still perfectly healthy). He's also lobbied for a laptop, but I can see past his "I-am-just-thinking-of-you-and-your-hatred-of-cords" argument and straight to his "I-am-a-man-and-I-love-all-things-that-have-buttons-and-screens" core.

While our above office cords are currently in the process of being wrangled (since our whole office is not yet complete), I thought I would share what we came up with when we were using a smaller table in our office as a desk. It's now being used as my craft table, but the cord-hiding element is still present. Can you guess what it is?

That's right: we took an old window (yes, it was, indeed, taken off the side of the road; how did you guess?), painted it the same color as the desk, and screwed it to the back of the desk.

Now, obviously we couldn't just leave the window the way it was, because all of the cords would still show through. That's when I thought of my good friend burlap: at only $3/yard (or less with a 40% off coupon at Joann's), it really can't be beat--and it's awesome at subtly hiding things while also adding some texture. So we hot glued a piece of light-colored burlap across the back of the window, waved our magic wands, said "Bibbiti bobbiti boo" three times while throwing salt over our shoulders (okay, I'm exaggerating a little) and suddenly, all of our cords disappeared!

I did the same thing with our media cabinet. The front has a glass door, which means that whole DVD player/Crash Bandicoot/Legally Blonde display inside was seriously disturbing the look of the rest of our living room, which I was trying so desperately to make cohesive and inviting. In the words of Elle Woods: "Whoever said tangerine was the new pink movies should be on display  is seriously disturbed."

Another piece of cheap-o burlap did the trick. (I tell you, that fabric is as infallible as the bend and snap. Not that I've ever tried it. The bend and snap, I mean.) Here's what our cabinet now looks like on the inside:

And it's newly disguised outside:

See why I love burlap? It has really helped get me through the 12-step process of therapy needed to get over my cord phobia.

How about you? Could anyone else out there be a part of  my virtual therapy group? What have you done to creatively conquer your cord and electronics fears?