Last Updated on May 31, 2022 by Kravelv
It’s home improvement time! After a long, hard winter (if you’re in the northern hemisphere) and a much longer period of pandemic-related uncertainty and worry, treat yourself by making some positive changes around your house, your garden, and even—why not—your car. Here are some suggestions!
1. Closet hack: install shelves at the ends
In a guest post for familyhandyman.com, Jenny Stanley suggests not one, not two, but twenty ways you can maximize your closet space. One of the most brilliant of her suggestions has to be installing small shelves at the ends of your closet, perpendicular to the direction of the clothes rod. The spaces at the very edge of a closet, on both sides, often go to waste, but by installing small shelves or wire baskets, you can reclaim that space and use it for smaller items, such as underwear, socks, or towels.
When it comes to measurements, the author of this article suggests buying shelves that are 3/8 of an inch narrower than the total width available to make them easier to fit.
2. Garden hack: use a trellis to grow your veggies vertically
If you have always dreamed of turning part of your garden or yard into a vegetable patch but are worried about only having limited space, a trellis could be the solution to your problem. Trellises are grid-like structures, usually made of wood, metal, or wire, which are used to support and guide certain types of plants to grow in a certain direction. You can buy a ready-made trellis or build your own—there are five excellent examples of DIY trellises on bobvila.com.
There are many vegetables that can be grown vertically, from peas to herbs to different kinds of squash. A popular culinary vegetable that does really well on a trellis is tomatoes, and Shannon Cowan explains all about how to grow tomatoes on a trellis on eartheasy.com. You can lean your trellis against a garden wall to maximize space, and make sure that your trellis is at least eight feet tall, which is the height that your tomato plants are likely to grow to.
3. Car hack: buy an aftermarket stereo
You know the stereo that came pre-built into your car? Guess what: it’s probably not very good! What many drivers don’t realize is that there are stereos available for them to buy that are produced by music equipment specialists rather than by car companies and that offer a much higher quality of sound. These are called aftermarket stereos and can be installed in place of your existing car stereo by using a DIN dash kit—check out thewireszone.com for an extensive selection.
4. Kids’ room hack: buy a bed and desk combo
If your kids’ room is cluttered with too many shelves and boxes full of toys and clothes, one solution could be to increase the available floor space by buying a raised bed, or ‘loft bed’, with a desk (and possibly some shelves) underneath. You can find plenty of inspiration for loft beds and other creative bed-and-desk combinations online.
