DIY Tie Rack

My husband is IMPOSSIBLE to buy for.

No matter what I get him, how ingenious I think I am, how carefully I select the ‘perfect’ item – he returns it…. even if it’s something he’s asked for. The call of a better price or a different colour will always find him, receipt in hand, back at the store with my present.

It’s infuriating! What do you do with a guy that won’t let you get him anything?

You MAKE him something! No returns possible, and even if he hates it…

well, let’s hope he doesn’t hate it.

Hubby received this early so that I could show you guys how to make this simple DIY tie rack / DIY jewellery rack for someone in your life. He always wears ties and he particularly loves wearing bow ties. He’s got hundreds of different colours and designs and if you want to find some of his favourites, you can buy these bow ties now. If your man loves wearing ties, a tie rack is the perfect gift!!

1 x 16 piece of wood or plywood – cut to 13″ by 20″
remaining piece cut to 2 1/2″by 20″
wood glue
two 1 1/4″ wood screws
scrap pegboard, or ruler and square.
9/16 dowel
Drill and 9/16 spade bit
sandpaper
stain & varnish and/or paint

I had a leftover piece of 1 x 16 in the garage, but it’s a pricey cut of wood – so if you don’t have one, don’t buy it – you can just as easily use 1/2″ plywood or piece together some 1×4 scraps and come up with the same DIY tie rack in the end.

Using wood glue, run a strip along the 20″ side of your large piece of wood and adhere the narrow strip. Use two 1 1/4″ wood screws to hold it in place tightly.

Hopefully you can get your hands on a scrap piece of pegboard – any size – because it will make the next step SO much easier.

Line up your pegboard so that it buts against the top shelf and the holes are evenly spaced from either side edge.

Count in a 4 by 5 pattern; mark every fourth row on the pegboard (see below) and then mark every 5th hole. Go down to your next marked row, start one row in from the row above and count out every 5th hole.

The reason for this staggered spacing is so that the ties will hang down without bumping into or covering up the ties beneath them. See the image below for a visual:

Once you have all of your holes marked, remove the peg board and, using your 9/16″ spade bit, drill holes at each mark. I stopped at about 1/4″ deep, but you can go all the way through if that’s easier – just be consistent throughout.

Give your DIY tie rack a nice sanding now to make life easier later.

Next you’ll want to cut your dowel pieces – this will depend on the depth of hole you just drilled. Ultimately, you want your pegs to stick out roughly the same amount as your shelf – less is okay, sticking out more is not. I cut my dowel pieces to 1 3/4″ long so they were slightly shorter than the depth of the top shelf. You’ll need approximately 20.

Add a dab of wood glue to each hole and tap the dowels into place.

Make sure it’s just a dab of glue – don’t do what I did here and overfill the holes; the excess glue will ooze out and it will show when you go to stain your piece.

Put something heavy on top of the pegs and leave until completely dry.

Paint or stain & varnish and you’re done!

I used 3/4″ dowel pieces on the bottom row of my (sorry, Hubby’s) DIY tie rack to hold his belts.

Top shelf can hold sunglasses, glasses, watches and/or a lint roller.

Hubby’s is already filled to capacity with 20 ties on it (a couple doubled up) and 8 belts. If your Hubby needs more than that you can a) build one wider than 20″ or b) ask him where he hides his second neck for all of those ties.

IF by chance it’s not the hit you/I hope it will be; you can always take it over for your jewellery. lol