One of the easiest ways to instantly double your hanging space in a closet is to add a double hang closet rod. You can buy one from the store but making a DIY version gives you the option to easily customize the height/length to fit your closet, plus it’s inexpensive, quick and fun to make your own!
You can get everything you need at the hardware store: 1 hardwood dowel (1 1/4” diameter), 4-8 eye screws (2 for the rod, and the rest for the purses), chain (2 lengths of ~ 3.5 ft long), 4 chain links, s-hooks (for the purses)
Step 1: Cut the dowel to the length that you need (you can have it cut at the hardware store or use a miter box and saw)
Step 2: Drill pilot holes and put in eye screws at each end of the dowel (these will be used to hang the dowel). If you don’t have a drill, you can use a nail and a hammer to make a pilot hole. Repeat for the eye screws that will be used for the purses, on the opposite side of the dowel.
Step 3: Attach the 2 chain lengths to the top closet rod using the chain links
Step 4: Attach the chain to the eye screws on the dowel using the chain links – adjust the length as desired.
Step 5: To store your purses, use s-hooks and to store long boots, use pant or skirt hangers (to protect soft leather, pad the clips with foam or cardboard).
The addition of this double hang rod has made a huge difference in how organized my closet is – now I can quickly get to everything I need everyday and I especially love how my boots no longer flop to the side in a big pile on the floor!
I’ve always loved door knockers – they come in an infinite array of designs, as you can see in this roundup of gorgeous and unique door knockers, and they add a touch of personality and fun to a front door.
I have a beautiful door knocker that was given to me as a gift, and it’s been sitting in a box for years because like many renters and condo owners out there, rules and regulations have prevented me from installing it on my front door…. Then recently, this idea popped into my head: why not hang it on a wall instead of a door and frame it with an old vintage frame? Instant wall art!
I love the way it turned out – it’s the perfect addition to my eclectic gallery wall of memories and now I get to enjoy looking at my door knocker, whether I can put in on my front door or not.
If you’re like me and only have a limited amount of shelving space to store things, with no room to add more, a great solution is to make custom DIY shelf inserts. They are easy and inexpensive to make and will allow you the freedom to configure your shelf space to meet your specific needs.
You only a few basic materials and tools to built them: 4″ x 1″ or 6″ x 1″ pine board, wood glue, screws, corner clamps, drill and a countersink drill bit, wood filler and stain or paint (optional). The steps for making this are the same as for making the shelf from this previous post, except that you don’t need the bottom piece.
It’s an easy and quick way to customize your shelving to work with the kinds of things you have to store, and at the same time makes it easier to get to everything.
I was looking for a simple coat rack to install on wall panels I was making for an episode and I couldn’t find anything affordable that I liked in the stores. So I decided to design my own coat rack using a piece of 4″ x 1″ pine board (less than $1 per ft) and simple wood knobs (~$1.20 per knob).
It’s really simple to build and easy to customize to meet your needs:
Step 1: Cut the piece of 4″ x 1″ to the length that you want your coat rack to be, sand the edges and stain or paint the color of your choice. I used Minwax classic gray stain.
Step 2: On the back of the coat rack, mark the location of the knobs - using a speed square makes this part easier.
Step 3: Drill a hole for each knob using a countersink drill bit – this will allow the heads of the screws to be set (countersunk) into the wood.
Step 4: Install the screws that come with the knobs, making sure the head of the screws are flush or just below the surface of the wood. You’ll want to raise the 4″ x 1″ by about an inch or two while doing this to give enough room for the screws to go all the way through to the other side.
Step 5 : Install knobs
Step 6: Drill pilot holes with a countersink drill bit on both sides of the coat rack for installing it on the wall.
And all that’s left is installing it on a wall or a wall panel like I did here. Make sure to use anchors strong enough to support the weight of whatever you’ll be hanging on the coat rack. Coats can be heavy! And if you don’t like seeing the exposed screws, you can use wood filler to conceal the screw heads. If you want to see how I made the wall panels, take a look at this episode.
When I moved into my small studio apartment, I asked the landlord to take out the closet door so I could place my bed next to it and not have to worry about the door clearance – not wanting to look at my stuff in the closet, a tension rod and a curtain was the perfect solution to close off the closet while still providing easy access.
