My hubby is a hardcore gamer…was a hardcore gamer? Or is it once a gamer always a gamer? Getting married and having children forced him into early gamer retirement. Once or twice a month he pulls out the Wii for his three little “mini-me’s” to play with him…they bond or whatever. I was really hoping he wouldn’t pass on the gamer gene on to our girls…grrrrr, can you tell I’m kinda anti video game? I suppose I shouldn’t complain over a few hours per month. Either way, it is pretty important to keep his video games and controllers stored in a way that the munchkins won’t ruin them.
Controller Conundrum
My husband is very very particular about his things, and the worst thing he could witness is seeing his controllers strewn on a table top or in a drawer with all the cords tangled together. The girls have to learn to put them away properly once they are charged. How to do this had me stumped. For a while I drew outlines on a drawer liner, but every time they opened and closed the drawer everything would shift. So I went on a search for packing foam that could be hollowed out and couldn’t find it anywhere! After a few weeks looking online and going from store to store to find the perfect (cheap) medium, I threw my hands up in frustration and went on a rummage through my own house to find an alternative. Turns out that simple 1 inch foam roll leftover from an upholstery project works perfectly!
Simple steps to make your own
1. Measure drawer. Leave a little room at the top and bottom of the drawer to accommodate cords.
2. With fabric scissors, cut your 1-inch thick foam to size.
3. Place controllers in the desired position and trace with pen or fine tip marker. There is no need to cut a niche for the cords.
4. Cut traced area with very sharp exacto knife. It works best if you cut at half depth first, then retrace the cut to complete.
And presto, you have a perfectly tidy, well cared for drawer of controllers! Super easy to cut, it and it took me only 10 minutes.
See how I store our large collection of board games and put together the ideal gaming room here.
Personally did this with an old vintage suitcase and 2-inch foam. Great idea, nice and tidy, really satisfying too. Thanks for the suggestion!
Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing!! Great idea!
I have a question and I really need your input on something. I don’t have any drawers or anywhere to put all my daughter’s controllers, and wires and they are scatter all over. What is some ideas would you have to solve it? I don’t have a shelf except a glass entertainment to set everything on. Funds are scarce right now so DIY is the only way I can go about it. Please Help!!
Hi! You might consider using a basket to organize her controllers…you could probably still put foam inserts in a long basket. A couple other ideas is to build a wooden storage box exactly to the size needed to store all her controllers. Good luck!
I’m curious what kind of drawer you keep these in
Nothing special…it is a just a dresser I am using in my living room. The front drawer is more shallow than the rest of the drawers, so it wasn’t useful for much else. However any type of drawer will do. 😉
Although I can’t forgive your general distaste for gaming… I can appreciate a great project! I loved this idea. I used this when converting my old dresser into a media center for our game room. I think it turned out pretty well! 🙂 check it out: http://i.imgur.com/ZUaI0i1.jpg
Hahahaha! My husband and children agree with you! 😀
Your project turned out AMAZING, thanks for sharing! Mind if I share it via Facebook?
Well, my family is drooling over your systems now and generally agree that you rank “awesome”. lol!
Sure! haha. Here’s a better album of photos: http://imgur.com/a/K15Jc
Brilliant idea! Pinned!
So where do the cords go? Under the controllers?
I left just about a half inch space between the drawer and the foam at the top and bottom, it creates a niche where the cords all get dropped into. Had to be very easy to care for since kids must put them back! Great question, thanks for asking! 😉