Velcro is a wonderfully useful tool to keep handy around the house, with it being sold in enough sizes, shapes and colours to fit in in any type of house. Whilst most people tend to associate Velcro with children’s footwear and the occasional pair of beach shorts, these strong but versatile strips can hold practically anything in place and should be a staple product in any home. Try putting your Velcro to work with a few of our helpful tips, and marvel at how much you’re able to simply your daily routines...
1. Cables
2. Post-It!
Most kitchens don’t tend to have a desk area as part of the furniture, which can make it quite difficult to multi-task when a phone call comes in whilst you’re watching the pots- Taking a message usually involves dashing off to find a pen and paper while your dishes bubble away unattended. Instead, try placing a small strip of Velcro on a pen and a notepad and stick them onto your fridge door. Viola! Now you’ll always have a pad handy to take notes whilst cooking and jot down your shopping list.
3. Chair Upholstery
Many kitchen and dining chairs don’t come with any upholstery, which means if you want some extra padding on your seat you've got to either buy some seat cushions, with their weedy little fasteners that constantly break,, or sacrifice one of your regular pillows/cushions and have it slide around every time you re-adjust your posture. Unless of course you attach some Velcro to the chair and the seat cushion to hold it in place and ensure it doesn't fall off the seat.
4. Rugs
A rug can be a potentially dangerous addition to a room if you've got a laminate or hardwood floor, and it can become all too easy to slip, slide and fall from a rug that moves whenever you walk on it. Luckily Velcro can help you out here- Place some at each corner of the rug to keep everybody in place and prevent people from sliding all over the room when they step on it.
5. Make-Up
If you’ve got a lot of make-up & beauty products rattling around in a bag somewhere you could do with a strip of Velcro to help keep things organised. Try attaching a strip to the inside of medicine cabinet or vanity table and wrap the handles of your brushes smaller strips from the other side of the Velcro. Press it all into place and your beauty supplies are sure to stay in order, arranged however is most convenient for you.
6. Spice Rack
No room in the kitchen for a dedicated spice rack? Not a problem with a big ol’ stick of Velcro. Simply mount a strip of it to the wall and then stick a dab of it onto the back of each of your spices. You can stack them up as tall as they want to go and you’ll have them all at your fingertips whenever you need them. |
7. Protecting Valuables
Do you have a set of ornaments you like arranged a certain way? Or perhaps you’ve got a nice vase that looks perilously exposed at the end of a wobbly table? Fear not- just fasten a square of Velcro underneath each of your breakables to ensure they stay where they’re supposed to and aren’t at the mercy of a clumsy elbow or a naughty pet.
8. Adjust Your Phone Or Tablet
Whilst you can buy all manner of accessories & cases for your electronic devices, they don’t always do the job properly. If you’re trying to watch a TV show or film then trying to consistently hold your device at the right angle can be a real pain, as can finding something the right height/angle to prop it up on. Instead, try attaching a few strips of Velcro to the back of your device and attaching boards to walls and surfaces you watch on often. This can give you a sweet wall-mounted projector for any surface you want, such as fridge doors, kitchen cabinets, bedroom/bathroom walls or on the headrest in your car.
9. Hide Your Hard-Drive
With digital hard-drives becoming bigger, cheaper and increasingly vital to our everyday lives as we continue to leave bigger digital footprints, there’s never been a better time to take care of your drives. To clear up some much-needed desk space and keep them safe from prying eyes, consider storing your hard-drive underneath your desk. All you need to do is place some (preferably industrial strength) Velcro on top of your external drive, then attach some more to the underside of your desk. This allows you to keep several drives tucked away down there, keeping your desk clutter-free.
10. Remove Fabric Balls From Clothing
There have been plenty of inventions over the years to deal with fabric balls that build up on clothes after a few washes- razor blades, sandpaper, lint rollers and any number of over-priced and over-complicated gadgets. Velcro is the cheapest & simplest way to deal with fabric ball buildup; simply wrap a length of hook-side Velcro around your hand and gently run it across the affected item of clothing- The balls should come away with ease.
11. Adjust Children's Clothes
Any parent knows how quickly kids grow out of their clothes, and every kid has at some point been fitted with clothes much too big for them in the hope that they’ll “grow into it” at some point. Luckily you can solve both of these problems with some canny Velcro usage. Instead of sewing up loose ends and letting them down as the child grows, simply use Velcro instead- it’ll save you a time of time and effort and you won’t have to worry about any dodgy stitching mistakes. You can also use Velcro to turn baggy pants into shorts or cargo pants for the summer without having to cut anything, which should allow you to save a good deal on your clothing budget!
12. Hang Some Artwork On Your Walls
Depending on the weight of the frame or artwork, you can easily hang pictures and canvases onto walls with a minimum of fuss. The hook-and-loop properties of Velcro provide excellent holding power, both sturdy enough to support a hefty weight yet easy enough to reposition and rehang. It’s a much more efficient method than banging nails in your wall or ripping off chunks of wall with adhesives. Of course, you will need to check the kind of Velcro you buy to ensure it can hold the weight you're imposing upon it; industrial strength is available.