Boom puts power right above your bench

If you plug in your tools above the bench instead of behind it, you won't have to drag cords across the work surface. For an overhead outlet that goes where you need it, fashion a boom, like the one shown, from 1x4 and 1x2 boards. It should be long enough to extend from the back of the bench to slightly past the bench front. Attach a power strip to one end, and hinge the other end to the wall behind the bench. For a long boom, add a guy wire from the free end of the boom to a point on the wall above the hinge. Rout a groove for the power cord, to avoid damage. Add a clamp-on reflector lamp for a simple, adjustable worklight.
—G.E. Wallauz, Painesville, Ohio