A few weeks ago, I was sharing pictures of the work I was doing on the front flower beds. One part I couldn't finish until I got the the right part, was the water hose area.
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| Suncast hosereel |
And this is the key part we were waiting for. One of those "hose reel hideaways". We found ours are Home Depot but they also have them here:
This one was chosen for a few reasons. It was the largest one we could get that would fit in the spot perfectly (had to worry about front to back depth).
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| Suncast Hosereel Hideaway |
It rotates both directions on the base (there are stakes to hold it to the ground) so that you can point it in the direction that your hose needs to go, which of course helps it come out much easier and keeps you from pulling it over as you pull out more hose or even raking it across your plants.
It's also very large, holding up to 225' of hose! I think we only have 100' on there currently so it might be time for a longer hose (or to add on I suppose). This particular model has a feature called "smart track hose guide" which you can kind of see above. The end of the hose goes through this guide which then moves back and forth as you reel it in, keeping the hose evenly distributed on the spindle. Pretty ingenious actually.
My parents had one years ago that didn't have that feature and you had to make sure the hose was even as you rolled it up or you had to unroll and start over. This feature is brilliant. We can roll up 100 feet of hose in about 15 seconds.
So we've gone from this messy area...
...to this neat and clean area!
I put down the weedblock fabric and filled it with gravel so it's deep and covered. There is a two outlet manifold, one has the connection to the garden hose (the green oval thing is the automatic timer for the garden watering) and the other outlet is for the hose reel box. Actually now we need three outlet manifold for the backyard hose but we'll get that later.
It's just so much neater and cleaner and now that I've used it for a bit, I can unequivocally say that this is THE BEST thing we've purchased recently. I can unroll as much as I need, water the flowerbeds along the front, all the plants on the porch, and it will even reach all the way around to both ends of the house for the future flowerbeds. Then I just turn the handle and roll it back up neat and tidy! The area still looks like the day I finished it over a month ago and it is used every single weekend. If you have the need for one of these types of hose reels I would highly recommend them.
Sometimes it's the simple things in life!
It swivels???? And it has that screw drive reel so the hose stays nice & neat. I might need on of these. You guys have done an amazing job out there. The place looks great!
ReplyDeleteYep, it swivels both directions. There are some stakes that go into the ground to hold it in place while the box swivels. And that screw drive reel works perfectly to disperse the hose evenly. Thank you for the kind words.
DeleteWell, guess what. I just found one of those on Amazon; the difference is it only holds 100 ft. of hose, but you step on a thing sat the bottom and the hose winds in by itself. My husband is going to love one for his birthday. He hates the hose lying unkempt.
ReplyDeleteYAY for you!!! Or should I say yay for your hubby, great birthday present, ha. It's funny, I'm the same way with the hose laying around. It seems like when it's messy and laying around in a pile, it sort of lets everything else get messy around it. This still looks like the day we set it all up.
DeleteOooooh, I need to get me one (or two) of them!!
ReplyDeleteThey work great. We love it. They have smaller ones, though I would recommend finding one with the back and forth screw for keeping the hose lined up correctly. It's pretty ingenious.
DeleteI love the way you cleaned up the area, it does look so nice and neat. We have our hose on one of those hose-holders up on the wall, it gets really annoying at time to put away. One of those boxes is in our future that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteI almost got one of those, but we decided to get this to just keep it all neat and tidy. I was thinking that it would help inspire me to keep everything else clean and tidy, ha.
DeleteMust. Have. One. Of. Those. ha.
ReplyDeleteLOL, I hope you get one!!!
Deletemy spouse just bought one of these last weekend. great minds think alike!
ReplyDeleteYAY! That's some synchronicity there! ha.
DeleteWith the amount of work you're putting in, I think you're heading for a Better Homes & Garden featured home. Looks good 1st!
ReplyDeleteNow just remember when you grab the hose to pull it out be sure you grab the hose and not a snakes head! :-)
OK now that made me laugh. And shudder a bit. I actually do lift up the lid and glance inside just to be sure, ha. Oh and thanks for the kind words, we're a long way off on BH&G but hey, maybe someday, ha.
DeleteThat makes the area so much tidier. It’s amazing how just one item can improve an area so much. The swivel and hose guide features are really convenient. I have one that is over 15 years old and doesn’t have these cool bells-and-whistles. I put a big, colorful ceramic frog on top of mine.
ReplyDeleteYou know, that's one thing we though about. There are so many options. We thought about how we use it, how often we use it, what we do with it, the fact that 5 days at a time it's not being used, so it just made the most sense. And I LOVE the idea of the ceramic frog. I'll have to keep an eye out for something fun to put on top of ours. :-)
DeleteOh how I want pea gravel! I often say to my husband, "we need pea gravel" but he just walks by shaking his head mumbling something about "pea brains." Still, your new hose area looks great. We have about six hoses we sling all over the farm, like big green snakes. One day though, we'll look as lovely as you. And those before and after pics of your back yard?! Job well done you two!!!
ReplyDeleteHa, thanks. These were bags we bought at the local big box store. I think we used five bags. Probably not the cheapest way but it was the easiest and quickest. Thank you for the kind words about the before and after. It was work but we're getting there. Doing all this hard stuff before we get too old to do it, ha.
DeleteGreat looking hose cart and really made that bed look neat and tidy. Made for a nice improvement.
ReplyDeleteWe have a green Ames hose cart that we have had for 15 years now . Don't think they even sell the one we have anymore. Has lifetime warranty.
A couple years ago our handle had broke; contacted the company, told them what part we needed, and they sent new replacement with no charge.
Nice thing I like about ours is that there is storage area underneath the lid.
I like yours because it swivels.
By the way; love your before and after shots. The farm place is really coming along nicely.
Ames is a great company. Storage underneath would be nice. Thanks about the before and after. It's work but we're getting there, slowly but surely. Now we just need some more buildings, y'all wanna come down? HA!!!
DeleteLove the (large) hose reel. It really makes the area nice & tidy. And, I love the idea that it swivels. One word of caution (hate to be the Debbie downer) but .... if the hose hasn't been used in a while, please take the top off & check for snakes occasionally. Yep, they love dark dry spaces to hang out in ... sorry.
ReplyDeleteHi there!!! Oh yes, you can be a Debbie Downer, it's ok, I wondered about that and I've been making sure to "calmly" open the lid and look before I start unrolling or swiveling. Oh and that's why I made sure there wasn't dirt or grass around it, so we can have a clear view of what's inside and around it, ha. Warn us anytime, we need it!!!
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