Change your approach to domestic tasks with these tried and true hacks.
1. Up and away storage
The perfect place to store small quantities of long, narrow offcuts and mouldings is right over your head.
Build this set of overhead storage racks between the open trusses of your garage.
Use one length of 145 x 45mm timber for the vertical hangers and two layers of 19mm plywood for the lower angled supports.
Secure each 145 x 45mm piece into the framing with two 75 x 10mm cuphead bolts.
Then secure each hanger into the 145 x 45mm timber with two offset 50 x 10mm cuphead bolts.
The angle on the supports keeps the contents from sliding off.
2. Swing-down storage
Make the most of garage storage with pivoting boxes that hang between the ceiling joists.
When the box is down, you have easy access to its contents.
Assemble simple butt-joined boxes using 17mm plywood secured with PVA adhesive and 40mm x 8g screws.
Add shelves to suit whatever you need to store, plus retaining rails if there is a risk of objects falling out when you swing the boxes down.
Make them about 10mm narrower than the space between the joists and use 75 x 10mm cuphead bolts with washers and nyloc nuts for the pivot points.
Add plywood cleats that pivot on 75mm x 10g timber screws to keep the boxes closed against the ceiling.
3. Get the most from paintbrushes
If you take a short break while painting, you needn’t clean the brushes or rollers.
Just wrap the wet bristles in plastic wrap.
To store brushes overnight, wrap them in plastic wrap or aluminium foil and pop them into the freezer.
Remove the brushes about an hour before you resume painting.
To soften a paintbrush that’s stiff with dried water-based acrylic paint, soak it in a 1:1 solution of vinegar and water for 10 minutes.