Store toys with this tidy idea

October 22, 2013 at 8:13 PM

I am looking out of my window even as I write this story and there is simply no denying it: the air is cold and damp, the sky is grey, and the big, round orange thing in the sky is but a distant memory.

2013 will register for some time for the quality of its summer. Well, in as much as we had one. The summer of 2013 was special for the way we could come down in the morning, open up the back doors and let the children run out into the garden – to play, to eat, to wear themselves out. Truly, life was lived al fresco.

But, once again, we must accept that is now but a distant memory, as pumpkins and Guy Fawkes populate the high street, and fireworks wiz across the sky, filling the air with that distinctive autumnal flavour. There are many consequences to the changing of the seasons and one significant shift is that life must necessarily be lived indoors, as we baton down the hatches… the great outdoors only experienced in snatches as we dash betwixt house and car. And office. And then back to car.

An innovative use of plastic buckets

If you have kids (and I have four) there are serious knock-on consequences to such indoor living. And the main one is that if the children have to find their fun within our four walls, that means a consequent spread of mess, as though a virus of plastic and cloth spreading across the living room floor. If the site of the return of this mess is enough to give you the heebee-jeebees, you need help. You need… H&O.

We always keep our eye out for innovative uses of plastic buckets and in the course of this research we spotted an innovative design: the bucket pyramid. Imagine four buckets laid on their side, side by side, to form the base; with three above; then two, then one on top, to form a pyramid. It’s a fabulous design, perhaps for storing different toys in each bucket, with different coloured buckets signifying different toys. Our delightful little bunnies can then easily access each bucket to retrieve their toys AND, more importantly, PUT THEM BACK after they have FINISHED WITH THEM!

(Sorry, was I shouting… force of habit).

So, please close your eyes and visualise that design for three… two… one… then open them and see the price tag - $300 for a professionally built bucket pyramid in the US. Ikea will probably sell you one called KRAPT for about 50 krona. But who needs such fabrications, when you have H&O and we can teach you how to build one yourself? Cheaper, more industrious and… more fun, choosing your own colours and your own scale from the huge selection H&O have for sale.

Here’s what you need:

10 plastic buckets (you won’t get far without these!)
A drill, and a drill bit that fits the rim of the bucket
Zip ties
And that’s it!

Drill a small hole into the rim of a bucket, then connect it to another using the zip ties. Continue this process until you have four connected in a line. Then connect another three together, before zip tying the rims of those to the four buckets below. Then repeat with another two that you place above the thee; then finally the one that sits atop the pyramid itself. Eh voila – your own bucket pyramid and the end to your children’s toy carnage.

The ancient Egyptians themselves would be proud of you!