Mum’s $350 Bunnings clothesline solution

A mum in Queensland has transformed her backyard using $350 worth of Bunnings materials to make her own clothesline.

Christine Johnstone is so pleased with the results she says she actually enjoys hanging the washing now.

“I have four kids, so washing is life,” Mrs Johnstone told news.com.au with a laugh.

The 37-year-old, from Mount Isa, decided to build her own clothes line when her old clothes line broke.

“I had an old Hills hoist one but it was broken and I just wanted something that was big enough for the whole family, but didn’t take up the whole backyard,” Mrs Johnstone said.

Rather than just buying another Hills hoist Mrs Johnstone decided to build her own, putting to use the carpentry skills she had learnt growing up.

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“My dad is actually a carpenter, so I grew up around it and I’ve done two years’ work with him,” she said.

Mrs Johnstone went to Bunnings and spent roughly $350 on plastic planter buckets, brackets, clothesline, screws, pine posts and timber.

It took her two days to assemble her new clothes line, which at six metres long can hold a jumbo three to four loads of washing at a time.

“I needed help with concreting the post in because that’s a two person job, someone has got to hold the post while you put the concrete in,” Mrs Johnstone said.

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“But apart from that, I’ve done it all by myself.”

While Mrs Johnstone still needs to put pebbles and some plants down to decorate the area, she is over the moon with the results.

“Going outside and just seeing that in the backyard, it’s nice,” she said. “It’s not finished but (I) will get it sorted.”

Her new clothesline might have cost the price of a new Hills hoist, but Mrs Johnstone said she preferred to build exactly what she wanted.

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“I didn’t really look at the prices because I have always wanted something like that and I just thought I will build one,” she said.

Mrs Johnstone shared the results in the Bunnings Mums Australia Facebook group, writing that she “actually enjoys doing the washing now”.

Her post got over 100 comments from other mums who praised her “very clever” homemade clothesline.

“I’m totally stealing this idea!” one person commented.

“Excellent idea great for renters. We had to make one in a rental but we put it in the ground, which meant when we moved we had to fill the holes and put grass seeds down,” another wrote.