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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Poor Man's DIY Home Security

A few weeks ago, I briefly mentioned moving into a new house. Boxes still feel never ending, but I do love finding new homes for everything.

The first time my dad came to see the house, before we had moved in, he informed us it was a necessary to make our own "poor man's security system." This entails having dowels cut to fit all the windows and sliding glass door. You know where you put the stick behind the sliding door/window and it stops anyone from opening the window/door, from the inside or outside? Dad has also not forgotten to mention this necessity every time I've seen him since. He also said the dowels should be accompanied by bells hung on the doorknobs at night, so we hear anyone trying to break in. I love him.

Here's how I fulfilled his request (and you can make your own):

First, go to your local hardware store, or  even Fred Meyer, and purchase 1 1/8 inch diameter wooden dowels. I believe they are about 4 feet long. At Freddy's they are in the paint section. Measure your windows/door spots first. I didn't do this and could have saved myself a dowel (which are about $4 each) because two windows were short enough to only require one stick.


Then, mark your dowels like so:


I also marked which piece was for which room. This will save you the puzzling game of trying to fit the right cut ones in the correct spots when you're finished cutting.

Next, cut each dowel where you marked. This was by far the most exciting part because I was able to use (for the second time since Christmas!) my Craftsman 4-in-1 Reciprocating Saw.


You could totally be done here and put all your dowels into their respective places, unless you want to give them a little pop. Read on.

I love spray paint (as apparent in yesterday's post), particularly this soft blue color (Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Blue Ocean Breeze) I had on hand. So I wrapped my dowel in painting tape. Tip: Do not force the tape or stress about the spiral of tape being equal distance apart from the previous spiral. If you start the tape in one direction, it will naturally fall equal distance apart from itself. The minute you try to start placing it yourself by eyeballing it, you will end up with bumps in your tape and uneven spirals.


I could have totally just left this tape because the green was super cute! This made me think of how you could also cover the dowels in the super cute designs of duct tape, too!

Then spray paint it.


You could also do a checkered one, straight stripes or whatever else your creative brain thinks up! Just to give your window (or the kids') a little pop!

Partying at Tatertots & Jello's Weekend Wrap Up. Go check it out!

8 comments:

  1. These are great! Love the stripes! We need to put some of those into our sliding windows. We just ripped out the thorny shrubs underneath SB's windows, and now we need a better burglar deterrant. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Hi! What a great idea! Love your blog! Joining right now! Come visit me and join too! xo Jennifer

    www.shutterbugandthesweetlife.com

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  3. Cute! My grandparents have the same thing!

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  4. I'm glad that even though you are poor, you are also safe. :-) Lol.

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  5. My parents did the SAME thing in their house, only minus the cute stripes. :) I thought they were the only ones!! When we were little my brother and I used to brainstorm plans of "attack" in case of an intruder...I think it involved something about a frying pan and ankle-biting. Good thing nobody broke in.

    Thanks for following my blog and for your super sweet comments about our bathroom and story--they made my morning when I read them! I'm off to check out more of your blog! :)

    Erin @ His & Hers

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  6. That is so much cuter than the piece of wood left by the builder that we use. A word of caution though, if you leave it propped up by the door when not in use your dog might knock it over and lock the entire family outside.

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  7. We did the same thing, but yours is much cuter! I would love it if you would link up to my Tuesday Confessional link party going on now: http://www.craftyconfessions.com/2011/07/tuesday-confessional-link-up-2.html. I hope to see you soon!
    ~Macy from Confessions of a SAHM

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  8. These require finger print of the customer that is examined for verification. Smarter alarm systems

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