How to Make a Simple DIY Hook Rack

There’s one room in my house that just drives me nuts.

No organization, nothing pretty about it, and it’s not functional for our family.

This room – our mudroom – needs a complete overhaul. I mean knocking down a few walls, fresh flooring, wall paint, and a complete rearrangement.

It seems like such a big project, so we’ve been consistently putting it off until summer…summer of 2016, then summer of 2017…. and here we are in 2018. So this year is the year. Mark my words!

I decided to get started on the mudroom makeover with little tasks to make the room more functional. Plus, knocking out some of the little things always makes a large task seem smaller.

First things first, there’s nowhere for coats or bags – except a hat stand in the corner, which just makes the room look messier.

So, I decided to make a simple wall-mounted hook rack for coats, scarves, and bags.

How to Build a Wall-Mounted Hook Rack

One of the things that drives me crazy about our mudroom is that it’s so disorganized. Since my project list for this year revolves around keeping an organized home, this is the perfect place to start.

So, I killed two birds with one stone by grabbing a piece of scrap wood from the garage and using that to make this simple DIY hook rack. One less piece of wood laying around the garage, and hopefully less coats and bags around the mudroom.

Materials for the DIY Hook Rack

• Piece of wood – I grabbed scrap wood from the garage that measured roughly 5″ x 24″.
• Paint or stain – I stained this piece with homemade stain!
• Four hooks – I picked them up at Home Depot – but these hooks are similar.
• Sander – I used my random orbital sander to restore the scrap wood to its former beautiful self. I used my saw horse clamp in conjunction with this.
• D-Rings – You can pick these up for a couple of bucks from the hardware store
• Screwdriver, Ruler, Pencil, and Sharpie

Instructions for Making the DIY Hook Rack

Now for the instructions on how to build a wall-mounted hook rack – and I’m sure you’ll find it quite simple. First, I grabbed a piece of scrap wood that looked like it would nicely fit four hooks. It was roughly a 5″ x 24″ piece.

Sanding the Scrap Wood

I put it into my saw horse clamp, so I could easily sand it down. It was a little beat up from laying around the garage.

Next, I used the random orbital sander to smooth the wood. This is one of my favorite tools because it does a very even and consistent sanding job. I used 80 grit sanding paper for this task.

Not only did I sand both sides of the DIY hook rack to-be, but I also rounded the corners with the orbital sander.  Rounded edges add a nice touch of professionalism to any piece.

They are also easier on the fingers because they remove any splinters or coarse edges. If you have a router, you can take it a step further and bevel the edges to really impress your friends.

Staining the Hook Rack

Next, I stained the hook rack. I used a homemade wood stain made from pantry items – which I am loving! I stained it right on my kitchen table with no gloves.

What a treat to use a completely chemical-free wood stain! 🙂 Check out how I made this homemade wood stain.

Marking the Hook Rack

After the stain dried, I lined up my hooks evenly and marked where they would go with a pencil. I measured about 3 1/2 inches in from each side and place hooks there. Then, I evenly spread the remaining two hooks in the middle.

I used a ruler to line the bottom of the hooks up. Then, I put a dot with a sharpie in the center of each screw hole.

I got perfectly even hooks – without using a calculator 🙂

Applying a Finish

Next, I sealed the hook rack with Annie Sloan clear wax. One day I will make my own from beeswax 🙂 Once that dried, the DIY hook rack was ready to have the hooks attached.

Attaching the Hooks

To attach the hooks, I simply used a screwdriver. The wood was soft, so there was no need to pre-drill. I used an electric screwdriver to get most of the screw in. Then, I just tightened them with a regular screwdriver.

This was partially because of the awkward angle caused by the hooks. However when working with soft wood, it’s always a good idea to use tighten up your screws manually with a screwdriver. With a power tool, you can too easily overdrive a screw in soft wood resulting in no grip at all.

In attaching the hooks, I realized that the screws that came with the hooks were too long. They would have gone right through the wood. We had smaller screws in the garage, but they didn’t match the hooks. (See mis-matched pic below)

So, I had two options.

Screw Option 1

Use the screws that came with the hooks and then use the dremel or oscillating multi-tool, to clip off the ends.

Screw Option 2

Use smaller screws of a different color and then paint the screw head to match the hook.

I went with the latter option and painted the screw head with acrylic paint. I mixed black with a little blue and then dabbed it on with a very thin brush.

Mounting the DIY Hook Rack to the Wall

In mounting the DIY hook rack to the wall, we had two options.

Mounting Option 1

The first was to use D-rings at the back (these come with most mirror/frame hanging kits). This option didn’t alter the front of the hook rack at all.

Mounting Option 2

The second option was to drill a hole on both ends of the hook rack for wall screws, and plug the heads with caps.

I opted to use the D-rings because I wanted an unblemished surface without any caps.  If you end up using caps, consider getting wooden ones and stain them to match the rest of the hook rack.

Time & Cost

This project took me about an hour, if you don’t include dry time. The scrap wood was free, as well as the staining materials. I did have to purchase some D rings from the store for $4 and the hooks for about $10.

It’s already adding so much organization to our mudroom, and it is just the beginning of the mudroom makeover project. 2018 will definitely be the year. 🙂