Tutorial: diy book iphone dock

I am happy to share with you the newest addition to our bedroom makeover:

A book iPhone dock.

There are SO many iPhone docks out there. Most of them have a modern, very electronic look to them or they just take up a lot of room. I went without one for a month or so, just using my charger cord. It wasn’t working out. The cord would always fall behind my bed when I unplugged it and I couldn’t see the display in the middle of the night when I wake up and just have to know what time it is so I can calculate how many more hours I get to sleep(anyone else do that?)

After seeing this tutorial at the DIY treatment, I set out to try to make one for myself. I went ahead and made my own tutorial because I did a few things differently and wanted to explain each step thoroughly.

Let’s start by going over the tools you’ll need to get started:

  • a drill/drill bit
  • sharp scissors (smaller ones work best)
  • pencil
  • exact-o knife
  • ruler
  • metal files
  • binder clip

You’ll also need a book of your choice and your iPhone charger. I picked up my book at an antique mall because I really loved the mint cover. I have no idea what the book is even about.


Begin by choosing a drill bit that is slightly smaller than the width of your charger. You are shooting for a really snug fit around the white part of your charger. Measure and mark the width of your charger so you know where to drill the two holes that will form the long slot where the charger will go.


Drill your holes deep enough to break through the cover. You’ll probably drill through a few pages and that’s ok. It will come in handy once you start cutting through the pages. You’ll see.


After you have drilled the holes, use your exact-o knife to cut the middle piece of the cover out.


At this point the slot for the charger should be a little too small, and this is actually the way you want it. If you have made the holes too big, the charger won’t fit snugly and won’t give your phone the support to stand up. To solve the “too small to fit” problem, I used a metal file to very gradually widen the space. File a little, see if your charger fits, file a little more, check again until finally you can wedge it in there.


This is a little time consuming, I’m not gonna lie. Just be patient. Put some 30 Rock on Netflix while you work and it’ll go by quick.


At this point the inside cover of your book probably looks something like this. You should be able to see the spots from the holes you drilled through your cover. Using those two dots as a guide, draw a rectangle around the charger area and then a long channel for the cord.


Using really sharp scissors, cut along the line you just drew. I cut through about 10 pages at a time. After you have cut through your pages, use this cut out channel as the template on your next page by tracing inside of the channel.


I found it helpful to use a binder clip to hold my already cut pages back while I cut the next pages.


After cutting and cutting and starting another episode of 30 rock and cutting some more, your book will start to look like this. Once you have cut 40 or 50 pages, you’ll need to start testing how much more you need to cut.


Put your charger in, close the book, and see if you need to keep cutting pages. Th goal is for the white part of the charger to sit flush with the cover of the book.

If you wanted you could glue the pages together, but I haven’t felt the need to. My book dock is holding up nicely so far. And even if it “wears out” in a few months, I can just buy another book from the thrift store and make another. This project took me a little over an hour to make, so it’s not a huge time investment. You just have to be patient.


I am really pleased with how it turned out. When I take my phone off the charger, it is hardly even noticeable.

I am not familiar with all the other kinds of phones and chargers out there, but this might be an adaptable project. I’m really glad I spent the time getting it done. It’s the little things like this that make a space calmer and happier for me, and I’m one step closer to a finished bedroom.

Later on this week, I’ll share my curtains and headboard. I just have to clean up our room enough to snap some pictures.

Have a great week everyone!