How To Turn (Just About) Anything Into A Coatrack

Who woulda guessed? Check out these crazy and clever DIY ideas of random materials (driftwood! piano parts!) that actually make for cool coatracks. -Brittany Pearlman, thisoldhouse.com

Adirondack Coatrack

This Old House general contractor Tom Silva made this one from 1× lumber and embellished it with a couple of strips of decorative, fluted door casing, available in a range of profiles and materials at home centers. Double coat hooks and wire storage baskets for holding mail, gloves, and miscellany maximize storage space, and the board-and-batten-like design protects the underlying wall from dings and dents. See the steps for this project in How to Build a Wall-Mounted Coatrack.

Doorknob Coatrack

Knock knock. For a project using vintage metal doorknobs, a toss-and-go coatrack seemed just the antidote. Using six knobs and their matching rosette backplates, all you need is an equally handsome piece of salvaged trim to mount them on. See all the steps for this project in How to Make a Door Knob Coatrack Step-by-Step.

Piano-Bar Coatrack

Play on! Use the back of an old piano as a subtle but interesting coatrack/ functional bookshelf (you can never have enough bookshelves, am I right?) in the entryway.

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Parthenon Coatrack

Columns are a bedrock of traditional architecture. The sum of three parts—a capital, a shaft, and a base—columns can be fancy, with a fluted body and scrolled volutes on top, or simple and smooth, with a stacked-ring crown.

Fitted with shapely brass hooks and standing about 6 feet tall on a new plinth base, it's the perfect coat tree. The fluted shaft and the egg-and-dart molding on the capital add a touch of formality to what's an otherwise casual entryway. See the full Step-by-Step project in How to Turn a Salvaged Column Into a Coat Tree.

Driftwood Rack

To make this beachy fixture, find a piece of driftwood that's a few feet long. Use a hand saw to cut off a third of the wood lengthwise so it lies flat against the wall. You'll need four hook screws; drill a pilot hole into the bottom of the wood for each, then screw them in. Finish by mounting the piece to the wall's studs with deck screws.

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