Hello everyone, and welcome to the first blog of our UP-CYCLED DECOR BLOG SERIES.
Question - do you have unused curtains or scraps of fabric you can't seem to throw or make into anything?
When we moved into our forever-home, I was excited to get the double blinds I've always wanted to have. However, that left me with a few curtains that have now become redundant; but I had an idea...DOUBLE DOOR SNAKES!
I've already done a few before, but they do wear down (so please keep that in mind if you try this out). So, I decided to make new ones for our new home.
It's pretty easy and only requires the most basic sewing machine settings or hand stitch the whole thing!
What are they for?
Door snakes are excellent for temperature control, specially during the cold months. They're also good for sound/noise management. It won't cut out everything, of course. But muffles sound enough. They can also help manage the smells in the house if you use cat little; more on that below.
Lastly, they function as excellent door stops!
I'm one of those who hate plastic or any screw-on (the floor or kick-board) door stops. I took out all of those when we were doing our renovations. The weight of the door snakes in the photos are enough to hold the doors from swinging freely and banging on the walls.
Here's your step-by-step guide:
1. Measure the width of your door.
- If you want thick door snakes, add up to 1.5 cm to the measurement.
- If you want thin door snakes, add .5 to 1 cm to the measurement.
2. Measure the length you want. Don't go all the way to the edges of the door; make it at least 10 cm shorter.
3. Determine the thickness (or thinness) of the snakes that will lie on either side of the door.
4. Transfer all these measurements to your curtain (or scrap cloth you want).
If the material is thin, you might want to double it up.
5. Sew the open sides EXCEPT for ONE end so that you can fill it up.
- I used clay cat litter for our door snakes. Some use rice or dried legumes, but I personally think that's a waste of food. Clay cat litter is also natural, readily available and can help manage the odours in the house as well.
6. Use a funnel or a cut-off soda bottle to fill the body of the door snakes.
7. Funnel the granules slowly to mitigate the fine dust from spreading.
- Use a mask to protect yourself from inhaling the dust as well. Safety first!
8. Finish one side at a time, shaking and tamping down the door snake at regular intervals to pack it as solidly as you can. There will still be a little bit of space though, regardless of how tightly you may want to pack it.
9. Once both sides are full, hand-sew the ends.
...And you're done!
The bottom side (the floor side) will eventually collect dirt. I just vacuum those off. I also turn it every now and then to re-distribute the cat litter granules.
Eventually, the clay will powderise and reduce the thickness of the snakes.
When this happens, open up the hand-sewn side and add more cat litter.
Easy, isn't it!
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