Hanging Rack - Easy to Label, Wipe, & Re-Label (upcycled from scrap wood)

Previously, I'd hung 4 hooks on my daughters wall but that quickly proved to be too few hooks for her many items that I wanted for her to keep off of her floor. I wanted to hang more hooks but didn't want to add more holes in the Sheetrock. I had a scrap piece of wood leftover from another project that I attached these 7 hooks to & hung on her wall. But it didn't look "finished" enough, plus I wanted to be able to easily label her hooks & easily change the labels if I needed, hence the chalkboard paint.
Want to make your own? Here's what you'll need:
Scrap wood, cut to size if needed
Hooks & screws, as many or as few as you want
Wall hangers (I used 50-lb rated hangers)
chalkboard paint & brush
Chalk - various colors make for a fun, cheery board

This is the hook board without chalkboard paint, looking woefully unfinished.


After the paint dried, I hung the board & used a variety of colors to label and decorate it.

Here is her hook board with her jewelry organizer. Click here for the jewelry organizer tutorial.

Over-the-door shoe, hat, glove, & tights organizer, hook board, & jewelry organizer. She has no excuse for this stuff to ever be messy & disorganized again. ;)
If you've enjoyed this tutorial, please follow my blog. I love to share upcycling tutorials with folks who appreciate making nice items on the cheap. :)

Chalkboard Paint & the Scrap Metal Pile at the Dump - My New Loves :)

I have a confession. I have a new love... Chalkboard paint!! ;) Stay tuned... I'm working on several new organizational projects made on the cheap using scrap wood we had left over from other projects & upcycling found objects. 

That reminds me. I have another new love - the metal pile at the dump. ;) In two days I've found sheet metal, a tray, and a mirrored medicine cabinet. Stay tuned to see how I give them new life on the cheap by upcycling! :)

(Above)

Lens: Libatique

Film: AO BW

Flash: none
Click here to check out my tutorial for a "Welcome Friends, Please No Solicitors" sign made with chalkboard paint.  :)

Click here for a tutorial for a jewelry organizer.
Click here for a tutorial for a hanging rack.

Jewelry Organizer- New Life for old Frame (upcycled from old frame who's glass had broken)

I have several frames, large ones, that have broken glass that I've been holding onto knowing I could use them in the future. My mom had given a table-top jewelry organizer to my daughter. It worked, but my daughter would load up each arm with 4-5 pieces of jewelry in order to fit them all on it, some of them would drag on the shelf when it was turned because it wasn't tall enough, & it took up a lot of shelf space for the minimal efficiency it provided. I'm all for using empty wall space so using an old frame as a jewelry organizer was perfect. Also, each jewelry piece would be able to have its own hook, so she could quickly look at everything & decide what she wanted to wear as well as easily get rid of anything she didn't want anymore.

Here's what you need to make your own. :)
Old frame with broken glass removed
Staple gun & extra staples
Needle or long-nosed pliers or tin snips
Hardware cloth, 1/4 inch mesh
Chalkboard paint & brush (optional) - if your frame has a flat surface & you want to use chalk to label and/or decorate your frame
Chalk (optional) - a variety of colors makes for a more cheerful frame
Paint & brush (optional) - if your frame has textured surface & just needs a "freshening up"
Hammer
Old rag or sponge (optional - for applying paint to the hardware cloth)
S-hooks or metal wire & long-nosed pliers (to make your own s-hooks)
Measuring implement (optional)
Wall-hangers









1.) I could have used the needle-nosed pliers & wiggled out the metal pieces that previously held the frame backing in place, but since no one is going to see them when the organizer is hanging up, I just bent them over so they're flush with the wood.




2.) Use the edge of the staple gun to crease the hardware cloth into a 90-degree angle into the corner of the frame back & staple - I had to staple the hardware cloth into the side of the frame because the front of the frame was too thin to take the staples without the staples coming out of the front of the frame.




Here's the front of the frame with the hardware cloth stapled to it.




3.) (Optional) Use paintbrush to paint frame. Use old rag, dabbing it lightly with paint onto the hardware cloth.




4.) After the paint dries, hang, attach s-hooks (make your own with wire & long-nosed pliers if needed), organize jewelry, decorate and/or label with chalk, & enjoy!




Jewelry organizer shown with her hook board. Click here for hook board tutorial.




I happened to have some random plastic s-hooks around.




Clearly I haven't had a chance to make her s-hooks yet (& I didn't want to spend $20 on them). ;)





If you've enjoyed this tutorial, please follow my blog. I love to share upcycling tutorials with folks who appreciate making nice items on the cheap. :)

Organizing My Linen Closet in 3 hours for Under $40

Let it be said that I can not stand when things are disorganized. I'm a busy mom and when I reach for something I expect it to be there. I'm also not patient (a fact that I'm sure my husband would be willing to lovingly attest to) so when things aren't where they're supposed to be, I get, well, irritated.

