Need More Plugs!

I have a problem, and it really isn’t my fault. It is just no one ever thought any of us would need so much electrical access when the vast majority of houses and apartments were built in New England. My guess is that if you are looking at Instructables you have similar issues in your major living space. Between my wife and children we have at least 8-10 devices that need to be charged regularly. Phones, computers, watches, headphones, etc, my living space was never intended for these things that are now everywhere in my house. In a never ending search for power we have strung extension cords across the room and added countless extra outlets to plugs to dry to squeeze as much power out as we can at one time. I am sure the intent was that the unsightly things should be tucked out of the way, at a standard height throughout the rooms where they would be rarely accessed for lights or maybe once in a while plug in the vacuum. But times have changed and at this point I just have a fire hazard.

The worst offender is the plug behind the couch for sure. As you can see, I have way too much going on here. Aside from the overloaded plug I have two other conditions that are an issue for me. The first is that this is where computer cables go to die. they are sticking out a good 3” from the wall after you add in all those charging bricks. The reality of the situation is that as people plop themselves on the couch it slides back a bit to a point that it is crushing my cables regularly.

My other issue here is that I am spending a lot of money to heat the back of this couch. I have tried anti-slip pads but they don’t last. If I need to slide it out to say, clean under it, they never survive. And over time the couch makes it way slowly back against the radiator.

I have lived this way for too long, and killed too many power cords. The answer is simple and I have been kicking it around for sometime, and I feel like this project falls into the “Anything goes” basket. At best I expect that this will be a mostly invisible piece of furniture, if no one notices what I have done it will be doing its job. At worst I have created a much larger fire hazard, and as “anything goes” this is a good chance to learn maybe why I shouldn’t play with electricity.

4/4 wood (3/4" finished, about 12')

2- PVC Electrical Switch and Outlet Box with Adjustable Bracket

2- 15 Amp Duplex Outlet with Type A and C USB Charger

2- 9 ft. 14/3 Medium Duty Tool Replacement Cord

Pocket screws

wipe-on polyurethane

sandpaper (80g-220g)

2- 1-Gang Duplex Outlet Wall Plate

I started by measuring the factors at play. The radiator has a height and depth that I wanted to allow some air flow around, so I gave myself about a half inch all around for clearance. The height of the top was determined by measuring to the top of the couch back and subtracting about an inch so no one would bump their elbows on the hard front edge. The length was dictated by the length of the couch at the height of the top. Again, subtracting some length so that it would be fully behind the back edge and not create a place to destroy my funny bone eventually. The depth of the shelf was fairly arbitrary. Mostly, I wanted enough space for plugs but not much more. I didn’t want it to become a haven for junk, just room for plugs and charging phones. I also was somewhat limited by the size of material that I chose to use. Using Fusion I quickly generated a model so I could see how it would come together and a measured drawing so I could make an accurate cut list. Once I had an overall plan I could begin fabricating parts.

For my material I chose to use maple for the exposed parts and poplar for the elements that would be hidden. That choice was driven by the material I happened to have sitting in my shop. Mostly I needed some 4/4 material. I could have saved some time getting some S4S material at the Big Box store, but I was happy to mill my own wood to size. My Jointer is 8” so a 7.5” finished size is where I landed. Once installed the only visible surfaces will be the top and a bit of the sides, but you would have to go looking. So any material that is ¾” will work just fine. The edges won't be seen so even plywood would be suitable for this entire project.

Once my material was dimensioned to 3/4" and cut to width, I cut all parts to length as shown in the plan. always making sure to square ends prior to cutting to length, and checking ends for cracks or checking that could become problems later. Begin by cutting your longest parts first. I had given myself enough material to make an extra side element, but I wanted to first select the top element first. As it is the major surface anyone is going to see I want it to be free from defect and as it is the largest element in the project It needs to be cut first to conserve materials.

One of the major conditions of this object is that it needs to step around the radiator and rest on the floor. I want to give the heat some space to flow around and I don't want the wood sitting on the hot element, so I have given myself a space of 1/2" around the unit at the floor. First, I drew out the location of the notch I needed to make using a square. Then, with a 7/8" Forstner bit I drilled out the corner creating a fillet at the corner. once I had the hole at the corner I cut on the bandsaw first along the short edge into the hole, then using the clearance of the previously drilled hole, I pivoted and ripped along the length. Remember that you will have a Right and a Left side when you are done. Face any defects to the interior of the object when planning where to make your notches.

