Protecting my New Modem in my Workshop – A Creative Solution

I was going to do this entire series about my work shop in “Day” Increments. Such as my first post “My new workshop relocation: Day ONE” and that would have worked fine if only actual days (or even only weeks) had passed since my first post came out… So that was in May…. NINE MONTHS AGO!

Has my workshop looked like this since then? Yes it has.

Has it driven me entirely out of my mind? Yes it has.

Has it actually gotten worse and more infuriating as the months have gone by? YES IT HAS!

All right so I don’t really have any excuse except I had one extraordinarily busy summer where other jobs and things were just more important. (Things that HAD to be done before winter!)

I had planned to kinda slap this place together really quickly right after the first post came out… So I know now that this is how it is with me: IF MY PLAN SUCKS I LOSE ALL MOTIVATION.

Or, in this case, I had no real plan at all and really was just gonna half ass my own workshop to at least give me something resembling a work space for the time being.

I’m not good at half assing anything and if I’m not excited about something apparently I just don’t do it.

So I didn’t do it.

So I’ve been living with this.

And, it turns out, I’ve also been unconsciously working on this space in my head all of this time because I had a light bulb moment.

But one job HAD to get done before anything else.

I’ve got awesome new internet but the new location of my router and modem ended up in this closet. A closet with NO outlet and, also, a closet that’s going to be seeing a lot of dust and debris.

So, first thing was first, I patched into the electrical in the room and ran it into the closet and put in a new outlet.

I purchased a plastic bin from Amazon with the right dimensions. (Yes that bin is advertised as just perfect for pet food lol.)

My biggest problem was how damn worried I was about this bin shattering when I tried to cut it. I messaged my best friend and she said her husband said to drop it off. I love my family and friends!

Turned out it wasn’t near as brittle as I thought it was and he cut it pretty much how I would have: By drilling a hole in each corner and cutting it out with a jigsaw. I was MAJOR appreciative of them!

I carefully fitted it around the machine on the wall and screwed it snug.

Not real pretty but I was feeling quite happy with myself that my plan actually worked lol!

The bin I chose was big enough to also fit my router into it in front of my modem. The lid is on a hinge and closes and locks. I ended up adding LOTS of holes along the other side to help everything breathe.

I can’t truly (in good conscience) recommend anyone else actually doing this. I was running the risk of two things by stashing my modem and router like this. The first one gave me no problems: I was worried my wifi signal would go to hell but its just fine.

The second thing however is my biggest concern: overheating. I live in northern MN and, honestly, this room has never been hotter than 80 degrees EVER. And it is usually MUCH cooler than that! Throughout the winter months it is never much above 40 degrees.

But it is definitely something I will be keeping in mind this summer and the reason I added extra vent holes to the bin.

It was so great to finally put my table saw back in the closet and things out from under foot. To actually see the floor again felt like a major achievement lol!

Is this how my closet is going to look forever?

Absolutely not! But I’ve finally given myself an open room to paint and start working on and, also, some much needed organization.