That being said, I present the reorganization of my linen closet for under $40 (I bought 4 plastic drawer sets for $9.99 each, I owned all of the other items already).

To the far left is a shot of the linen

closet pre-organization before & to the right of that, a shot of the post organization.

A few disclaimers: this project took several hours (maybe 3), however that includes entertaining my son every 5-15 minutes so your time may vary. We also have a pup so I was careful with the personal care products, medicine, vitamins, etc. Kept a close eye on both the pup & my 2 1/2 year old while those items were out. We have a child-proof cover on the knob so once the door is closed, it's not an issue. Just something to keep in mind if you're tackling a project like this with pets and/or young kids around.

Here are the before shots of each shelf:

TOP SHELF: the fire extinguisher (not handy), toilet paper (which my daughter couldn't reach & I'd always have to drop what I was doing if she needed a new roll), a few random first aid items, a first aid kit, the clippers I use to cut my husband's & son's hair, my husband's travel toiletry bag, & a tin of great soaps I got for Christmas.

2ND SHELF: To be honest, this shelf was not entirely

disorganized. I always knew where things

were. My family, however, did not. And they'd knock over items while riffling through the shelf looking for whatever they were looking for & I'd end up being the one who had to fix it. It just got old.

THIRD SHELF: Towel shelf. Probably the most well-organized. ;)

FOURTH SHELF: This was not good. Random beach towels. Large white plastic basket full of what had previously been organized items but had sort of become a "catch-all". Small plastic drawer full of baby first aid items I no longer needed (seriously, who needs THREE aspirators??), and the red bag is my travel toiletry bag.

BOTTOM: But the bottom of the linen closet was the worst. Plastic bags taking over, on top of that a cooler bag, several more cooler bags behind that & behind everything, a box full of paper bags, bubble wrap, & bubble mailers to reuse. There was also a hair dryer & hair straightener in there somewhere...

Getting started...

1.) First step was to clear out the personal care products, medicines, first aid items, etc & sort them. Don't forget to check expiration dates. I try to donate items that I'm not going to use before their expiration date but I don't always get to them in time... Keep in mind that a product is not rendered useless one day after the expiration date, however, if you're like me and you don't use medicine much, you're likely to have many products on hand that may be several years old that have just been used once or twice, if that.

First aid items for itchiness...

Homeopathic remedies, cough drops,

medicine, etc.

First aid products...

My husband's items...

Skin care solutions: aloe, witch hazel, bug spray, Tiger Balm, sunscreen, moisturizers.

This is a happy sight. An empty shelf. Clean, after being wiped down with a vinegar & water solution.

I emptied out the bottom of the linen closet & swept it. Sorted the plastic bags & re-organized the box of paper bags, bubble, wrap, & bubble mailers (to reuse). Set everything else aside to reorganize later.

To cut down on dead space in the closet, it was worth it to take the time to remove many of the products from their boxes. Sometimes the inserts have coupons so it's worth it to check them. I wanted to keep some of the inserts with their medications (not all medications have complete instructions on the bottle) so I taped them.

Going through the expired items, I sorted the paperboard, paper, trash, & plastic.

TOP SHELF: The top shelf is DONE! And for free. I had the basket already. Cooler bags in the basket, beach blankets to the right.

SECOND SHELF:

I moved the towels up one shelf. From left to right: hand towels, bath towels, bath mats.

THIRD SHELF:

DONE. The two bottom drawers cost $9.99 each. The plastic container with no lid on the left holds all of our painkillers & supplements - the supplements had previously been in our kitchen so I was able to free up that space out in our cabinet. The plastic drawer on the left holds my husbands items. On the right, top to bottom: the basket holds two 7-day travel pill containers. If we ever get ambitious enough to start taking supplements again, we'll be able to get to them easily. Under the basket, the plastic drawer holds the kids medicines - I already had this drawer set so it was FREE. And the bottom plastic drawer holds my items - this was a new drawer, $9.99. To the left of everything are the hair clippers & my husbands travel toiletry bag & to the right of everything is my red travel toiletry bag.

FOURTH SHELF:

I already had the plastic basket so that was free. It holds extra band-aids, q-tips, my Christmas soaps in bags, hair care items, etc. The two plastic drawers each are new & cost $9.99 a piece. The one on the left holds first air products & the one on the right holds cold care remedies.

BOTTOM: The box is reorganized with paper bags, bubble wrap, & bubble mailers. In front of that is the fire extinguisher (easy to get to), the first aid kit (easy to get to), & the toilet paper (easy to get to - especially for my daughter).

DONE! :)