My philosophy about technology in the home is akin to a strict private school headmaster's opinion about children: technology should neither be seen nor heard until required/requested. Even though Apple's Airport router is fairly benign aesthetically, I prefer to keep the wireless router tucked inside a floating shelf, next to other blinking light culprits like the cable modem and home security system, a trio of otherwise mismatched clutter if left out all together. But what if you have to keep a device out in the open? That's what Ana Maria faced with her eyesore device until she devised a brilliant solution...
Ana Maria Muñoz of blog, Anumu, and The Pond Market shares her tale:
In order to receive wi-fi signal throughout the rest of the flat, our router must be placed in a prominent location of the living room. This diva signal initially left us with an eyesore of an ugly, blinking light box and I hated it. I did everything I could to camouflage it by setting picture frames and flower-filled vases in front of it.One day, after I had complained enough about it, Joe had the brilliant idea to cover it with a book. Heellooo....yes, so obvious and so perfect! A few days later he came home with a vintage book he bought for 50p (cents) and got to work with his trusty blade. It took less than a minute to cut the pages out and bend the spine to widen the overall fit. Once the cover was placed over the router I saw the true brilliance of Joe's idea - simple, practical, and effective.
Sadly, Ana Maria sacrificed a book I would have personally would have preferred spared. "California Gardens", with many personal notes, paper clippings and quotations from its previous owner...such a lovely book sacrificed to see another life as a disguise for a mundane, but necessary bit of tech. Nevertheless, the project is an admirable and ingenious solution easy to emulate, regardless of the tome chosen.
Full details and photos at Re-style Your Wireless Internet Router
Images: Ana Maria Muñoz
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What a genius idea! Can't believe I didn't think of it!
Yeah good idea, you can use other stuff besides books, I was just thinking about how ugly my router is, lol
Great idea!
Cute but what about ventilation, the wholes are on the router for a reason. I would put a safety card on that.
Anybody who'd rip up a vintage book that had notes and quotes from the previous owner -- frankly, they deserve an ugly house.
I love this idea!
I might try this once the room with my router becomes used more frequently, but I wonder if it diminishes the signal strength in any way. (I have no idea, just curious.)
I find it amusing how she went through all this effort to hide one piece of tech only to "style" it with an old, possibly unusuable piece of tech. Maybe in 20 years, people are going to be hiding their future-Kindles behind real book covers and dressing them up by placing vintage, useless routers on top.
*Unusuable: unusually unusable.
Looks neat but I have to wonder about the ventilation too. The top has vents for a reason... unless yours are on the side?
love it!
Routers are prone to overheating in normal (i.e. home) rooms because they're basically mini-computers with no fans in them. It's a bad idea to block their ventilation, no matter how cute the cover is. Unless you enjoy throwing down $35 every time you fry the thing.
@CoconutZinger - that is a pretty rude and appalling comment. Maybe rude people deserve ugly homes?
If you made something similarly shaped of cardboard and covered it in a bold patterned cloth or paper, you could put ventilation holes all over.
Asking for trouble, this. We just had intermittent connectivity issues in our not-very-warm home, and it turned it to be an overheated modem. Which was sitting on the router.
Let it breathe.
Cool idea. I have my cables hung on hooks that hang just out of site under my long window curtains. Some day I will install a little floating shelf under there so the router, which is now on the floor, can hide there too.
as a bookaholic, I hope that the innards were saved and given to a gardener
Anyone with common sense should realize that covering the ventilation for the modem is a bad idea. Sure it looks nicer, but you're going to ruin your modem. The book is covering both sides that ventilate. The side with the antenna is where the inputs and outputs are, the other side not being covered is where the readouts are. Brilliant.
Get an Apple Airport Express and you will not have to go out of your way to hide it it is so small.
Thank you so much. I hate the wifi thingy, and now can hide it in an adorable way.
@SUMMILUX35, making things into what they are not is often a brilliant idea. That is the whole impetus behind the upcycle movement. Sometimes it works, other times not...when safety is an issue, forget the "look" of it and opt for something safer. But I think we should definitely keep on making old things new.
Sorry, but its gonna overheat and fry. Its a cute idea, but this doesn't work.
Otherwise known as... "How to cook your router, while making it look "cool""
I was also wondering about frying the router. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what kind of height clearance you might leave between the top of the router and the book cover above to make it work? I saw this project and consulted our router manual, but it doesn't say. I was thinking of somehow propping up the cover so it rides an inch or so above the vents, but I'm not sure if this is enough.
Good grief - all these people complaining about frying the router, try suggesting a workaround rather than just straight out smart-mouthing & complaining.
Try this simple adjustment:
1. Buy a bigger book.
2. Put some spacers (think sliced up wine corks or something) between the router and the book cover. Just a few centimetres top & bottom should help.
3. Chill out.
It really does tear at my heart that the vintage book was destroyed. As a lady, I just can't condone this.
I saw the title and picture to this post and immediately knew all the vintage book snobs would come out of the woodwork. They deserve an ugly house because of a DIY way of hiding their router? Please... That's just childish.
I was thinking of using a box, too. Something like a cigar box, if I could find one big enough. Using a drill and some patience, one could drill ventilation holes in a pattern anywhere needed.
Also, small fans especially made for cooling electronics are available.
Why not just use an external antenna, which boosts the signal and is easier to hide, and tuck away the router?...
Where did all these bibliophiles come from? They must live in a place where books materialize out of thin air because where I live independent booksellers are struggling, Borders declared bankruptcy, and publishers are firing editors and going out of business.
That's just asking to burn your router up, sorry.
@LESC thank you for saying what I was thinking. If there is a problem with a design, then provide some constructive criticism. Your ideas were also on point.
Just use the Book Jacket, it's not as heavy and probably safer...
A good place for books is your public library's give away or book bazaar. Lots of old and old looking books there.