Recycle a Cupboard Door into a Charging Station
With all the mobile devices we have in the house we really needed to find a way to organized all those cables and keep our counter tidy and free of charging clutter. Fortunately we had two old kitchen cupboard doors lying around in the garage just begging for an up cycle.
We grabbed one of the doors, some chicken wire and wire hangers and we were ready for some serious recycling action. The first thing we did was remove the hinges and make that kitchen cupboard pretty.
We gave the cupboard door a good wipe and made a reverse decal using this image from the Graphics Fairy and printed it on some DC fix. We cut the decal and then slapped it on and sprayed the door using Rustoleum’s Satin Heirloom White General Purpose spray paint. You can get the full tutorial on how we made our own decal here – it was really easy.
Making the Wire Basket
Once the door was all pretty we made a wire basket using the chicken wire and hangers, which we cut and straightened.
We bent two of the hangers around a square pallet block to form a basic frame for the wire basket.
We had to strip our hangers because they were coated in this plastic stuff that prevents them from rusting.
To make the actual basket we used the wire frames as a template and cut the chicken wire as shown below. You need really sharp wire cutters and gloves are a must. Chicken wire hurts and tends to snag on everything. When cutting the chicken wire make sure to leave a little bit of extra wire on the sides.
Once the wire had been cut we inserted one of the cut hangers in “what will become the bottom of the basket” and folded each side over making sure that all the sides were reasonably straight. Using the chicken wire as a “grid” I counted up five and a half eyes (I don’t have any idea what to call the holes but I figured if it has anything to do with chickens then there must be eyes involved) and inserted the second cut hanger.
Using blunt nose pliers I joined the sides by weaving the extra bits together and cutting off any sharp edges. I did the same with the wire to connect the top frame.
We used one of our kindles to measure how wide the basket should be and added 7 cm for luck and then cut off any extra bits.
To attached the basket we simply marked where the basket should go and drilled four holes into the cupboard door. We pushed the frame of the basket through the door and bent the wires at the back.
I added one extra bit of wire at the top to make the basket a little more stable and then we inserted the charging cables. Whoo, whoo they fit 🙂
To hang the charging station I used one of the hinges that we’d removed earlier and some twine.
Ta da………. No more messy, tangled counter tops, well except for the extra bits you see in the photo. Come on I had to make it look artistic and fit for a magazine layout 😀
Seriously though, I rather like our new charging station. Quick, easy and I only have three stab wounds from the chicken wire. I would love to know what you think.
This turned out really cool – can’t wait to try it!!! Where is your electrical outlet for charging power? In the last pic what is the odd shaped black thing in the basket?
Oh dear me, the pictures aren’t that clear, so sorry. The black thing(s) are the phones and my kindle. The outlet is one of those USB wall plugs and it’s behind the charging station. Hope that helps
I like it very much and I ‘ll try to make one.
Thanks so much Rena ?
What a cool looking charging station! Love the way you painted the board, and the graphic. Perfect choice for the charging station. I really like the basket, very clever. I may have to give that a try, I do have chicken wire. One more for my list, LOL.
Thank you my friend, I really appreciate that
I absolutely love it, what a fantastic idea!!! Going to try and make one as well
Whoop, whoop, stunning. I still have one cupboard door if you need a starting point 🙂
All I can say is AWESOME…I love this charging station!!! I thought I was the only person without a Cricut or Silhouette machine…lol!!! So cool..thanks!!!
They’re so expensive, I really wish I could afford one.
What a great repurpose of some old boards Michelle. I love this idea it is so rustic and the chicken wire is “all the money” as we greeks say. Of course what makes it perfect is the stencil!
Thank you Mary 🙂
It looks so cool. Really like how you used one of the hinges to hang it up. Pretty inventive and really nice repurposing or upcycling (I never know what the difference is 🙁 )
Lol, I don’t either. Thank you for coming to say hi Anon 🙂
Michelle, this charging station is very cool! I like how you were able to make your own wire basket. The photo looks great! 😉
Thanks Keri 🙂 That basket attacked me every chance it got but I’m glad to say I finally got it under control and the charging station has made such a difference to our counter space. Now I have more space for other clutter, lol!!
Beautiful transformation of a boring old door into a charging station and thanks for the tips on how to make a stencil. I really needed that.
Glad you like it and the reverse stencil tips 🙂 Wishing you many happy hours painting over your own custom decals <3 Share some pics please, I'd love to see what you've done.
Thank you for the old telephone graphic Graphics Fairy 😀 it was perfect for the recycle and all the beautiful fonts you share. You ROCK!!!!!