Repurposed Chalkboard Coat Rack

Here is a before of my inspiration piece.  I grabbed this from the side of the road in front of a house with a free sign on it.  It was a part of a desk that had been taken apart.

When I first picked this up I knew it needed to be some sort of command center or coat rack with chalkboards.  It has been at least 2 years, and that image has never left me so I finally decided to make it!

The first thing I needed to do was patch the huge holes that were on the side.  I decided to trace the shape of the holes on a scrap piece of wood (top left) and then cut them out with a jigsaw.

In the top right photo you can see they were not cut out perfectly, and that was fine, because after I filled it with Spackle, let it dry, and sanded it flat, it was perfect!  Perfectly smooth, and filled.  The second hole on the bottom right was filled as well.

Once I had the holes filled I found some scrap wood and started deciding how to beef it up.  I planned to add a top and bottom 1×3 to make a top shelf and bottom ledge.

This is when I realized that I really needed more space for my hooks.  I looked in my wood stash and found a 1×6 board that I could attach to extend my piece.

I knew that attaching with pocket holes was the sturdiest and easiest method.  I drilled them using my Kreg K5 Pocket-Hole Jig into the desk panel on the top and the bottom, every 6 to 7 inches.  I also drilled them into the 1×6 as well (not pictured).

I connected the 1×6 to the 1×3 bottom ledge with wood glue and 3/4” pocket holes and 1 1/4” pocket hole screws.  You can see I used my Kreg Right Angle Clamps to hold things in place.

Now I needed to attach the panel to the bottom ledge section.  I clamped the ledge down with my bar clamps bar clamps (left) then used wood glue and screwed the desk panel onto the 1×3 bottom ledge, using my pocket holes and screws (right).

Then I flipped it over and attached the panel to the top 1×3 shelf, and that was it!

I decided to use up the rest of my Rust-Oleum Chalkboard Spray paint on the raised panels.

After it dried I taped over the panel sections that I wanted to stay as chalkboards, and spray painted the rest of the coat rack with Rustoleum’s Gloss Ocean Mist.  I had some left over from my Repurposed Cupboard Door Bookshelf so I decided to go with what I had.

I carefully pulled off the paper and tape while the paint was still wet.  Look how perfect those chalkboard sections are!  I love Chalkboards!

I marked where my hooks needed to be on front and used some paint sticks as spacers to make it so I didn’t have to measure down every time.  🙂  Then I added two large d-rings to the back for hanging, this thing is heavy!  It is 64” long!  Lastly I primed my chalkboard surfaces and it was ready to hang!

I love the versatility of the chalkboards.  You could used it as a calendar, command center, or recipe boards!

I got the cast-iron hooks at Hobby Lobby when they were 50% off, so I spent $10 on hooks, and that was it!  I made the number labels for the hooks since they didn’t come with any, I think they would be cute with names too.

The shelves are a fun addition to add decorative accents and such!

When I first built this I was thinking I would sell it, but my kids ended up using this for their backpacks in stead of the ones in their rooms.  Ha ha!  Plus having a schedule on the chalkboards is super nice!

Where would you put this?!

Hugs,
Mindi

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