This year the award for The stupid thing you bought that always makes your life harder instead of easier goes to ... the hose reel.
Hose reels are bulky hunks of indiscriminately designed plastic boxes where hoses learn to be knotty. After exhausting all the store bought options for a hose reel I gave up and screwed a bucket to my fence, coiled my hose around it and never looked back.
Is it beautiful? Not particularly. But it's not offensive, it's not plastic and makes putting the hose away easy. It is plain & sturdy like a bucktoothed farmboy.
Until the day someone invents a compact, attractive hose reel for a ⅝ths hose that works smoothly I will continue with my bucket system.
If you want a QUICK DIY WIN this spring - screw a bucket to a wall. Anywhere you want to keep the hose rolled up and tidy.
Do it Yourself Bucket Hose Holder
(the more hose you have, the taller the bucket should be to allow more space for the hose)
MATERIALS
Make sure your bucket isn't so flimsy that you could bend it with your mind.
The bigger the bucket, the more hose you can put on it, but if you have a small space use a shorter bucket like the galvanized one above. It won't stick out from the wall as much and therefore you won't accidentally bang into it as much.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Screw the bucket to a wall, fence or even a tree at whatever height you'd like.
So yeah, that's it for instructions. 🤣
If you're drilling into the side of your brick home or building, This is how you drill into brick and what kind of drill bit you should use.
Aren't into the Hee Haw hygge of the galvanized bucket?
No problem - you can use anything that's:
- Basically cylindrical
- Is suitable and/or treated for outdoor conditions
- Can be screwed into a fence.
SLEEK/CONTEMPORARY
EVEN *MORE* COUNTRY
Search out the cheap enamel with chips at antique shows or flea markets. It'll give you something to look for at those places this summer!
Any large vintage tin or bucket with some sort of labelling is fun.
(think about old wood salad bowls or ice buckets)
Treat them with a weather proofing like Thompsons Water Seal.
This basic utilitarian object, a hose reel, common to anyone who owns a house, seems to have eluded the worlds best product designers. It's a hose reel. How hard can it be to design a good looking one that works well?
I'm not trying to find a full sized Merry-Go-Round outfitted with genuine Lippizaner stallions sporting pink feather plumes on their heads. I just want a useful hose reel.
I didn't have any luck finding one I liked so I screwed a bucket to the wall. That was close to a decade ago and it's still hanging off the fence, keeping my hose organized.
You'll use the interior of the bucket to hold things ALL the time.
And I use the interior of the bucket for storage constantly. Especially when I'm setting up my water timers and bibs in the spring which are right beside the hose.
All my parts and tools and gaskets get set inside the bucket so I don't lose them.
To the thieving chickens.
Think outside the bucket.
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marilyn
awesome!
ev
The buckets we use are the tallish, heavy plastic ones, but I think they would work. How clever, Karen! Martha's got nothing on you! Besides, did SHE think of hanging gloves on the bail? I think not!
Paul
The plastic buckets will work but you need to use something inside to reinforce the bottom. A 10 inch long 2x4 placed vertically, a 1x6 or a piece of 1/2 plywood cut to fit the inside bottom will all work.
lyse
I love this idea. I am still amazed about your glass globe light with Chritmas lights.This is what brought me to your website. Always looking for your next discoveries. Keep the brain working overtime. Make me want to be a better person.
Mia
You are so clever, brilliant and humble!
I love it!
Magpiebird
I like it. I might use it. Thanks!
Mary Werner
Just a bit lower and with a little straw placed inside, the chickens could use if also! It does look good on your fence and could double for a geranium planter. I think this would make a good Friday question of the week = name some other good uses for the bucket on a fence idea that I'm sure you thought up. The MS thing is just scary.
Arlene
You have completely impressed the Hen as well - so much so that she isn't even eating your wonderful fern... so what's the trick to that?
veronica sandström
What a amazing ideas you have :)
Wendy @HerBallistic Garden
Wow! Does your mind ever stop? Brilliant! Move over Martha!
Sue
Wow, that is so smart- and looks prettier then most hose hangers!
Have a great week!
mimiindublin
"We both thunk it up. And I’m still kind of brilliant."
you are! Never know what can happen when you think outside the bucket! I'm looking over my garden now with a new eye!
dustjacket
I think that rooster is looking totally impressed by YOUR bucket idea!
Dana
That. is. brilliant!
Michelle
Seems bleeding obvious really doesnt it, was meant to be!
Leena
You are brilliant!! This is excellent! I have that ugly plastic holder at home.
Amanda
Um in the beginning of my last comment... I meant to say let the wood sit on the screws... doesn't make much sense the way I first wrote it LOL I was just so excited about this idea LOL
Amanda
OMG that is Genius!!! And the shelf that Kelly M thought of could work if you screwed in a couple of screws through the bucket on the sides... either into the wood or underneath and let it sit on the wood! As far as Martha goes... well lets just say I like this site better. Martha seems like a domestic superhuman... you, Karen, seems like one of my neighbors... or me with more motivation LOL
Lisa
Gosh darn it, I just bought a hose reel! (Well, at a garage sale). And I like yours better - more fun plus storage!
I bet Martha bought a new bucket, rather than ingeniously re-purposing a leaky one.
Tracy
So simply genius, makes me embarrassed I didn't think that up on my own! Thank-you...now wheres my bucket (dear Liza, dear Liza...)
Kelly M
You could out Martha her by putting a shelf in the middle of your bucket... a board that's as wide as the diameter of the bucket would stay in place. Until you put something on it, of course.