DIY hook rack

Summer is here and I love having the kids home, the slower pace and lack of routine. But having the kids home and the nonchalant summer days come with a lot of extra mess. And the mess that has been killing me lately are all the towels, clothes and bating suits that somehow keep congregating on the kids’ bathroom floor. We need a place for these things. We also need the kids to pick these things up too but that’s another story.

So I decided to made a hook rack that will hopefully help and add a cute addition to their bathroom. This project can be used in almost any room in your home – a mudroom, entryway, kitchen, bedroom and of course – a bathroom. You pick what style hooks you want to change up the look. 

What I love about this project is that you can use very in expensive hooks or drawer pulls or knobs. Or you could splurge on just one really cool hook or knob and then pair it with some other less fancy knobs that all work well together and you’ve got a really cool piece.

Here’s what I did for my nautical-ish hook rack – feel free to change the size to fit your space and also change the knobs and hooks to the style you like. Along with the wood board – which was a remnant from Home Depot, I only had to buy 2 knobs for his project. I had everything else laying around. Yes, I might be a little bit of a hoarder. 

You’ll need the following:

• A piece of pine wood – I bought mine from the remnant section at Home Depot and had them cut it to the length I need. I really liked this piece because one side has a ridge to it which adds some character. The final size of my board is: 36″ x 8″
• paint & paint brush
• sand paper and/or electric sander
• drill and screwdriver
• hooks and/or knobs – I used 2 hooks and 3 drawer pulls
• hardware to attach hooks and knobs
• hardware to hang board

Instructions:

1. First, sand the wood to made the surface more suitable for painting. You can sand with an electric sander or by hand.

2. Paint the wood with a latex white paint – I used paint that I had leftover from other projects.

3. Once the paint is dry, sand the board again. This stage of sanding was to give the board a more antique, worn look. To help achieve this, I sanded more of the edges of the board with a few extra worn spots throughout.

4. When you like how the board looks, figure where your hooks and knobs will go. I love the look of using a variety of different hooks and knobs. To help them work well together, they should have some similar design elements – such as the metal finishes or coordinating colors. And you want to make sure they look balanced on the board. I used two larger matching whale tail hooks that I bought at Frontgate a long time ago. You can find them here. Or similar ones here. I separated them by mismatched but coordinating drawer pulls. I arranged them to be equal distance from each other – about 7″ apart, and about 3″ from the left and right edges.

5. Attach the hooks and knobs. If you’re attaching hooks, the screws go in from the front. If you’re attaching drawer knobs or pulls, they usually will need to be screwed in from the back. Be sure to measure carefully and use your drill and screwdriver to attach.

6. Now you have a custom-made hook rack and a place to hang all those fun things!

7. When done, hang the board with screws. Be sure to drill the screws into studs to be sure it’s secure.

This painted, mismatched hook rack is a great way to hang towels, bathing suits, or you could use it to display your necklaces or anything you want to show off. It also makes a unique and beautiful gift and you can really personalize it with different colors and hooks or knobs that fit the look you want. Hopefully it will be used and the towels and bathing suits won’t keep ending up on the floor!