Dilemma - the dreaded cable box

Ugh. So ugly. I had great intentions after re-finishing this old dresser. Visions of book stacks with a picture frame or two, some milk glass, etc. danced in my head. Much to my dismay, Mr. Tote insisted on getting digital cable in our bedroom. And my lovely dresser is where Mr. Comcast Guy decided to put the huge, ugly cable box. Oh, and he did it at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, but that’s beside the point (not really… I was dead asleep when the knock at the door came). I was so sad for a month, looking at the ugly cable box and DVD player.


But then, the light bulb went on in my creative little brain. So I pitched my ingenious idea to Mr. Tote. Why not hide the cable box inside the top drawer of the dresser!?!?

Here’s how we did it.

1. Remove the drawer and bang off the sides and bottom of the drawer, leaving just the face.

2. Remove the drawer slide, if any, from the bottom of the opening in the dresser where the drawer used to be.

3. Using two Friction Lid Supports (can be found at Lowe’s), screw the supports to the inside edges of the dresser and onto the back side of the drawer. This creates a hinge effect without an external hinge showing on the front of the dresser. This took a bit of finagling to shimmy it back into the correct place.

4. Attach a magnetic closure/stop to the inside “roof” of the dresser and the other part onto the drawer. This provides extra support when the drawer is closed.

5. Drill a hole in the back of the back of the dresser, where the top drawer used to be, with a 1” wood paddle bit.

6. Place the electronics inside the drawer hole and feed the power cords through the hole in the back of the dresser.

7. Voila!! Bye bye, cable box. Now, Mr. Tote just has to put those wires in the wall. And I'm off to get that milk glass vase I’ve been eyeing at Goodwill.

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