One thing I truly appreciate about most Disney resorts is the well-thought-out placement of a rack to hang your rain jackets, umbrellas, Mickey ears, and such. This serves as great inspiration for creating your wall-mounted coat rack. The best news is that it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. It doesn’t need to cost anything at all! Keep reading to see how you can make a no-cost wall-mounted coat rack.
The Right Board for Your Coat Rack
Do you have an old board laying around somewhere? If you don’t, I’m willing to bet you have a friend or family member who does. The right board for your coat rack is any old board. I found a beat-up board hidden away in my basement. My board is around 36 inches wide and 10 inches tall. The beauty of this project is you can use whatever length board you have. The other good thing is the more beat up the board is, the better. I took a hammer and other blunt objects and whacked away forming all kinds of nice divots and scratches.
Giving Your Coat Rack Charm and Character
The next step in creating your no-cost coat rack is giving it character with color. You can use virtually any leftover paint or stain depending on your desired look. My goal is to create a shabby-chic farmhouse-style rack. To accomplish this goal, I implemented a simple technique you will see repeated in many of my DIY blogs. By using leftover school glue mixed with spare paint, I create a peeling or chippy paint effect on the board. Click to see my video description of this process here.
Making a Peeling or Chippy Paint Effect Using Glue and Paint
When applying the glue/paint mixture you have a few options. You can leave your board in its current state, allowing the natural wood color to show through the topcoat. Another option is to completely cover your board with a base coat of paint in a complementary or contrasting color. My board is well darkened with age, so I elected to leave it in an exposed state. You can see how the dark wood color creates a pleasant contrast with the white chippy paint effect on top.
Forcing Your Paint-Glue Mixture to Chip and Peel in a Hurry
I applied the chipping mixture to the board, somewhat heavily, using a coarse paintbrush. You can leave the mixture to dry on its own, but I find it much more satisfying to see everything happen at “high speed.” To speed the drying/cracking process along, I used a hairdryer set on low heat. Using a constant back and forth motion, I hold the hairdryer two to three inches above the mixture and watch it split, crack, and create all kinds of interesting designs on my board. Once the mixture is dry, I look it over and decide if I want to apply a second coat. Multiple coats of the mixture create more depth and dimension to the finished design. However, several coats also minimize the amount of wood, or base color you see.
Choosing “Hooks” for the No Cost Wall-Mounted Coat Rack
This is where you can have lots of fun and be creative. You need something you can screw into the board that sticks out enough to hang things on. This can be as simple as nails, cup hooks, plant hooks or as elaborate as cabinet hardware, doorknobs, or bathrobe hooks. To keep my project on the no-cost level, I rummaged through my collection of discarded hardware. Discovering a set of old, round, metal drawer pulls inspired me to put them to use.
Creating Free Shabby-Chic, Crackled Paint Drawer-Pull Coat Hooks
Fortunately, the drawer pulls are dark in color and protrude from the board enough to hang things on. I applied a mixture of glue and leftover white satin paint. Holding each pull by its base, I carefully used the hairdryer to set the crackled effect until dry. I ended up applying several coats of the mixture to gain the desired effect. I recommend lightly sanding the pulls before applying the mixture if they are shiny.
Preparing the board for the Shabby Chic Drawer Pulls
Having thoroughly dried the paint/glue mixture on the board and drawer pulls, it was time to assemble my coat rack. Again, this rack is fully customizable depending on your personal needs and design style. I chose to place my drawer-pull “hooks” about two inches from the bottom of the board. Using a carpenter’s square, I drew a straight horizontal line along the length of the board with an erasable pencil. Next, I measured and marked where I wanted my “hooks” along that horizontal line. Beginning in the very center, I spaced a total of five pencil marks five and one-half inches apart.
Applying the Shabby Chic Drawer-Pulls to the Wall Mounted Coat Rack
Now that everything was marked in pencil, I selected a drill bit sized to fit the drawer-pull hardware screws. Placing the board on top of another piece of scrap wood, I drilled holes straight through at each mark. Now, all that is left is erasing the pencil marks and screwing the hardware to the board. This is easily accomplished by inserting the hardware screws through the back of the pre-drilled holes. Hold the screw head still with one hand while twirling the drawer pulls clockwise with your other hand until firmly tightened.
Adding a Touch More Character to the Wall-Mounted Coat Rack
After looking over my finished coat rack, I felt it needed just a little more something. Returning to my hoarded hardware, I discovered this curvy little antique hinged drawer pull. After using the same paint/glue technique as described before, I allowed the drawer pull to dry completely. Hot glue was liberally applied to the rear side of the pull. The pull is metal therefore it does conduct heat! Holding the hinged part of the pull with a washcloth, I pressed the pull onto the center of the coat rack, holding it there until it cooled and stayed in place.
Hanging the Wall Mounted Coat Rack
Being very pleased with the way my no-cost wall-mounted coat rack looked, I contemplated how to attach it to the wall. I’m sure one could use the metal-toothed hooks you tap onto the back of picture frames with tiny nails. Considering the weight and quantity of all our coats and umbrellas, I wasn’t confident the tooth hooks would hold. Instead, I elected to screw the coat rack directly into wall studs on each side using wood screws. This creates a solid secure hold while keeping the coat rack completely flush with the wall.
How Has the Coat Rack Performed?
Having used this rack for several years, it continues to hold up exceptionally well. It is loaded up with coats, fleeces, caps, and hats in the fall and winter months. During spring and summer, the hooks are graced with straw hats, umbrellas, rain jackets, and such. It is a convenient way to keep things tidy while having them within reach when heading out the door.
More Ideas Like This
I have no doubt you can create a similar no-cost wall-mounted coat rack for your family! If you enjoy simple, low, or no-cost home improvement projects like this, be sure to bookmark this blog. Also, be my guest at the Sawdust and Cornbread YouTube Channel for helpful DIY videos. You can also check to see if you found all the Disney Easter eggs hidden in this week’s blog posts. Until next time remember, “‘You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.”
~ Lora Lea