(Meet my cat Lia – she decided she absolutely had to be in the picture – she loves posing!)
That’s a pretty conventional use of a tension rod, to put up a curtain. Well, after spending some quality time on Pinterest, I have now discovered a whole new world of possibilities: turns out that tension rods are workhorses for better organization, from shoe storage to kitchen cupboards to organizing your cleaning supplies under your bathroom cabinet.
If you want to see more ways to put tension rods to good use, check out my Pinterest board dedicated to them .
When you have a small kitchen like I do, you need to use every inch of space that you have. One way to maximize the space above the stove is to add a simple DIY shelf : it’s the perfect spot for extra large spice containers and cooking utensils. Everything is within easy reach when cooking and it frees up precious cabinet space for other things.
Here’s what you’ll need to build this simple shelf: 4″ x 1″ pine board (6 ft – less than $1 per ft), wood glue, wood filler, wood screws, corner clamps, drill and a countersink drill bit, and stain or paint
Step 1: Cut 2 pieces of the pine board the width of your stove and 2 pieces 5 inches high for the sides (you can do the cutting at the hardware store) – apply glue to the end of either one of the long or short pieces.
Step 2: Using 3″ corner clamps, join a long and short piece
Step 3: Drill 2 pilot holes through the top and side piece using a countersink drill bit – this will allow the head of the screws to sink below the surface.
Step 4: Screw the pieces together, using thin wood screws (this will help avoid the wood splitting)
Step 5: Repeat step 1 to 4 for the other side, and then put on the remaining long piece.
Step 6: Add wood filler to cover up the screw heads and sand everything
Step 7: Stain or paint – I used Minwax classic gray wood stain.
I simply rested my shelf on the top of the stove but adding a bracket to attach it to the wall will make it more stable. This extra shelf space has made me like my kitchen so much more and it’s the perfect addition to my DIY magnetic pizza pan spice rack and my reconfigured stove top!
A quick way to revamp an old dresser is to change out the knobs for some new decorative ones. Here’s an easy and budget-friendly way to make your very own DIY dresser knobs using shells – perfect if you’re looking to add a little bit of the beach to your decor:
What you’ll need: shells (I got mine from the Dollar Store), nuts & washers, bolts (about 1 to 1.5 inches longer than the thickness of the shell), scrap rigid cardboard, rubber bands and epoxy glue.
Step 1: Cut a piece of rigid cardboard so that it’s the width of the shell and extends past it by about an inch, and make a hole in the middle. It will act as the flat surface of the dresser drawer to set the bolt in place.
Step 2: Insert the bolt in the hole of the cardboard
Step 3: Pour epoxy glue into the shell cavity, making sure to have enough glue to cover the head of the bolt.
Step 4: Place the head of the bolt so that it touches the bottom of the shell cavity, while making sure the cardboard is flush to the back of the shell. Then move the bolt around so it is perpendicular to the cardboard.
Step 5: When the bolt is placed properly, use a rubber band to secure the cardboard in place, double check that the bolt is still touching the bottom of the shell cavity and still straight (it doesn’t have to be perfect but the straighter the better), then place the cardboard on the edge of 2 glasses. This will allow the epoxy to settle on the bottom and cover the head of the bolt. Let the epoxy harden.
And voila, you have beautiful shell knobs ready to give a new look to your dresser!
I love clamps and use them in many of my projects – I’ve tried many different ways to store them and I finally came up with this idea that works great for me: storing them on the rungs of a stool. Now my clamps don’t take up precious shelf or wall space and they are within easy reach when I’m working on something and need a clamp ASAP!
If you’re looking to hang your ironing board on the back of a door but don’t want to make any holes for hooks, use two inexpensive plastic over-the-door hooks. It’s easy, quick and your door will stay hole-free!
Pegboard is great for organizing tools – even if you live in an apartment and don’t have a workshop, you can install pegboard on the side of a bookcase to transform it into a mini-workshop. It might not seem like a lot of space, but it’s just enough to keep everything you need within reach.
You can get hooks made for pegboard, or dowels to hang your tools. If you have drapery hooks on hand, they’re an inexpensive alternative that can also work really well for some tools. You can cover up the side with a curtain as a finishing touch but since I love tools, I don’t feel the need to cover them up – they double as wall art for me!
