Bree here, from Home Zone Furniture.
The media center is so much more than a holding place for your electronics; it’s a gathering place for your family. Whether you’re watching a movie together or turning on music to play during dinner, the media center (wires and all) brings families together.
But while we can admit the media center is a household necessity, that doesn’t mean it can’t become an eyesore, with monitors, speakers, remotes and cables woven throughout. Take control of this jumbled scene with these simple tips.
Clean and sort
The first thing to do is jump into the thick of it. Disconnect the tangle of cords, disassemble all the parts and use a damp rag to wipe everything down. Electronics always seem to collect a good amount of dust, so might as well address this while you’re at it!
Once the pieces are clean, sort through everything media-related. Do you really need all of the cables you see? Are all of the speakers actually working? How about the DVD and video game collections—are all the disks being used and in good condition?
Organize
Once you’ve sorted and eliminated the under-used and useless items, you can graduate to organizing. Before you start putting things away in an orderly manner, assess the furniture situation. The media center alone might be working for your family’s needs, but you might need extra shelving, drawers or surface space for your media center to be truly functional.
After you have these components in place, you can begin putting things away. Give DVDs, CDs, video games, what have you, each their own drawer and then move on to the cables. Organizing cables is where things get tricky. Plug all of the cables into their end point (e.g., TV, router, etc.) and tie nearby ones together before everything becomes mixed up again. Shortening the cables to the desired length will also help keep things neat.
Prioritize
As you organize, it’s important to prioritize. If you use your iPod more than your CD collection, there’s no need to give your CDs a prime spot in the front drawer. Think through what your family uses most, and you’ll be surprised at how many electronic components you’ll be able to eliminate simply based on use. A well-organized and prioritized media center will also cut down on the amount of time your family has to spend searching for those elusive electronics on a daily basis.
Get crafty
Last but not least, there’s always a way to get crafty with home projects. If you’re still struggling with the cable dilemma, try clipping binder clips to the edge of a surface (hidden from view) to weave cables through on the way to their final plug-in destination. This way, if you have to unplug again for any reason, each cable will rest on a binder clip without falling into a cable abyss. Speaking of hidden from view, you can even conquer the remote control situation with a fun craft!
Here’s to pain-free movie nights!
Bree
