How to Create a Rustic Coat Rack

First, thank you for all the love on my fall One Room Challenge reveal! I’m pleased to report that the laundry room is staying organized and is so much more functional than the old space. And the hallway is awesome too! I’ve received a few questions on how we created the rustic coat rack so thought I would share a quick tutorial.

Supplies

• Plywood: depending on your wall, you can buy the thickness that works best. For us, since the plank is up against the door frame, we needed a thickness of less than 1/4 inch. We had it cut to the length and width we needed at Lowes. The width on this one is 10 inches, but you could go smaller or bigger depending on the look you’re going for. I also recommend purchasing a more expensive piece of plywood to make sure there is some grain. This one is oak plywood - and we saved money by using a 4×4 piece and having two pieces cut; you can’t tell at all that it’s actually two pieces unless you’re looking closely.
• Stain of your choosing
• Polycrylic
• Nails long enough to hammer into the studs
• Hooks & screws (we used 10):
• Other tools: level, stud finder, hammer, screw driver

Steps

1. Prep & stain your plank: Before staining, I sanded the edges slightly (the cuts were kind of rough) and gave I once over with a sanding block. I also used Minwax wood conditioner to make sure the stain went on even. I used Minwax stain in dark walnut and cheap foam brushes to apply everything. I ended up doing two coats on each side (make sure to get the edges!). There were a few spots that were darker than others, but since I was going for a more rustic look, I was comfortable with how it turned out. After drying, I did two coats of polycrylic.
2. Find the studs: While the stain was drying, I found the studs in the wall and marked with a chalk pencil so I knew where to hammer in the nails.
3. Nail plank(s) to the wall: While my husband held the plank, I hammered three nails into each stud to secure the plank to the wall. I ended up adding a few more where the planks met in the center to nail the edges down. This was by far the quickest part of the project.
4. Measure and determine spacing of the hooks: Using you math skills (this was the hardest part for me!) determine the spacing for the hooks. Ours ended up being about 8 inches a part. After measuring, I marked where each hook would go with painters tape. Then I measured again to double check that everything was evenly spaced.
5. Screw hooks to the plank; remove tape

And that’s it! So far, so good - I’m loving having a place to hang my bags after work and keep our hall clean.