Some people lust after large flat panel TVs. Or leather recliners with built-in cup holders to add to that cushy home theater experience. That would be dandy, but me, I just long for a place to stash the jumble of remotes that go with all that audio and visual equipment.
At last count, seven remote controls are scattered throughout our living room. At least one of them professed, inaccurately, to be universal, a vain attempt to minimize the juggling. I'm told they are all for equipment that's still in use, but my main use for the remotes is to plunk them back once a day in a more or less tidy row on a small side table near the comfy chair.
I used to tuck them away in an unoccupied cranny of the TV cabinet, but a new cable box supplanted their former hiding spot in a crowded armoire bought in a world that only envisioned housing a TV and VCR.
If the remote pile had been as large when we bought our coffee and end tables, I would have searched for the kind with drawers, but I'm not going to buy new furniture just to house remotes. I realize I should just be willing to let the byproducts of modern TV life sit out full time, but my ancestors were ruthless tidiers, and it's hard to fight genetics. Plus, it's annoying to have to track down the elusive proper remote.
So I'm in the market for suggestions on what remote-control taming strategies have worked for you. The market is overrun with storage devices that bill themselves as remote control caddies, ranging from the terrifically tacky to scarily priced opulent boxes that resemble mini mausoleums or humidors. I'm looking for something that doesn't cost more than the first TV we bought and that household members might actually be willing to use, so probably something that doesn't require lifting a lid. How have you conquered random remote placement?
As for who controls the remote, that's a separate show.
