I can’t tell you how excited I was when I got the idea for this project. It’s just easy, cheap, and I think it made a big difference in the room. And did I mention I was finished in about 10 minutes?
Okay here’s the deal. I despise those strings for the attic stairs. It’s one thing to have the string in a little used area of the house, but here in the guest quarters, the string hangs down in the middle of the room.
And so here is how you get rid of that thing.
First get the hardware needed, an eye hook and and a regular hook. You”ll also need a long rod, this one is 3 ft.
Then I drilled a hole in the end of the rod so I could screw in the hook.
It was easy, but I used pliers to finish screwing it in all the way.
I also removed the string from the attic stairs, and made that hole a bit bigger to accommodate the eye hook.
And now I was finished. I use the rod to pull the stairs down or put them back up in place.
If you look up, you can see the eye hook, but it doesn’t hang down like the string did.
A few bucks, a few minutes and you’re done.
I also had the same issue in our dressing room, so I did the same thing there. No more string hanging from the ceiling!!
Philomena says
Clever solution! Now whenever I see one of those attic strings hanging down from an attic door, I will see a tampon-lol !
Pat says
Great Idea ! Looks so much better – you could even paint the eye hook white (or whatever color the attic ceiling door is )…….
Lydianne says
Genius! I despise these things. Looks soooooooo much better
Have an awesome day!
Sally says
Thanks for the early morning giggle! Brilliant!
Heidi Colton says
wonderful idea!
Virginia says
Great idea! I hate those strings too. But more than that I hate climbing those stairs, especially trying to carry something up or down! When we built our house, we bumped out a wall a few feet and took space from the garage to accommodate stairs. Sot I have a great walk up attic that is easy to get to. Without it I would probably never go to the attic. But because of the stairs, I go up there all the time!
kelly says
What a great idea! Our attic is in our upstairs hallway and the string is hard to grasp too. I like this idea even better! Thanks for sharing.
Darrielle says
Great idea! we have handle on our attic door and I have to pull out a chair and then a pasta spoon ( the kind with prongs) and pull down the door. I like your idea so much better!
de says
awesome idea..
Kathy says
Such a perfect idea. Simple but brilliant!
Felicia says
I used an old glass knob from my grandpa’s house. We very rarely need to get in the attic and when we do I use a step ladder to grab the knob.
Yvonne @ StoneGable says
What a great idea! LOVE that room!
Shirley@Housepitality Designs says
We had one of those attic accesses before and now we have a “walk in attic”…I love your solution to that “string”…an awesome idea!!!
Sharon says
I LOVE this idea!
SheilaG @ Plum Doodles says
Weird confession time. I used to have a recurring nightmare about a bear chasing me, even into the house. I ran into the closet, pulled down the attic stairs, then pulled them up behind me, thinking he would never be able to find me. Then I realized with horror the string would be swinging and the bear would see it. I always woke up at that moment of realization. If only we had had this solution when I was a kid, I would not have lived those years of trauma. 🙂
Kathryn says
just paint the eye hook in the ceiling to match and it will virtually disappear
Diane says
I did the same thing using a small white wood curtain rod. My 87 year old mother uses it to open and close her curtains. Just unscrewed one finial and screwed in a white cuphook. Pretty enough for her to hang it off the end ring.
Anne F says
What a great idea!!! Wish I’d have thought of that!
Wanda Collins says
Great idea, but now something that has never bothered me before is going to bug me .
Paula says
That’s a perfect solution! Love the ideas, keep sharing.
Sherry says
Great idea…love it.
Francoise says
I am actually shocked that in the USA you still have an ugly string hanging off those attic doors !!…
In my parents house in France, 50 years ago we had the same type of attic door with the same hook and rod you just made to open the door !…. that came standard !
Anita says
Yup they are standard here!
TechiePhil says
The hook and rod thing is common in the US, too. Had these for 30 years, at least.
Di M. says
Yes, a lot better! This is what we have for our attic.
Jeanne says
Brilliant!
Frances says
Good idea!!
Rosie says
Thanks for sharing a simple solution to something which has bugged me for a long time. It is now on my list of indoor home projects to make out house look more together.