Home Decor
Four Fast Fixes from the Dollar Store
Easy Household Repairs
It can be surprisingly simple to fix some of those little annoyances around the house, from
identifying the tangle of cords underneath your desk, to
preventing scuff marks on the wall behind the boot tray. All it costs is a buck or two and a few minutes of your time. Here are four of my favourites, three of which have been featured as tips of the month
here on the Dollar Store Style website.
1. Protect your walls from things that go bump near the boot tray. For a buck, you can buy a roll of clear plastic used to cover books. Simply cut some to fit the area you want to protect, peel off the backing and smooth it into place on the wall. Its practically invisible and completely washable.
2. You can buy kits to help you sort out which cord connects to what electronic from the mess of cords under your desk but here’s a cheaper alternative.
A set of four 3/4-inch rolls of different coloured electrical tape costs $1.25 at the dollar store. Simply cut a small piece of coloured tape to wrap around each end of a cord, using a different colour for each different electronic. Be sure to use the same colour tape for each separate piece of your laptop or computer cord.
For example, you could use red tape to designate the cord(s) for the computer, yellow for the printer and a piece of green tape on the telephone cord. Then put a small piece of each color tape used on a plain piece of paper, label them accordingly and tape it to your desk. The next time you want to take your laptop on the road, youll know exactly which plug to pull.
3. The three magnets that are meant to hold a shower curtain liner in place against a metal tub are often not enough to keep sections of it from billowing out toward you and getting in the way while youre trying to shower.
A dollar for a set of craft magnets will remedy this problem. The three-quarter-inch round ones work well. Simply use a couple of them to secure the trouble spots to the side of the tub.
4. If you have the type of hardware on your dresser that has a flat back plate with a swinging handle that has broken, you can make an attractive replacement with some floral wire and two large jewelry beads.
Use floral wire that has a good thickness to it but is easy to manipulate.
Use colors that coordinate with the furniture. Simply cut the appropriate length of wire using craft or needle nose pliers, making sure to leave enough excess to wind around the holes in the back plate. Slide two large beads onto the wire, thread through one hole from the outside, bending the end in toward the dresser on the inside. Repeat on the other side and you will have a sturdy new dresser pull that will do the job until you can have the hardware
replaced.