We recently took on the project of upgrading the phone system at Dewey Street. We needed a cordless phone which could be wall mounted in the hallway leading to the kitchen. This small pass-thru area is where the utility closets and pantry are located. This is a utility area, however, you must walk through it to gain entry to the kitchen. This small built in cabinet had become somewhat of an eyesore. So we spent a little time and a little money to get it organized and looking great again.
As frequently happens in areas like this, the counter top became a catchall for anything and everything that we either did not want to deal with right away or that we were unsure of what to do with.
When the kitchen addition was added in 2002, we needed an electrical outlet (on the left), a wall-mounting bracket for a cordless telephone (center), and another wall-mounting bracket for an answering machine (on the right). That was thirteen years ago. Things changed.
As technology progressed, we ended up with voice mail through Verizon which is all recorded somewhere in the ether and we dial in and retrieve our messages from some server probably sitting in Indonesia. Who knows. We ended up not needing a separate answering machine wall mounting bracket. And, we ended up with this cordless phone which did not mount on the wall. The handsets were tiny and uncomfortable to hold. And there were a plethora of cords spilling out of the wall bracket. It just looked unkempt; messy; unorganized. So, we fixed it.
I must give Steven his due in his forward vision in insisting on this access panel to the telephone lines and electrical outlets when designing the addition. This panel is in the pantry, out of site, directly behind the telephone outlets. All that needs to be done is to remove the screws and you can access the cords.
Here is what was revealed when the panel was removed. There are two electrical outlet boxes and access to the telephone lines. We needed to remove this power cord which was from a previous answering machine or telephone with built in answering machine and replace it with the new power cord.
We then removed the mounting bracket cover and loosened the wall bracket so we could remove these telephone lines and power cords which were no longer in use.
Once done with that, we plugged in our new power cord for the new phone system, fished the new power cord through the bracket to supply power to the new phone, and tightened the bracket back in place. Then it was time to get our new phone unpacked.
This AT&T 2 Handset Cordless with Caller ID/Call Waiting was exactly what we needed.
The first thing out of the box were the two handsets and battery packs. I could tell already that the new handsets would work perfectly. They fit in your hand comfortably and they have big buttons.
Here is our new base unit and one satellite unit, the wall mounting bracket and power cord and telephone line. We can purchase additional satellite units if we need them. One extra in the basement I think will do the job and we will get that this coming weekend.
Things went very quickly from the point. We slipped the wall mounting bracket over the wall mounting bracket. (That sounds redundant but that's what we did.)
Then we mounted the new phone onto that bracket. I used the "Quick Start" guide provided in the box to set the time and date and ring tone and volume and all of that. Very simple to do. And what a nice, clean design.
Once this was hooked up, I set about getting the counter top in order. These little wooden boxes are from Lowe's Home Improvement. The smaller ones on top sit in grooves and can be moved back and forth if need be.
I placed them one beside the other initially, but decided I liked them better spaced apart. Will we remove the other jack which was originally intended for an answering machine? Maybe. I am not certain yet. This new unit has a built in answering machine, so if we ever cancel our message service with Verizon we will have an answering machine available. Eventually we may have the additional wall jack taken out. But for right now I can live with it. There are many other things that need our attention.
As frequently happens in areas like this, the counter top became a catchall for anything and everything that we either did not want to deal with right away or that we were unsure of what to do with.
When the kitchen addition was added in 2002, we needed an electrical outlet (on the left), a wall-mounting bracket for a cordless telephone (center), and another wall-mounting bracket for an answering machine (on the right). That was thirteen years ago. Things changed.
As technology progressed, we ended up with voice mail through Verizon which is all recorded somewhere in the ether and we dial in and retrieve our messages from some server probably sitting in Indonesia. Who knows. We ended up not needing a separate answering machine wall mounting bracket. And, we ended up with this cordless phone which did not mount on the wall. The handsets were tiny and uncomfortable to hold. And there were a plethora of cords spilling out of the wall bracket. It just looked unkempt; messy; unorganized. So, we fixed it.
I must give Steven his due in his forward vision in insisting on this access panel to the telephone lines and electrical outlets when designing the addition. This panel is in the pantry, out of site, directly behind the telephone outlets. All that needs to be done is to remove the screws and you can access the cords.
Here is what was revealed when the panel was removed. There are two electrical outlet boxes and access to the telephone lines. We needed to remove this power cord which was from a previous answering machine or telephone with built in answering machine and replace it with the new power cord.
We then removed the mounting bracket cover and loosened the wall bracket so we could remove these telephone lines and power cords which were no longer in use.
Once done with that, we plugged in our new power cord for the new phone system, fished the new power cord through the bracket to supply power to the new phone, and tightened the bracket back in place. Then it was time to get our new phone unpacked.
This AT&T 2 Handset Cordless with Caller ID/Call Waiting was exactly what we needed.
The first thing out of the box were the two handsets and battery packs. I could tell already that the new handsets would work perfectly. They fit in your hand comfortably and they have big buttons.
Here is our new base unit and one satellite unit, the wall mounting bracket and power cord and telephone line. We can purchase additional satellite units if we need them. One extra in the basement I think will do the job and we will get that this coming weekend.
Things went very quickly from the point. We slipped the wall mounting bracket over the wall mounting bracket. (That sounds redundant but that's what we did.)
Then we mounted the new phone onto that bracket. I used the "Quick Start" guide provided in the box to set the time and date and ring tone and volume and all of that. Very simple to do. And what a nice, clean design.
Once this was hooked up, I set about getting the counter top in order. These little wooden boxes are from Lowe's Home Improvement. The smaller ones on top sit in grooves and can be moved back and forth if need be.
