Dumb or Genius? Rate this Newburgh, NY “Staircase Drawbridge”

"That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen", read the first comment on a photo of my staircase drawbridge. “'How did he die?' 'He went to get a pop tart'”, they continued. Boom. Roasted. But let me explain: I think this odd home improvement that we discovered when we bought our house in Newburgh, NY is actually one of the most genius inventions ever created.

Cool Home Modification in Newburgh, NY

This all started as a Facebook post looking for other people who found cool or random things in their home when they moved in. One woman commented that she inherited a bathtub in her garage because the previous owner was a dog groomer (and yes, she's used it herself, too). Someone else has a working fireplace in their walkout basement. Cool finds, yes, but nothing in comparison to my staircase drawbridge. Here's how it works:

Basement Staircase Drawbridge in Newburgh, NY

Our house is small. Like sub-900 square-feet small. Space is at a premium, so the previous owners decided to convert the staircase that leads down to the basement into a pantry. They installed heavy-duty shelves on the walls to hold everything from cans of beans to WD-40 (at least that's what's on our shelves). Now all they needed was a way to get to everything. That's where the drawbridge comes in.

How it Works

Even supporters of the funky home addition were perplexed on how it's used and stored. "Looks cool but I am wondering how you take off and put it back on without killing yourself lol", said one commenter. It's actually very simple. One one end of the plank is a hinge that attaches it to the far wall (circled above).

On the other end is a hook. When not in use, the plank is "up" with the hook attached to an eye hook screw in the ceiling, giving access to the stairs and basement below. When it's time to use it, I simply unhook the drawbridge and lower it down.

Now a drawbridge is the only thing that makes my tiny home a castle, but check out this actual castle that used to be owned by none other than Derek Jeter below (and look at the freaking LAGOON it comes with!).