Five Hooks.

The coat rack in my hallway is always a topic of conversation when we have company.
Where did you find that?
You made it?
How?
Whaaaat????

I'm not writing this post to say that I'm somehow amazing or special because I made a coat rack.
I just wanted to share how I put it together and what paint technique I used.
There are always things that I see in stores or online that I'd love to have but can't afford, so I find a way to make them myself. This coat rack is no exception.

A while back I saw a coat rack that someone made using an old baseball score board. The idea of the numbers with the hooks came from that inspiration.
Also, whenever we have friends over to play there are multiple diaper bags/purses but we never had a great place to put them. If they were on the floor the kids (mostly mine) would investigate them by pulling out most of the contents. If there were on top of something like the counter or table they just ended up being in the way.
Now that we have these hooks in place it makes having company more relaxing.
Is it weird that I feel that way? Maybe? lol

Okay, so here's the low down of how I put this awesome coat rack together.

I started with two 1"x6" boards (they really measure about 3/4" x 5 1/2"), 5 feet long.

After sanding them down, I painted them separately using a paint/water mixture. To achieve this I place some of my paint color into a disposable cup and added a little water. Mix together.
Because this was such a small project and I wanted it to look professional, I used real latex paint. Most home improvement stores sell sample paints for just a couple dollars. I was able to find the colors I wanted without having large cans of unused paint laying around.
I chose Martha Stewart Living Francesca to paint to numbers and Glidden Interior-Eggshell Parchment White as my base color.
These small cans ended up being the perfect amount with plenty leftover.

I wanted the paint to just lightly cover the boards. More like a white wash type look.
So, I brushed the paint on and wiped it off after a couple seconds with a dry rag or paper towel. I continued with this technique until I had the look I wanted.

After the base coat was completely dry I used a combination of "L" brackets and straight brackets (there is probably a technical name for them but I'm not sure what it might be) to connect the two boards together on the backside.

Next I printed out numbers 1 thru 5 using a typography I liked from my word processor and enlarging them to the size I wanted. After cutting them out I used them as my stencil to lightly trace around them with a pencil on the front side of the boards.

 See the faint lines of the number 5?

The numbers I painted in free-hand using a small paint brush, like one used for watercolors.

After everything dried completely I used some fine grade sandpaper to lightly sand over the entire piece. I wanted it to have a slight weathered, distressed look.



 The 5 hooks were purchased from Target, I found them cheaper there than at the home improvement store. I added one under each number.

It's attached to the wall with anchors and screws.
I couldn't be more happy with the end results of the this project.
It's one of my favorite pieces and makes me so happy.


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I'm working on some new posts. Is there anything you'd like to know?
Leave a comment and I'll answer with a blog post.