We did this quick update to the kitchen the other day. A few years ago, my husband’s grandparents moved out of their home of forty years. When they moved, a LOT if things got thrown out – or passed down. One thing they threw out (and we promptly snatched up) was this coat rack that Brett’s Dad made in shop as a teenager. It was weathered authentically after being stored in the potting shed for years, and I thought it’d be a great option for our place, so we took it back to our apartment at the time and it has lived with us ever since.

The other day it occurred to me that it takes up a considerable amount of floor space and that dog hair was collecting around the four feet. I try to minimize the things around which dog hair can collect, so I knew it was time for the coat rack to go.

I’ve seen a lot of pictures of mudrooms with board and batten style framework that I LOVE, but with our front door opening into the living room (and without an official “entry hall”) it hasn’t been possible to incorporate that sort of look into our entry. However, it occurred to me that the corner where the coat rack lives (in our eat-in kitchen) would be the perfect place to install some psuedo-board and batten with some hooks for hanging various sweaters and my purse, which effectively gets outerwear off of the dining room chairs and keeps my purse off of the kitchen counter (ick) or floor.

Luckily, we had some leftover stained boards from our craft center project in the basement (oops, I haven’t blogged about that yet) and so all I had to do was cut them to length, screw them into the studs and attach some metal hooks. I purchased 8 hooks at roughly $3 per two-pack. I spaced them far enough apart that we could hang up bags or coats without the space being too crowded. Since I screwed the boards into the studs first, and attached the hooks after, I appreciated that the boards were stable and didn’t move as I hand-screwed the hooks into place. Granted, if I were to do this project again I would probably pre-drill the holes as that makes it easier to tighten all of those screws. However, I wasn’t sure how far apart the hooks needed to be and wanted to visualize that before drilling or screwing anything. So I “winged” it… As usual…

Brett went to the garage for any steps involving me and a drill or screwdriver. He hates my lack of measuring and can’t handle it.

Turned out pretty good… if I do say so myself!