diy hook rack

Over the weekend when I wasn't playing Pokemon Go (YOU GUYS IT'S SO FUN I can't stop), I was attempting to organize the kitchen. I'm super late on my spring cleaning - or super early? Either way, between the five cupboards and four drawers in our mini cook space, & it gets really hectic. Even though I did some major rearranging, I figured I needed to create more space to organize. There were a few elements at play here:

1. Apartment life means putting as few holes in the wall as possible. Which means no hooks directly in the wall. Reasonable enough.
2. I didn't feel like hunting for a perfectly sized shelf or rack, so I needed to get materials I could alter if needed.
3. Speaking of altering, I do not have a table saw, so I needed wood that was easy to cut with a blade.
4. Why not try to make it? We can make anything, right?

Here's what I used:

• 2 pieces of 1/8 inch basswood
• 1/4 inch wall hooks 
• Acrylic paint
• Wood glue
• Command strips (my favorite are the velcro kind because you can readjust as you hang)
• X-acto knife (not pictured)

First things first - if you basswood is too long, now is the time to cut. Basswood is nice as it's soft, and cutting two 1/8 inch pieces is much easier than cutting one 1/4 inch piece. Once you have trimmed your basswood with an x-acto blade, glue both pieces together with wood glue. Clamp tightly, and let dry.

Next, paint (or stain) the wood.

Once the paint as dried, mark every 2-3 inches along your wood, and screw in the wall hooks. Basswood is soft, so the hooks should screw in easily - however, it's easy to over-screw so watch out for that.

Press Command strips to the back of your hook rack. The velcro strips are nice because if you hang the rack crooked (like I always seem to do), you can readjust.

There's definitely something invigorating about a project that gets imagined & completed in the same day. Plus I found a Pikachu on my walk to the hardware store to pick up supplies. Yikes, you guys. I have a serious problem, & it's eating all of my phone's battery life.

xoxo,

-m.e.

P.S. Recognize these pot holders?

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