I’m a teensy bit OCD.
Whenever I see loose cords my right eye starts twitching. And loose cords seem to multiply while I sleep. The situation in the living room finally reached mission level critical when I could no longer watch TV comfortably because this pile of futuristic whositz and whatsitz wouldn’t stop staring at me:
The solution to most problems can be found at IKEA so I scooted over for a KASSETT box in a neutral color.
Here comes the tricky part. I made a slit down the back side with a box cutter and cut a little opening at the bottom for cords to rest in. Then I just slid the cords down the slit and put all that nonsense into the box.
A floor cushion I picked up in Istanbul covered the coiled TV cord thing (technical term) and hid the rest of the ugly. MAGIC!
Easy peasy! Now you do it!
DISCLAIMER:
If I learned anything from spending my formative years watching Rescue 911 it’s that EVERYTHING is dangerous. However, in my effort to grow as a person and be more reasonable about risk-taking, I’ve decided that putting a modem and wireless router in a drafty, handmade, thin cardboard box is a-ok with me. Full disclosure? I did this project 3 months ago and never got around to posting about it until now. I check it regularly and it has never been hot. In fact, when I used to have these items in our credenza they were always hot, so their current home is much cooler. That said, I don’t want anyone to freak out or, worse, burn their house down by putting 40 plugs in a box (use your best judgement here, people), so you can always leave the lid off the box unless you have company over. OR! Cut the whole back part off the box. See? Problem solving! No worries.
Apartment Envy 
Great fix! Looks MUCH better.
We did something similar (with those boxes, but in green) in our last place. Luckily our current entertainment center is a dresser turned entertainment center, so the cords are hidden behind the solid back! Oh and I painted the inside of the drawers turned shelves dark grey to camouflage the cords that are still in there!
Oh and I think it’s called a coiled TV cord thingie, technically. :)
Sarah
Great idea, Sarah! You’re so very clever :D
Mildly concerned about over-heating and a potential fire hazard with the solution. Might suggest considering putting a few strategically placed holes along the backside of the box, to help it ventilate.
Or perhaps my father being a firefighter just made me overly cautious.
I just updated the post with some extra helpful info on this project to ease your mind and prevent people from burning their houses down ;)
I totes lolzed at your spelling of “totes lolz”.
Lolz
Now that’s the best and probably the cheapest way I’ve seen to corral all those cords.
Hooray! Thank you!
Too funny, I had the same idea a few weeks ago. I had all those computer and peripheral cords on top of my desk, so I used a similar box, but just turned it upside down over the chords and put the lid on the bottom. Looks so much better!