Stylish storage ideas to hold crutches or walking sticks

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about how to add some va-va-voom to storing the ugly disability aids that we unfortunately have to have around our house.  As you might know from my post 5 Tips for styling your house to accommodate a disability there’s a number of different options I like to use that aren’t standard for styling around the house.

Other people’s homes sound like children playing (or fighting!) and dogs barking.  But – the sound of my house is the noise of crutches landing on the floor shortly followed by a series of words along the lines of ‘eff these bloody crutches’.  It’s literally just happened as I’m writing this… he’s in the kitchen, I’m in the living room and I’ve just heard them clatter to the floor!

When we’re sat in the living room the crutches normally end up on the floor so that’s where he used to store them.  Until I came up with one of my best ideas (even if I do say so myself!) which is to use an umbrella stand to store them in!

The one we chose was from £30 from John Lewis and is almost invisible once placed next to the sofa – this makes it unobtrusive and doesn’t shout ‘CRUTCHES!’ to me.  It’s a lovely simple design and it’s not too overpowering.

Can you see it next to the sofa?  Perfect!  Invisible!

There are also lots of great umbrella stand designs to suit your scheme, rattan, leather effect, metal.  The one thing you need to be careful about is that the height of the crutches is usually taller than an umbrella, so the stand needs to be heavy enough to stop it falling over as it could get ‘top heavy’.

Here’s a few I’ve found online to show the different styles and options you could pick to suit your scheme:

This first find is quite an Industrial or steam punk look, it’s heavy and sturdy, no falling over with this one and it’s priced around the £60 mark:

Photo Credit: Wayfair (www.wayfair.co.uk)

You can get a few rattan options if you’re a fan of the Country or rustic theme, these are a great option, you can spray paint them whatever colour you like, even give it a splash of copper or gold spray paint.  Or keep it neutral to let it blend in!  They are a range of different prices, I’ve seen rattan ones at over £120, but this one is around the £30 mark:

Photo Credit: Not on the High Street (www.notonthehighstreet.co.uk)

If you prefer the more modern look, how about this from Dwell – it’s sturdy, a simple design and will fit nicely next to an armchair or sofa:

Photo Credit: Dwell (www.dwell.co.uk)

Another option for storing crutches could be with a row of hooks on the wall.  I’m planning to do this in the kitchen as I don’t want an umbrella stand in there.  Something else for Mr Wheel Chic Home to trip over!  For the purposes of this picture I’ve used the hallway hooks, but you can see how it might work in your own home:

The trick with adding hanging these off hooks is to get the balance right so they don’t slide off.  But again it keeps them out of the way and you could really go to town on crazy funky hooks which make a real statement on the wall.  Make those crutches into a piece of artwork!!

What other ideas do you have for storing things away ?