Portable Guest "Recharge" Station

A few weeks ago, I (Vicki) noticed a director's chair in my neighbor’s trash pile. An idea popped into my head--I thought I could use it as a stand with a box on top of it to create a portable guest "recharge" station.

The station is portable which means it can be folded up and stored between guest visit. The box stores on a shelf and the stand can be folded up to be stored in a small amount of space.

The station meets the following needs of overnight guests:

• A place to charge their devices
• Wifi password (and alarm code) (and no, that's not really our wifi password, we just love the TV show The Big Bang Theory where it's from!)
• Towels and toiletries
• A place to hang their stuff
• A beverage

This is a trash to treasure project so our materials were gathered from a variety of sources.

• Director's chair—mine is bar height, from a neighbor's trash pile
• Wood boxes—we used two wood wine crates, from a yard sale
• Wood blinds—from Craigslist
• Hardware—the hinges are upcycled from the director’s chair, the handles from an old desk, metal embellishment and coat hooks from the depths of my garage! (Note: the decorative handles in the picture are used in this project.)

Other Supplies:

• Rust-Oleum Chalked spray paint in Aged Grey
• Rust-Oleum Chalkboard paint
• Rust-Oleum Metallic Spray in copper
• Varathane Stain in Bearsmoke
• Rust-Oleum Chalked Ultra Matte Paint in Linen and Aged Gray
• Rust-Oleum 2x Primer in white
• Krud Kutter for cleaning
• Paint brush
• Sandpaper/sander
• DAP RapidFuse
• Clamps
• JB Weld ClearWeld
• Self-stick velcro
• DAP Plastic Wood

The stand was cleaned with Krud Kutter and then the arms and foot rest were removed. Two of the hinges were saved to reuse in the project. The hinge holes were filled and sanded and then the entire base was sprayed with the Chalked Spray Paint.

After everything was dry, the paint was slightly distressed using a fine grit sandpaper.

One of the two boxes was deconstructed so that the bottom of the box could be used as a new top for the other box. Both boxes were sanded in preparation for paint. A hole was drilled into the box bottom to accommodate a cord. The box and lid were painted with Chalked Paint in Aged Gray. The top was distressed with Varathane stain in Bearsmoke. The underside of the lid was painted with chalkboard paint. After it was dry, chalk was rubbed over the entire surface and wiped away to season it for writing.

Wood blind slats were used on the box to create a crate look. The slats were cleaned and then one side was sanded to almost bare wood. The slats were cut to size and then were lightly primed with 2X primer. They were painted with brush-on Chalked paint in White Linen.

The slats were attached with RapidFuse glue and clamped into place. The hardware was primed and painted with Metallic Spray Paint in Copper. Once dried the handles were screwed into place as were the hinges and front hanging hooks. The metal embellishment was glued into place with JB Weld. The same copper paint was sprayed into a small container until it puddled and the a small paintbrush was used to touch up the screw heads.

Self-stick velcro was attached to each side of the stand and to the bottom of the box to keep it in place during use. The box easily lifts off to store the box and fold up the stand for storage.

Determine what your guest's might need and fill your box accordingly. We filled it with standard things like towels and toiletries, but also added a tech component for all their charging needs.

For more detail please visit MotherDaughterProjects.com!