DIY Coat Hook Rack

As part of my entryway redesign, I made a DIY coat hook out of a picture frame.  For Christmas, Hubby bought me this picture frame from Burlington Coat Factory:

But we didn't have a good place to hang this frame and I wasn't crazy about the lettering written on.  After shopping around for coat hooks and shelves, I couldn't find anything slim enough to fit behind my front door and decided to make a  DIY coat hook myself.

The first step was to replace the matting since I wanted to get rid of the lettering on the existing matting and needed to hang the frame horizontally.  I bought some poster card-stock at AC Moore and laid the existing matting on top.  Using a sharp exact-o knife and a metal ruler as a guide, I cut out new photo openings in the card stock.

 

Once this was done, it was time to add coat hooks to the frame.  I bought two double packs of oil rubbed bronze finish robe hooks from Target.  To figure out how far apart I should place the four robe hooks, I measured the length of the entire frame which was 22 inches, I divided this by 5 (there are 4 hooks, so divide by 5) and placed a coat hook every 4.4 inches.  I attached them using a cordless drill and the screws that were provided along with the hooks.  Make sure you remove the glass before drilling anything, so you don't accidentally drill into it and break it!

  

Once the hooks were in place, it was time to add the matting and new photos to the frame.  Since this was going to hang in my new diy entryway that I would see whenever I walked into the door, I wanted to hang photos that were cheery and would make me happy.  I chose 3 photos we had taken on our honeymoon, 2 closeups of exotic flowers and 1 photo of a gorgeous sunset.  The vacation photos make the entryway and coat rack look more personalized. 

Once the photos and new matting were in, I was ready to hang my new coat rack!

 

 

This project is shared on Today's Creative Blog.

Small Entryway Design

For the first few months of living in our home, something bothered me whenever I walked in the door. There was nothing inviting about my entryway, in fact I didn't have much of an entry way at all.

Entryways are the first thing guests see when they walk in your house so they should feel inviting and make a nice first impression. But I didn't have an entry way. All I had was this boring beige boxy area that wasn't welcoming and made no statement other than "we're boring!" Not the impression I was looking to make!

Even worse, my entryway wasn't functional. There was no place to easily drop shoes, bags, or jackets. Plus, I like for everyone to take off their shoes when they walk in my house so I wanted something in the entry way to signal to guests that they should do so without me having to ask.

I started brainstorming entry way ideas and thought a nice boot tray would do the trick of politely suggesting to guests that they should remove their shoes. I found this nice boot tray with a fleur-de-lis pattern from Ballard Designs but didn't want to shell out $49 for something to hold my shoes. So I decided to make one myself.

I bought this scalloped boot tray from WalMart in beige.  It looked plain, but the shape and design had a lot of potential (picture it in a bland tan/beige color).

I spray painted it a warm brown Rust-Oleum textured stone finish spray paint. The spray paint gives it a much more finished look.  And for about $5 I have a tray that looks a lot like the $50 on from Ballard Designs.

But I still needed to add storage for jackets and other items. Since my entryway is pretty small, many traditional coat hooks and entryway shelves and cubbies were to wide and would have prevented the door from opening all the way. So I decided to make a diy coat rack out of a picture frame. Check out my step-by-step guide on how I made this diy coat hook rack.

The boot tray and coat hooks added some much needed storage and functionality. To add some style, I added an art piece I picked up at Christmas Tree Shops to decorate the space.

To complete the redesign, we painted the entry way the same color as the adjoining living room- a warm, inviting yellow.  The door and trim was painted white to add a finishing touch to the walls. 

 

Tada!  A functional, stylish, inviting entryway!

I'm sharing this project on Diy Day, Thrifty Thursday, Transformation Thursday, Metamorphosis Monday.

DIY House Number Projects

Happy 09-09-09!  In honor of today's fun numerical date, I've pulled together some of my favorite ways to display another special number- your house number.  I've come across lots of fun diy projects to show off your home address:

Painting your house number on your door is a great way to add style to your entrance and allow your house number to easily be seen.

Project by It's the Little Things

One of my favorite home address projects are these diy planters which are a fun way to display your house number in the summertime. 

Project by Evangeline's Vine

In the fall, pumpkins can be carved or stenciled with your home address.  The pumpkins below look very festive and elegant.  I bet they would also look very cool for Halloween with the house numbers written in a "spooky" font.

Project by DIY Show Off

Project by Sunset 

Doormats are another great place to display your house number.  Here's an easy diy doormat where the address was stenciled on with spray paint:

  Project by Martha Stewart 

    

Lanterns are another place to display your house number.  These lanterns were made for a wedding, but I think they would look really cute on a front porch showing off your house number.  

  Project by Intimate Weddings

For a more durable lantern, I would try painting the house number on the inside of a mason jar or other glass jar and setting a candle inside.  You could also carve or punch holes into a tin or can in the shape of your address and use a candle to illuminate.  Any other ideas to DIY your address?