Wall Mounted Coat & Robe Hooks

The house of Redwoodshire was built in 1860.  Though we do not yet know much about the history of the property, the house was very much a poor old farmhouse- low ceilings throughout, narrow hallways, and very limited closets.  Our renovation to the house, converted 1 of the 2 upstairs hall closets into our bedroom closet.  The other upstairs closet was lost to the new staircase, however we were able to replace it with a closet under the stairs.  This was a necessity considering there were no closets downstairs.  Like most Americans, we have a lot of stuff.  I like to think I tend towards minimalism- at least I like the idea of it.  Contrarily, the Laird loves collecting things and having a little bit of everything; games, toys, tools, books... you name it.  Between the two of us, we balance one another out.  He likes to see all the cool things he owns.  I like it all to be hidden away or nicely organized.  

The under stairs closet is located on the other side of the house from our main entry- not exactly practical for hanging coats.  Currently, the entry is severely lacking in a practical system for coats, wallets, keys and shoes.  The shoes get left wherever the wearer takes them off and end up blocking the walkway.  Coats end up draped over the back of my sweet Pottery Barn Glider (from Craigs List). Initially, to bring some order to all the chaos of jackets I purchase a standing coat rack.  It worked well for a few months, but the screws got loose and if the jackets were not placed properly to balance one another, the coat rack would tip over and take out the lamp.   My hope is to create a mudroom coat & shoe system- out of a storage bench with shoe cubbies, a cubby tower for bags, and then top it off with the coat rack.  Pottery Barn has a nice system, but it costs a fortune.  I have been searching online and on craigslist for things we can possibly up-cycle and use to create our bench and cubby system.  

I knew I wanted to build the coat rack, but hadn't decided on the hooks or wood.  Rather than spend any more time brainstorming and finding expensive options I liked, I decided to pick up some fairly inexpensive hooks from Lowes $4.  Nothing special, but they do the job great.  In our garage we also have a pile of pine, tongue and groove paneling that was saved from the stair renovation.  I cut the pine panels to the desired length and painted them white & creamy white.  Initially I watched some videos about distressing wood, in hopes of distressing my coat racks.  It did not work out as planned, so our coat racks are simply painted without the distressed marks.  I made a 5 hook rack for our entry, a 4 hook rack for our downstairs closet, a 2 hook robe rack for our room & a 1 hook dragonfly for lady genevieve.  The Laird kindly hung them up for me, and I am happy for a place to hang our coats, robes,  & towels.  I love living in a place surrounded by things I make with my hands.  I am growing somewhat addicted to hooks- I think this is only the beginning.  I would like a few hooks for the kitchen, one for my aprons and something for my dish towels.  And when it comes time to work on the bathroom, we will need hooks for towels in there as well....

  This is our entry way coat rack.  The hooks are spaced 8 1/2 inches apart, with 3 inches on each end.  Wood painted cream.  Rubbed oil bronze hooks.

A cute dragonflly hook for lady genevieve's room- wood painted white to match the trim in bedroom

This is our bedroom robe rack, the hooks are spaced 12 inches apart, with 3 inches on each end.  Wood painted white to match the trim in bedroom.  Rubbed oil bronze hooks.

Such an easy project, all you need is a wood board, paint, hooks, and screws.  A saw to cut the wood, and drill to attach the hooks.    I had to buy shorter screws than the hooks came with, since my boards were too thin.  We screwed the coat rack directly into a stud in the wall, with cabinet screws left over from our kitchen renovation.