Keeper of the house

(Or: things that make life a little easier).

I have a challenge with hanging things in my house.

Due to the simple fact of not wanting to put a dozen holes in my walls because I keep hitting the metal studs, my room has been rather bleak and blank for the past six years.

For those who were used to seeing every square foot of wall space in my Brockton room chock full of picture frames, my current Florida room looks more like a jail cell. And it's plainly due to the difference in the building structures.

To make up for the lack of holed memorabilia around, I've acquired several packs of 3M Command Strips: Poster Strip size.

Yes, Amazon is selling packs ranging from a measly 12-Strip, 6-Pack (72 Pairs Total) for $12.37 all the way to a whopping carton of 400 strips for $47.85. I haven't gone as far as getting the big box, but I probably have spent close to that amount on the smaller end purchases through out the years. If I were to get 400 strips, I'd go a little crazy with them. Plus, where to you keep them all?

No, my room is not loaded with hanging items now that I'm using the magic of tacky paper. Quite honestly, I've been using the strips to hang surge protectors (power strips) in my room as well as throughout the house.

Every single room has the same quandary when placing nails or hooks near studs. There is simply not enough room or adjustment options to hang things at a level nature. Not even the Hercules Hooks work, and I swore by those suckers back north for a while. It doesn't help that I've been told by a couple people that you need a special drill to get through these walls, and after that, it's still a crap shoot that anything would work. 

So investing in the Command Strips I go, unpeeling one sticky side and putting it on the power strip, to then unpeeling the "wall" sticky side and placing pressure on the power strip to the wall. Five minutes of leaving it alone later, I'm plugging my electronics into the strip and powering up I go.

I would suggest anyone doing this with the wider power strips (like the Witeem Surge Protector Power Strip with 10 Outlets & 4 Quick Charge USB Ports), use extra caution because it may be too heavy for one Command on each end of the power strip. I would use two on each end, just for extra security, especially if you're like me who constantly plugs and unplugs a (powered) streaming device.

Quite honestly and for practicality purposes, I just wouldn't suggest using the Commands for hanging a swivel strip (like the Belkin 8-Outlet Pivot-Plug Power Strip Surge Protector) because you might be pulling at it every day and eventually might rip everything off the wall. The Command Strips should be used for the flat power strips only.

The pictures I'm including in this post are the two I've got hanging at different points in my bedroom.

One power strip is an old Good Housekeeping: Good Choice power strip, which I've used one Command Strip on each end (because I originally had the power strip hanging horizontally on the wall, but thought it would bug the hell out of me when I walk into my room and see it. So by hanging it vertically close enough to semi "hide" next to a small rolling entertainment center, I'm more pleased with it).

Yes, there's a yellowed spot on the power strip. It didn't catch on fire or is currently causing problems. I am well aware it may cause future issues, but has been working fine for the past decade. knock on wood.

The second set of pictures is the other strip I have, again, hanging vertically behind my TV entertainment center. Rather, it used to be behind my entertainment center and very well hidden, but we ended up having some challenges a few weeks back and I had to get my room repainted. So smack in the space between my desk and my TV, is the power strip.

I must point out that you do see the Command Strip ends in some of the pictures. That's because it's the untacky piece of the Command Strip you want to keep visible behind all your products due to that being the end you pull in order to take the product (in my case power strip) off the wall.

The next set of photos shows the strips "hidden in plain site". Yes, all the pictures show parts of my room which are quite messy.

Those extra wires hanging from nowhere are 3 pairs of headphones
all hooked to a Command Hook.

Oh, and I forgot: the other thing I've used a Command Strip for? Holding the center of the curtain rod that is in front of my window. How could I forget, when I stare out this window every day? This time, it's not a poster Command Strip, it's a Velcro Command Strip (aka the Picture & Frame Hanging Strip).

That's about it for this update. Be safe and be nice. Do some housekeeping!

Cheers;



See Also: