I always keep my old phones because they can be converted into great CCTVs. You just need to find a good spot, WIFI, a CCTV app, and a power source.
I like making things more beautiful and functional with these little bamboo tiles. This light switch was kinda ugly, but now it looks better and has enough surface area to hold a beer or soda can.
If you're living in a small room adding a few places where you can place things can make a big difference.
This iPhone was really old and had a completely damaged screen so I glued it to the wall with the CCTV app, AlfredCamera Home Security, running. I like Alfred because it saves the videos to the cloud using your Google account and lets you check in anytime. It also has a walkie-talkie function where you can instantly let your employees, family, or pets know that you can see them. I've seen my dog chewing stuff up and told him. "Hey, don't do that!"
I glued the power source to the wall so it would look better and also be more difficult to disable.
It also made for a good base for the shelf.
Cardboard is great because it's easy to cut and get just right. I didn't have any other tools or materials so I went with the cardboard, but you can use it as a template if you choose something stronger.
If you use cardboard as I did then it's best to take it slow so it doesn't sag. I started with the edges first, filled in the top, then the bottom with tiles.
I wanted to make the shelf strong and the phone hard to rip out by potential thieves so I added watery cement. This is a lot of extra work and is not necessary.
If I had to do it all over again I wouldn't have painted everything white because it looked better before, but now it's not so obvious. I also added two hooks that also added support to the shelf. It's very strong now even though it started off as cardboard. Thanks for reading about my CCTV and shelf DIY project. I may have gone a bit overboard, but I had fun.