DIY cell phone charging station {tutorial}

We were in desperate need of a cell phone charging station for our kitchen counter but everything I could find online or in stores was either expensive or ugly. I mean really ugly. Getting organized is top on my list at the moment and our kitchen counters needed some closed storage attention. We were fortunate enough to be able to keep most of the items provided by Target for our kitchen photo shoot with Woman’s Day so I decided to convert the bread box they provided into a DIY cell phone charging station.

A DIY bread box “cell phone” charging station.

The bread box was a typical bread box, there was no shelf.

Filled with a bunch of random stuff. Our kitchen counter is the drop zone for everything so this breadbox quickly became the closest item to store all of our random gadgets in.

I don’t know about you but our electronics and cell phones are constantly on our kitchen counter being charged and one day it hit me, the bread box! The bread box would be a perfect place to store these items out of sight. All that wasted space inside though, how could I make it more functional? Well, I decided to add a shelf. Why not right?

I used a 1/2″ drill bit to make two holes in the back of the bread box. Because the breadbox has a roll top, I chose to put holes in the very bottom of the bread box so when the bread box is open, the cell phone or ipad charging wires would not interfere with the roll top.

You can see, I drilled two holes above in the back side of the bread box.

Next you need to make your shelf. Measure each side and mark where you want to drill your holes. I used a 3/16″ drill bit and drilled two holes on the inside of the bread box. The bread box was not very thick so I drilled very slowly, just enough to make a deep enough hole for my support peg.  Do this on both sides, four total holes. I used four support pegs (placed in the holes) to support my 1/4″ piece of craft board (purchased at Michaels Crafts).

You can use any type of support peg or small shelf bracket. We just happened to have support pegs so that is what I used.

Put your pegs in the holes.

I cut my craft board to 14 1/2″ long and it fit perfectly inside the bread box.

Michaels Crafts sells all sorts of crafting board in various shapes and sizes.

Yes,  I put a shelf in a bread box. You should have seen the “eye rolling” coming from my dad when he saw me doing this.

Use a level to ensure that your shelf is straight.

Double check.

Now you have a shelf!

I decided to cut another piece of crafting board for the bottom. I wrapped both pieces of craft board in left over fabric that I had from last summers pillow project. A little hot glue and viola, pretty shelves!

The inside needs to be pretty right?

You can see how I fed the phone charger through the hole in the back of the bread box.

The back of the bread box.

This project took under one hour. I think most of the time was the setup and cleanup.

Now when I come home, I drop all my things inside the bread box. I used the top of jar cover to keep my keys and other small items in.

Kind of cute huh? It’s almost as if this bread box was made for the size of an ipad. It fits perfectly on the top shelf. The roll top door doesn’t even it touch it when it closes. Mission accomplished. Closed door pretty counter storage.

Once the door is closed, you can’t even see what is inside. Although, I like how it looks inside now. This bread box ironically is on clearance right now at Target so if you would like to create a stylish DIY cell phone charging station for your kitchen counter, now is the time to head to Target and purchase the bread box. You can create a DIY cell phone charging station out of just about anything. I’m sure if you stop and think about it, you probably have something in your own home you could drill a couple holes in and convert it to a cell phone or electronics charging station.

Follow us here to keep up with our daily projects and what life is like for us living with four generations under one roof.