Ten years this thing has been in my head. But I could never figure out what it was supposed to be. For a while it was a modified bedside table. Then it was a standalone kind of pedestal. For about a year the idea was it should lean against the wall like farmhouse ladder blanket rack thingy (who knows?). Then it was hanging on the wall. Then I regressed back to some sort of locker. Then, one morning it started to really materialize into what I needed once I broke out of the templates my mind was locked onto.
But let me back up. So you’ve got a lot of devices to charge. We all do nowadays. Your work laptops, your personal notebook, phones, tablet, headset, game controller, hotspot, kid toys and about a half-dozen different one-offs. You need a place that you can plug in quite a few things, make them easy to grab, easy to put away, and frankly you don’t know what space you’ll need, so flexibility would be nice. So it’s a bit more complicated than just drilling a hole in your night stand and pulling a couple cables through. Even in the best case scenario you’re still digging around a mess in a drawer that now doesn’t even work as well dragging on cables. What about just leave it all on your desk? Sure unless you don’t have space for a desk where you often find yourself working.
So again this was about a piece of furniture that didn’t really exist but one that really should fit almost anywhere. I call it a device station. And yes I realize it’s not for everyone. But it works for me in a few ways. See I don’t want to bend down to a bottom shelf or really even open a drawer to put away and retrieve a device. I don’t want a new surface to get cluttered, if anything I want the lease possible footprint in a room. And I want it configurable in a few different ways.
Pictured below is a device station with sliding TV monitor. But instead another variation could be a full length mirror. How about one with a fold-down table for a standing desk. Another idea is I want to have a little hanging baskets or clips on a pegboard. Maybe I want to integrate some powerful devices, such as a proper uninterruptable power supply, or mini server, my home router. Or forget the extra technology. Intead keep it simple and just have it store a couple laptops and on the front are a dozen little plants and I can drag the entire unit over to window to give them sunlight.
This is my device station. I’ve just about figured out the way it will work. Minimal footprint. I think I’ll put it on some small casters. I discovered a sliding monitor rail so I can put the monitor on it lower or higher and turn the monitor vertical too. This current form of it is just mine. For my purposes I think it will be a sort of arcade machine, plus device charger, plus will have UPS. I’ve not figured out the shelf configuration yet but maybe it will even hold a couple books I’m in the mood for.
Remember I said ten years I’ve been thinking about this? Yes that’s how long I’ve had laptops in one of the main rooms I work and research from, (among other things like cameras, phones, tablets, hotspot, controllers) and no good way to wrangle them. So ten years of sub-optimal surface and cable clutter.
Design Theme
Until I build this, I can’t say for sure what the overall look will be. But I’m leaning initially to the wood and metal industrial look. I imagine black metal borders and stained wood or maybe even dry brushed wood in a color tone that matches the room it’s in. The other idea I almost didn’t share it is to do a graphic image wrap on it, so it could be video game graphics, or anime, or sports ball team. All these variations and themes I plan on rendering so people can get a full glimpse of this product.
I don’t blame you if you have no idea what the hell I’m showing here. This is a whole new form factor, but think of it like a multi-purpose entertainment stand mixed with charging station. And maybe when it’s against the wall it’s a mirror or a photo frame. But when it’s brought to your bedside or sofa it becomes a little workstation or game machine. More to come.
Details
I can’t describe everything, but let’s start off with the essentials. Laptops slide behind. Cables can be plugged in. Phone(s) can be up top, or even sticking out on some sort of magnetic armature. Again lots of configurations. The point is, some things should be hidden from view (like excessive wiring), other things, easy to grab (higher up at arms length) like the laptops. And at the bottom behind might be the power supply whatever it is for people. Could be an expensive UPS or PoE switch plus router. Or could be something as simple as a USB-C charging unit and maybe HDMI cables routed through channels. Lots of possibilities and that’s what this needs.
Older Iteration
Funny how much I dislike the original work pictured below. It was trying to be a bedside table with a flip up top (which doesn’t work when it’s meant to be a usable surface. (You can’t just flip up a surface that you’re putting key items on). I did see a nightstand that has a horizontal sliding top, but it wasn’t going to solve anything without introducing new idiosyncrasies. I do think I have another evolution of this bedside version inside me, but I’ve kind of moved on as it will inevitably fail on retrievability.