I have 2 outlets that are going into the surface. First, I located their position using a square. I have 2 equally spaced from the center, located along the center of the outlet. Much like the cut out for the radiator, I first drilled holes at the corners of the outlet (3/4"), drilling from the front side to allow for ugliness to take place on the back. I then cut along the straight edges with a coping saw. The Quality of this cut can be suspect as it will be completely concealed once done. two small holes were drilled along the center to allow for screws to pass through later.

The object consists of 5 elements. A top and 2 sides that are made stable by a skirt under the top and affixed to the sides. Ultimately, the couch will cover the entire front and it will be mounted to the wall, so it will never be seen from the front or back. Given that it was all hidden I chose to implement the pocket hole jig for construction. The pocket hole is the entirety of my construction technique on this object. The maker of this blue tool would tell you that it is the only way anything needs to be assembled, but they are biased. For something like this it is great, but the holes are so ugly that they should all always face the inside and away from the viewer for modesty if nothing else.

The stretcher elements get pocket holes on the inside face at each end. The stretcher at the front of the object should have 3 poles facing up along the inside face to use as attachment for the top later. The end pieces should have pocket holes drilled into the top inside face for attachment to the top, 2-3 holes depending on your width. There will be a Left and Right side, so make sure you have your holes on the inside and at least an inch from each edge.

Assembling upside down, I first attached the front stretcher with holes facing in, to the ends. Once that was attached on both ends I mounted the end element to the top with equal overhangs at either side. After the ends and back were in place I attached the back stretcher with pocket holes facing out, as they will face the wall.

I chose to use wipe-on polyurethane as a finish for this object. It dries quickly and is easy to blend into a nice surface. best practice is to sand everything to 150g before finishing. Blow off your surface before starting to apply your finish, and make sure all your surfaces are dust free so you don't contaminate things once they are wet. Finish the inside/backside of everything first. The back side of wood wants at least one coat of finish for balance during the humid months so it won't warp. You don't need more than a coat, but it is a good place to start. I finished the outside with 4 thin coats of poly. I treat the wipe-on poly like an oil finish, wipe on a liberal amount and wipe off while still wet. It builds slowly, and I sand the finish between coats with 220 working up to 0000 steal wool over the 4 coats. The surface when finished still feels natural but can withstand water better than an oil.

Disclaimer: I am no electrician. I have always had a basic rule as guardrails for my making adventures, nothing that flows. I am a builder and designer, I am not an electrician or plumber. Those trades are none of my business and I can only see creating problems for myself if I mess with that stuff too much. so, good luck with this, take no chances, and if you know what is good for you, probably don’t do this.

More than any other thing I want to not start a fire, so I want this done right-ish. it is important that the outlets be isolated so that they can't build up dust or have the cat get into them so use a proper box to mount them in. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't overloading the existing plug (more so), so I chose to wire each outlet separately rather than in series or parallel. Probably not recommended, but it at least it guaranteed both existing outlets were full preventing anyone from plugging in even more. I used 2 brand new 6' medium duty extension cords that somehow lost their receptacle ends wired to a 15 Amp Duplex Outlet with Type A and C USB Charger. Better idea probably would have been 2 medium duty tool replacement cords but I couldn’t get them in the moment. I chose a PVC Electrical Outlet Box with Adjustable Bracket so that I could mount the box flush with the surface of the wooden top. I wanted the outlets to be raised from the surface to deter things from falling in, or a spill causing a big problem. After passing the cord end through the box I tied a knot so that it can't be accidentally pulled out from the back. Once appropriately wired, the outlet can be mounted into the box and covered with a face plate. I used a stainless steel faceplate with a gasket to ensure liquids can't find a way in.

I think for this to really be doing the job it was made for it needs to be mounted in place. There is a bunch of power in the object, so you don't want the couch to move it around. I located it along the wall where it was appropriate and used two right angle mounting brackets into the stud and the bottom edge of the back stretcher. I also added a couple of velcro straps for cord management and plugged them in.

I think I got what I wanted out of this thing. It is sort of an invisible piece of furniture that isn't a table or a shelf so I don't actually know what to call it. Maybe just a very elaborate power strip that keeps the couch from backing up to the radiator. Regardless, it seems to work perfectly. Plugs are now accessible and are not being destroyed on the regular basis, and with the couch away from the radiator there is a noticeable improvement in the flow of heat in the room. No more extension cords across the room and the remote has a place to live.