So who else has a problem with Target and Hobby Lobby? Every time I go into one of them, I always leave with things I don’t need! A few years ago while I was strolling through Hobby Lobby, I came across this geo bear head and had to have it! The Bearded Fellow and I have a long going inside joke about bears (when I say long going I mean 20 years…damn…am I really that old?!) so anytime I see something cool with a bear on it, I gotta get it. So I patiently waited for Hobby Lobby to put it 50% (cuz, ya know, they do that every few weeks) and once it was, I swooped in and bought it. Like a lot of my house projects, this one was on the back burner so that head sat in my office until last week. Now its hanging in my living room confidently holding jackets and leashes.
I put together this tutorial for all of those interested in making their own. I made this completely out of scrap wood I had laying around the shop, but you can get everything that I used at any hardware store. Even though you don’t have the bear head, there’s a good chance Hobby Lobby still has it! You can also put whatever you want above your hooks – doesn’t have to be a bear! You can paint a quote, put your name, paint a picture, make a pattern out of wood…hey you might even be like me and have something that’s just been laying around waiting to be used – the possibilities are endless!!!
My goal for this quick project was to use scraps and what I had around the house so use whatever paint ya got – wall paint, spray paint, sample paint, craft paint, anything! The full tutorial is below with a video at the end to show you how I did everything.
Here’s what you’ll need for this project:
– 3/4″ plywood @ 16×20.5
– trim wood (lattice molding would work great)
– your decoration for the top
– 4 single robe hooks & screws
– white paint
– foam roller
– stain
– 5/8″ brad nails
– nail gun
– wood glue
– 120 grit sandpaper
– drill
– 2 3/4″ screws (for bear)
– straight edge
First, you’ll want to cut your 3/4″ plywood down to size – most home improvement stores will do this for you. I cut mine to 16×20.5. Now, you’ll want to take your trim and place it flush against one side and mark our cut line.
Keep each trim piece next to its coordinating side. When you’ve cut all 4 pieces, it should look like this.
An easy way to remember which trim piece goes to which side is to write a matching number on both the back of the trim and side of the plywood. Like this:
Once all your pieces are cut, its time for paint and stain. Add your first coat of paint – I’m lazy…eeerrr…I mean efficient so I just dip my roller right in the paint. There’s no tray to clean up and again, I’m hella lazy! Just be careful. If you push to hard on the roller, paint will fling everywhere. It can get messy! I’ve been using this “technique” for years and it works well for me. LOL
Set your plywood off to the side and get ready for stain! You’ll want to stain everything but the side that you wrote your numbers on. I stain a little bit on the backside (see pic to see what I mean) so that if it ends up showing at all, it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb.
Your first coat of paint should be dry by now. Throw on another coat and call it a day (on the paint that is – we still got stuff to do!). When the second coat is dry, bring everything back together and grab your wood glue, nail gun, brads, drill, bits, and screws. You’ll wanna dry fit everything to see how it looks. I used a speed square as a straight edge to make sure everything was straight. Once everything is where you want it, predrill your holes and screw everything into place.
Once everything is screwed in, grab your nail gun and throw some 5/8″ brads in that bad boy. Match up your trim pieces with their coordinating numbers and grab your wood glue. Start with your top and bottom pieces – put a line of wood glue down the back of the trim and nail it into place. I put a scrap piece of wood under the wall rack to lift it up off of the table so that I would have more wiggle room and my nails would go in straight (instead of crooked because the table was in the way of my nail gun). Once the top and bottom are done, nail the sides and you’re ready to hang it!!
I used D-rings to hang mine up. They are more heavy duty than the sawtooth hangers and will take a beating! The easiest way I’ve found to use them is to make sure the back is the side that you can see metal through at the top. If you screw them in this way, you’ll get an L shape when they hang loose. This is a lifesaver when you’re hanging something by yourself and only have 2 hands because it will catch the hanger on the wall and won’t fold forward. Easy Peasy!
If you enjoyed this project and want to build it yourself, don’t forget to pin it! I’d love to see what you come up with too! Tag me on social media so I can see it!