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.
→Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←
Jim
Good Article
Also thanks for the copy of your BUCKET LIST.
(GOAL: Acquire a copy of every bucket ever made?)
Karen
The bucket list, lol. ~ karen!
Sheri M.
Great idea!! I too hate hose reeIs! I really liked an idea I saw of using old mailboxes in the garden, mounted on posts or whatever to hold trowels, gardening gloves, your cell phone, etc. Seems to me that a mailbox of the right shape would also make a great hose reel!
Karen
It would! ~ karen
Jennifer
Oh no but not the tree, arborist here, it’ll work but not ideal, will eventually grow into the tree and if it needs to be removed your arborist will not appreciate the metal in the tree dulling his chains😊♥️
I love this upcycling idea, and the storage within the bucket, so much better than tangled hoses inside of spider infested plastic boxes!
Jan in Waterdown
Thanks for saying that and why…. I cringed when I read it but didn’t feel like I carried the gravitas to say anything 😁 ❤️ 🌳
Randy P
Chicago bungalows come with a gangway and smack dab in the middle of each brick wall along that path will be found an outdoor faucet. That is where my hose reel lives holding 50-75' of hose. Too much for a bucket I'm thinkin' but I can see where it would be right handy for shorter lengths. Works great, costs little. Win-win.
Cynthia
So easy! Saw mailbox used for hose and very nice to close up your garden paraphernalia. Wasps looove protected areas so the door helps keep ’em out.
Mowerify
OMG! Karen,
This is really amazing article about a new use for an old bucket.
keep your good job.
Leah
Karen, I think I love you. Now, where does one find a wine barrel? Not the dollar store! I'm going to check the agriculture section on Craigslist.
Leah
Mother-friggin' genius. I am doing it this weekend. I wanted a cute/not ugly hose station at my veggie garden. Woot! Now, any idea for rain barrels?
Karen
Leah - For a rain barrel it's more costly but totally doable. (I'll be doing it whenever I have time) You need the kit for diverting your eavestrough into your rain barrel, you need one of those big blue plastic water barrels they use on construction sites and such, and a wine barrel. Ugly plastic barrel goes inside the lovely wine barrel, cut a wood lid to fit on top and run the piping for the eaves kit into a hole cut in the centre. Make sense? ~ karen
Johanna
Even better: scrap the plastic and use the wood wine barrel itself. They are 100% water tight. Yeah you’ll lose a little water til the wood gets wet, but not much. And no plastic taste or plastic carcinogenic leach compounds to deal with!! They are especially great in climates like yours that get fairly regular rain.
Norma
If you live where it freezes, be sure to dump the barrel before it does -- otherwise, it won't be so watertight in the spring.
Samantha
Great idea! It looks very awesome
Diane Stairs
this is such a fantastic idea....I have been struggling for two years now with one of those hose holders that winds up, now leaks and is just an ugly plastic holder....I am going to use my old bucket. Now THIS is why I love your blog.
Molly
Yes, this is a gorgeous idea!
BTW, not everything 'Martha' is her/ their invention. This exact same idea was first published in UK magazine 'BBC Gardener's World' - around 12 years ago! And who knows where they've got it from? An idea isn't bad just because it isn't brand new.
I'm using such a bucket for my hose for a few years now. I also drilled a few holes into it at the lowest point to prevent rainwater sitting in there. And every other spring I can't use it at all because blackbirds build their nest in it :-)
Tickled Red
Oh the things you can do with a bucket. I especially like how it twirls, almost got your Merry-Go-Round :D xo
LeeAnne Bloye
Karen that is THE most awesome re-use I've seen. Too clever by far. I am totally jealous I didn't think it up too! (Is that thought envy?)
Now all you have to do to become a god is to figure out how to stop hose parts (sprayers etc) from leaking and having to buy new ones every other year!
Hope no one asked this already, I usually read thru all the posts b4 posting but poor old horsie is going thru laminitis/founder, I have an art show in two weeks and not enough mushrooms! Things are krazy.
Karen
LeeAnne - You probably just need to replace the rubber washers with new ones. ~ karen!
LeeAnne Bloye
Thanks Karen. Been there, done that. I just don't get it. I'm no genius but I was blessed with a large dosage of mechanical ability. For some reason though, washers never work for me! Use the hose a few times and they're leaking all over the place again. Maybe it is all a big joke? Are the stores all practical jokers and only sell "dribble" washers? They always seem a little big so that might be the problem. I've never been able to find ones that look exactly like the ones in the hoses. The new ones jam in but never work for long. Oh well. At least it is warm in summer and being a little wet can be nice. :-)
Karen
Hey there...I got a sturdy farm boy who happened to be strong and handsome. 29 years later he is still the "MAN". Not all of them are bucktoothed. I got a damn handsome farm boy son out of the deal also. When I need a good laugh (and and idea or two) your blog is where I land.
Sharm's Outlet
I love this... not too bad for thinking outside the bucket!
Lillykay2002
Hi Karen,
Love your blog and I have loved Martha since the early 80's when she first started.
I don't think you should ever apologize for thinking of the same brilliant solution as she did. Martha actually opened the door for creative people like you and created an industry that didn't exist before she made it. She needs to be recognized as the true pioneer she was and not an object of scorn.
Karen
How exactly did I scorn her?? I love Martha. Although I must agree with a previous comment that she does very little of her own creative thinking now. She now does a lot of creative approving. ~ karen
Carole
For the same reasons of cost/ugliness I screwed a new empty paint can to the wall but find the circumference a bit small....the bucket is brilliant!
Pat
Wait a minute, wait a minute; did someone say they use an old tire rim mounted on the wall for a hose holder? Damn, that's a fine idea too! You've got to read the comments for your posts because the follow-ups are hilarious and brilliant! Crap I love this blog ...
Karen
Crap, I love it too. I was going to a plethora of hose ideas (including the tire rim oddly enough) but figured the readers would take care of that portion. And they did. :) ~ karen
amy mills
my bet is that you came up with the last line first and then had write a whole blog around it:)
nicely done on both counts!
Susan
Well you're waaay the heck more Fun than Martha! But I'm still looking for the Lippizaners...