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updated COUNTRY FRENCH

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Get Rid of the Attic Stair String

By Anita 28 Comments

atttic-string

 

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. 

get rid of your attic stair string

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.

hardware

 

Then I drilled a hole in the end of the rod so I could screw in the hook.

 

drill

 

It was easy, but I used pliers to finish screwing it in all the way.

 

stick-with-hook

 

I also removed the string from the attic stairs, and made that hole a bit bigger to accommodate the eye hook.

 

eye-hook

 

And now I was finished. I use the rod to pull the stairs down or put them back up in place.

 

 

 

attic-stairs-pull

 

If you look up, you can see the eye hook, but it doesn’t hang down like the string did.

 

no-attic-stairs-string

 

A few bucks, a few minutes and you’re done.

 

room-after

I also had the same issue in our dressing room, so I did the same thing there. No more string hanging from the ceiling!!

 

 Blinds courtesy of Blinds.com

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Filed Under: guest quarters, Project

Comments

  1. Philomena says

    May 8, 2014 at 05:28

    Clever solution! Now whenever I see one of those attic strings hanging down from an attic door, I will see a tampon-lol !

    Reply
  2. Pat says

    May 8, 2014 at 06:36

    Great Idea ! Looks so much better – you could even paint the eye hook white (or whatever color the attic ceiling door is )…….

    Reply
  3. Lydianne says

    May 8, 2014 at 07:01

    Genius! I despise these things. Looks soooooooo much better

    Have an awesome day!

    Reply
  4. Sally says

    May 8, 2014 at 07:13

    Thanks for the early morning giggle! Brilliant!

    Reply
  5. Heidi Colton says

    May 8, 2014 at 07:19

    wonderful idea!

    Reply
  6. Virginia says

    May 8, 2014 at 07:29

    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!

    Reply
  7. kelly says

    May 8, 2014 at 07:49

    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.

    Reply
  8. Darrielle says

    May 8, 2014 at 08:33

    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!

    Reply
  9. de says

    May 8, 2014 at 09:51

    awesome idea..

    Reply
  10. Kathy says

    May 8, 2014 at 10:12

    Such a perfect idea. Simple but brilliant!

    Reply
  11. Felicia says

    May 8, 2014 at 13:03

    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.

    Reply
  12. Yvonne @ StoneGable says

    May 8, 2014 at 17:05

    What a great idea! LOVE that room!

    Reply
  13. Shirley@Housepitality Designs says

    May 8, 2014 at 20:20

    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!!!

    Reply
  14. Sharon says

    May 8, 2014 at 20:35

    I LOVE this idea!

    Reply
  15. SheilaG @ Plum Doodles says

    May 9, 2014 at 22:04

    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. 🙂

    Reply
  16. Kathryn says

    May 10, 2014 at 16:58

    just paint the eye hook in the ceiling to match and it will virtually disappear

    Reply
  17. Diane says

    May 11, 2014 at 23:06

    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.

    Reply
  18. Anne F says

    May 16, 2014 at 11:48

    What a great idea!!! Wish I’d have thought of that!

    Reply
  19. Wanda Collins says

    June 14, 2014 at 22:18

    Great idea, but now something that has never bothered me before is going to bug me .

    Reply
  20. Paula says

    November 1, 2016 at 06:33

    That’s a perfect solution! Love the ideas, keep sharing.

    Reply
  21. Sherry says

    November 1, 2016 at 10:27

    Great idea…love it.

    Reply
  22. Francoise says

    November 1, 2016 at 15:30

    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 !

    Reply
    • Anita says

      November 1, 2016 at 18:18

      Yup they are standard here!

      Reply
    • TechiePhil says

      January 5, 2017 at 23:28

      The hook and rod thing is common in the US, too. Had these for 30 years, at least.

      Reply
  23. Di M. says

    November 4, 2016 at 08:51

    Yes, a lot better! This is what we have for our attic.

    Reply
  24. Jeanne says

    February 13, 2019 at 08:05

    Brilliant!

    Reply
  25. Frances says

    February 13, 2019 at 13:21

    Good idea!!

    Reply
  26. Rosie says

    September 28, 2021 at 20:53

    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.

    Reply

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