Doorknob Coat Rack.

The hardware.

I have long wanted to make a coat rack out of old doorknobs but never really got around to it until now. So, on the advice of my friend Kerri I went to a little shop in the east end that is packed to the rafters full of old stuff: fans, radios, records, windows and yes, baskets of old doorknobs and plates. While I was there, I saw some old door locks and couldn’t resist.

$2.00 at a yard sale.

I bought 3 doorknobs, 3 plates, and 2 old locks for $13.00. The three old hooks I got at a yard sale for $2.00 total and a 1/2″ x 6” piece of wood cost about $6.00, (I had this piece left over from a former project.) The paint was left over trim paint, the screw covers were 15 cents apiece, the glue was around $8.00 and the screws were kicking around in a jar from a million years ago.  So the cost of making this little guy was around $30.00.

Here we go!

Knobs and plates.

Prep: At least 24 hours before, paint your wood and allow for drying time. The knobs and plates I bought were separate. I sorted through dozens of them to make sure they fit together, cleaned them up with a bit of steel wool and then I glued them together with a high performance glue that bonds metal. I let it sit for 24 hours to ensure it was secure.

Before

The Day of: The bare wall before, we marked out the studs in the wall with a pencil so we knew where to attach the rack securely. If you aren’t good with finding studs be sure to use plugs to hang the rack.

Cut your wood to the size you require.

Michael cut the wood to the size we needed with a saw we found in the basement. Very high tech. Many hardware stores with lumber departments will make one cut for you for free if you purchase the wood there. (Most people cut the wood prior to painting but this wood was already painted.)

Create your design and trace.

We then traced the hooks, doorknobs and locks and the screw placement for each with a pencil.

Mike attaches the board into the studs.

After tracing, we hung the board.

The fun part!

Then attached the knobs, hooks and locks to the wood with screws.

The caps to cover the heads of the screws.

We quickly realized that we couldn’t cover the screw heads with filler and paint as planned so I ran to the hardware store and got these nifty caps to go over the screw heads. I gave the board a touch up of paint in the spots that needed them and let it dry for an hour.

After: The finished rack.

All done!  A one of a kind rack for a little cash!

Little details.

The rack filled up with summer goodies.

Rack Detail.

A rack like this is a perfect landing spot for your keys, purse, helmet, grocery bags, and coats. This project is an easy DIY where anything goes. Add whatever you like, upside down faucets, mismatched hooks, anything that stuff can hang from!