My house has a LOT of stairs leading up to the front door (compared to the one step we had at the condo). If I still lived in the Salt Lake Valley it would be a little bit of an issue having 8 or so steps, but out here, we get a good 10+ inches of snow each storm. We’ve already lost our gazebo due to this snow pack, the roof completely caved in…
*Hey there, thanks for stopping by my website. This article is super old, so it has been archived as I no longer update it…so proceed if you wish…but it is definitely not my best work. Please stop by my home page, here, and see some of my better content. Thanks! ~Sarah*
Rest In Peace Gazebo:( . See, this is our front yard a good week after our last storm, even with plenty of warm days and time to melt there is still a ton (I wasn’t joking when I told my mom our snow was knee deep last week).
Anyway, back to the stairs. Many CEMENT stairs + lots of snow and ice = A MAJOR DEATH TRAP! So much so, that when we have a storm, I really can’t and probably shouldn’t wait until my husband gets home to salt the stairs. This one I have to be able to do on my own. The problem with that is that with three young children at home I can barely take out the trash, let alone get out all the winter stuff and salt the steps. Well, I decided to simplify the process by putting our Ice-Melt right next to the front door, but I really didn’t want to have a plastic bag or a plastic bucket hanging out right there…especially if it’s going to be there all winter long. I wanted to class it up a bit if I could. So, I gathered up a few supplies and had a fun little project. I think it turned out pretty cute so I thought I’d share.
Read on for some basic instruction and a couple of links to the products that I used.
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| I bought the 8 Qt Bucket, which I plan on using for other things in the summer-time (it’s only going to be filled w/salt so it’ll still be safe, when washed, to use for picking fruit later on). If you have way more steps than I do you may want to get one just a little bigger. I’m estimating a full bucket to last us an entire winter. |
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| I used Wired Burlap Ribbon… I think I’m in love with the stuff! |
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| Made a decent sized Bow using some basic crafting wire and wire cutters. |
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| I tied the Bow onto the pail handle with the same crafting wire and made sure to tuck the poky ends out of the way so that I don’t jab my hand when I lift it. |
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| I waited to cut the ribbon until I had the handle down & crimped the streaming pieces of the bow a bit. I wanted it to be just long enough to not touch the table when the handle is down. |
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| I used some crappy scissors to cut the wire ribbon…I was NOT about to use my nice fabric scissors knowing the wire would mess them up pretty badly if I did. |
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Here it is! The Bow isn’t perfect, but it’s better than no Bow. Frankly, this is a HUGE improvement for me. I couldn’t tie a decent bow when I got married, my husband had to show me how (sad I know). I just tied things the same way I tied my shoes.
The BEST part and whole reason I did this project… It now only takes me about one minute to salt the stairs. Which is a do-able amount of time to leave the kids alone.
If you’d like to do this project too, here are links to the following products that I used:
Wired Edge Burlap Craft Ribbon
Behrens Galvanized Steel Pail
24 Oz Scoop
Let me know how you like it and please remember to share/pin it! Thanks~Sarah