Brainstorm #3
A reader's son has moved to a big bed. What do you do with the base?
Another Brainstorm. This one comes from a reader whose son has graduated to a proper bed, leaving the slatted base of the cot behind, too good to throw out while the rest of it goes for scrap.
Here are our seven-ish cents.
An art wall
Mount it flat on the wall and clip children’s drawings to the slats with the biggest, most serious bulldog clips you can find. The slats are already evenly spaced, which is the hard part of making one of these from scratch.
A radiator cover
With a bit of work on the sides and a top added, the slatted panel is most of a radiator cover already, and slats are exactly what a radiator cover wants, because the heat has to get out.
A drying rack
Hinge it at the bottom and add a simple pulley at the top, so it folds down flat against the wall of the laundry room when it is not holding wet washing.
A piece of art
Stretch fabric over it, something vintage, and staple it round the back. Instant panel.
There is scepticism about this one elsewhere in the house. I maintain it would work.
A pot rack
Hang it over a kitchen island and put pans on S-hooks along the slats. A batterie de cuisine for the cost of not throwing something away.
An under-bed play board
My favourite. Add a thin board on top and small castors underneath, and you have a tray that a train set or a Lego town can be built on, played with, and then pushed under the bed intact until tomorrow.
No more standing on a pointed plastic tree in the dark.
A temporary gate
Stood across a doorway it will keep a visiting toddler or a curious dog out of a room, and it stores flat behind the hanging clothes in a wardrobe when it is not needed.
So. Will any of these work? Any better ideas?
If you have an object you would like us to find other uses for, send it over with Brainstorm in the subject line.