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if you've known me for more than a minute you may have heard my expression for what it feels like when i get an idea that just makes sense: 'it's like a white hot hammer of inspiration to the back of the head'

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

hanging around the fridge

a while back i started thinking about hanging spray bottles off the side of my fridge. i even wrote a little bit about the idea but it didn't get much of anywhere. i tried things, played with materials around the house but kept ending up dropping stuff on the floor when it didn't work

here's the space in question - shown with the current magnetic tool bar that also lives on my fridge



old cafe curtain rod that came with the house, hanging in a magnetic cup hook: rod popped out easily



added a rubber band to keep it on the hook: hanging more than one bottle resulted in the weight bringing the whole thing crashing down
so i went to harbor freight and got a couple of inexpensive 90lb pull magnets, screw eye bolts and nuts and made this:



same cheap cafe curtain rod, and since this photo was taken i added a roll of paper towels on the rod too. the finials come off the end of the curtain rod so i just popped one off, slid it through the screw eyes and popped the finail back on. it has fallen down once, when someone ran into it... with a box spring.

if you don't have a curtain rod like this lying around, they are very inexpensive. you could also use pvc pipe or a broomstick or dowel, but those might slide out the end of the screw eye unless you use a rubber band for friction (or something else)

light hammer taps

a few updates on some little things i've done around the house lately. been a little busy - 2 roommates now! had to make a whole new bedroom out of the space where i used to store boxes and defunct electronics.
this is an image heavy post so i will keep them all small and you can click the pic to enlarge if you want to.

one of my old how-to/hints books recommends storing your washers on a shower curtain hook. the plain kind, the ones i love and have ALL OVER THE HOUSE. 
 
well, i haven't gotten to the washers yet since mine are mostly already stored in a plastic compartmentalized caddy. but i do have this set of cheap wrenchs that needed a home. sure i could hang them all on a long peg by their handles but then if i want a wrench in the back they all have to come off one at a time. this way i only have two things to move in or out of position and i can separate them - one hook is metric and the other is standard.

found this nifty sticky backed measuring tape on clearance at the craft store. it's perforated in one foot measurements.





i put a strip of it on the lip of a drawer in my kitchen island and i just keep finding myself measuring this one thing or that up against it.
more useful than expected


broom clips are back - i found 3 sizes at ace hardware




i love hooks. especially cup hooks. but my nerve damage makes it a pain to screw them in by hand. i finally got a hex shanked chuck adaptor for my little black and decker drill/driver and popped in a screw eye. it does NOT work to unscrew them because that just unscrews the chuck itself. but it's great for setting rows of hooks under the cabinet

having a new roommate made for some interesting acoustic challenges when we all work different shifts and watch tv/listen to music at different hours. the interior doors in my house are made of.... paper. yep, paper. with a little stryofoam thrown in for support. 
you can see this in cutaway where i was putting a cat door in my roommate's door

so while we had the door off and the tools out, i filled her door with "Great Stuff" expanding foam. specifically the big gap filler variety. some in the bottom around the cat door and then, since there are assorted partitions in the door, i drilled two holes in the top that were the diameter of the fill tube on the can of great stuff and filled the top too. took about 2 cans.
 
although, if you have previously added a hook to a door, say, using a wall anchor [wet towels are heavy] you may want to seal off around the hook with some silicone or at least masking tape first. the foam found the gap around the screws and expanded right out of the door. it mostly wiped off, but this was a mess because i didn't do it right