My what a crazy world you must live in…I can predict gravity…it pull things down. I think that what j0lt meant was, toddlers are unpredictable.

I suppose gluing the cinderblocks to the wood then using a bracket to attach it to the wall would make it california safe though. A little extra work and cost but not much.

I guess sturdiness could be a problem at some point, but I’m sure the blocks could be cemented together or something. I would be more concerned about the structure colapsing on it’s own, over time anyway. Like j0lt said, gravity is holding it together and nobody can predict gravity. I would personally recomend a middle column of blocks to support the structure. Even a bunch of light items can cause it to buckle.

If it were me, the garage would be off limits to small children in the 1st place. Kids are notorious for climbing things but that’s why parents set rules. It probably wouldn’t matter what the shelves are made of, a book case would tip and hanging shelves, even if they are really sturdy, might come off the wall along with their contents.

I see a lot of parents giving their kids free range of the house. They either don’t care, are too busy to monitor them, or don’t consistantly enforce boundaries. They feel guilty, like they are being mean, give in then get frustrated when the kid pushes his limits so they give up. A child has no business climbing on furniture regardless of where it is anyway. That’s what toys and playgrounds are for.

Yes, so true! In our first house (lit by gaslight…), our living room, TV room, and spare bedroom were furnished with blocks & boards. In those days, TV sets were bulky, heavy contraptions. I managed somehow to get a couple of two-inch-thick redwood boards (don’t ask how…I’d be surprised if they even manufacture such lumber anymore!), which I varnished & then set up across the CBs to support the television. It worked, and it actually LOOKED GOOD!

In the living room, we had eight-foot bookcases and a sofa table that held an old aquarium for our goldfish. They weren’t quite so handsome, but they sure did the job. And in the spare bedroom (our office) I built a big desk and another set of bookcases. The beauty of brick-&-board bookcases is that they’re infinitely expandable–you can keep adding to them as you need more storage space.

Painting the blocks helps a lot. So does staining and varnishing the boards…or just painting them a color that goes with your other bargain decor.

You can also build a desk with good storage by stretching boards across two low file cabinets, which you often find in yard sales. Just be sure you’re getting two cabinets that are the same height. Another device, which doesn’t provide you any storage space but which looks kinda stylish, is to lay boards across a pair of sawhorses. You don’t see those in yard sales as much as file cabinets, but they’re pretty cheap at HD.

Just now, my indoor bricks & boards are restricted to the closets in my home office & library (formerly a spare bedroom)–they fill up the interior of two long, narrow closets and provide a ton of space for linens, art & sewing supplies, Christmas wrap, wintertime table fan storage, small kitchen appliances & serving dishes that won’t fit in the small kitchen, tax records, computer gadgetry, and office supplies.

It was a very nice effect, and very cheap!

Why replace them? I got mighty tired of all the dust they collect. And yup…they DO look tacky. I have to wash my laundry in that garage, and also the garage is the first thing I see when I get home. It’s worth a little cash outlay to have the place not be messy, dirty, and depressing.

Besides, blocks take up so much space, you can get three times as much storage out of built shelving.

Thanks,
Mickey

So fellow frugalist…lame, but I had to include your blog in my top 3 Frugal Subversive nominations! So the post is here Me Frugal Subversive