Scrap Wood Phone Caddy

I haven't been doing too much lately since I've just wrapped up some big projects that I started working on during the Holidays. I have been targeting areas that just need a fresh look or different accents added. One of those areas is where the telephone is located. Since our house is a mix of old and new construction, the footprint here on the first floor just doesn't make sense and neither does the location of the phone. I'm not a phone type of person, therefore  I keep it located on the counter so I don't have to stay on the phone for hours talking to anybody. I like to keep calls short , sweet and to the point. I thought I would give it fresh look with some access to paper and pencils for the calls that need notes and numbers.

Here's a look at the area before. Pretty messy with the cords everywhere.

Here's another look of the area before.

I wanted to tilt the phone and to be able to hide the cords. Here's what I came up with. I used scrap wood that I had and I just measured the phone and built around it. I left enough clearance to the left side of the receiver so I wouldn't smash my hand on the edge while answering the phone.

I used a small dowel to keep the phone from sliding down.
I added the little box on the side to hold scrap paper and pencils. Then I just drilled the top of the box to fit the pencils with a large step drill bit.
I rough sanded it and added some KONA colored stain.

This is how the area looks now.

This is what you see when you look up into the kitchen from the den. I put the thermometer on the side which is a must since we heat our home with wood.
It's much nicer now and so much easier to wipe down the counter and not have to move a million things every time.