This DIY wall shelf with hooks was made entirely from scrap wood so my only expenditure was for the hooks themselves.  You can make your own in less than an hour!

How were your Thanksgiving/Black Friday festivities?  I hope everyone had a fun family weekend?

As a general rule, I prefer to do my Holiday shopping in my pajamas online, but a friend told me about “the most amazing bra” from Lululemon.  Lulu did have an online sale, but I had to brave the mall to try one on to figure out my size.

It didn’t go well.

In case you don’t know, Lululemon is an athletic shop featuring a lot of yoga-type gear.  Beautiful stuff, but with a lot of straps and bands and cut-outs to make you look chic while your ass is in the air in your downward dog.

Their bras are no exception – LOTS of (decorative) straps.

Let me give you a visual here; you’re trying to push an inflated balloon through a tennis racket.  The bulges you’d see were very like the amount of back fat I had oozing out of these bras.

The back people – not sexy cleavage at the front – oozing back boobs that were, quite honestly, perkier than anything I have up front.

Not only did I leave the mall depressed because of my aging and squishy body, but also pissed off because of the insanity of a mall parking lot on the Thursday before Black Friday.

Needless to say some stress-eating was in order so I scarfed down half-a-bag of Kernels cheesy dill popcorn. (I have earned those back boobs dammit!)

I’m much better off puttering in my garage making Christmas gifts like this DIY wall shelf with hooks.  (how was that for a tie-in? lol)

Miss Chloë has been pestering me for weeks to make her some hooks for her bedroom.  She wanted them to hang her dress-up tails from (I have been corrected – these are “Furricon tails” which are much more mature than regular dress-up tails).

Hooks on a board would have been easy enough, but I wanted to make something slightly more elaborate, that would also hold her other “Furricon” pieces.

wall shelf with hooks, key rack, coat rack, coat rack with tray, tray with hooks

I played around with some scrap wood in the garage and came up with this DIY wall shelf with hooks.

Note: all the boards for this build were ¾” thick.

wall shelf with hooks, key rack, coat rack, coat rack with tray, tray with hooks

wall shelf with hooks, key rack, coat rack, coat rack with tray, tray with hooks

You could easily make this longer or deeper by changing out a few measurements, but this DIY wall shelf with hooks (these plans anyways) have been sized at 4″ deep to fit behind a door.

wall shelf with hooks, key rack, coat rack, coat rack with tray, tray with hooks

I started by making the tray section.  You won’t see these side pieces in the building plans because I’ve replaced them with the decorative sides you’ll see further down this post.

I attached the back piece of the DIY wall shelf with wood glue and finishing nails.  The backing is large enough to close in the tray section and hold hooks for hanging coats, purses or… tails.

wall shelf with hooks, key rack, coat rack, coat rack with tray, tray with hooks

I know a lot of DIYers/woodworkers can freehand beautiful swirls and curls, but I’m not one of them.  I prefer the “trace-a-can” method for creating swooping edges.

wall shelf with hooks, key rack, coat rack, coat rack with tray, tray with hooks

For the sides of my DIY wall shelf with hooks, I traced a quart can of paint twice in an overlapping pattern and then smoothed it out when I was cutting with a jigsaw.

wall shelf with hooks, key rack, coat rack, coat rack with tray, tray with hooks

wall shelf with hooks, key rack, coat rack, coat rack with tray, tray with hooks

The sides were attached with wood glue and finishing nails and then clamped until dry.

wall shelf with hooks, key rack, coat rack, coat rack with tray, tray with hooks

Not too shabby for winging it eh?

Especially when you think that Wayfair is selling something very similar for $130 US.

Did I mention that this DIY wall shelf with hooks is made entirely from scrap wood I had lying around in the garage/ she-shop.  (Still trying to get the term “She-Shop” to become commonplace lol)

wall shelf with hooks, key rack, coat rack, coat rack with tray, tray with hooks

The tray section is shallow enough to hold keys, chapstick and/or loose change without making it difficult to retrieve them later.  It’s also deep enough to hold Furricon ears and paws:

wall shelf with hooks, key rack, coat rack, coat rack with tray, tray with hooks

I may have to make another (longer) version of this DIY wall shelf with hooks for near the front door.  I can hang my purse and coat and Hubby can drop his keys, sunglasses and wallet in the top.

wall shelf with hooks, key rack, coat rack, coat rack with tray, tray with hooks

I should have taken a photograph Chloë’s bedroom door closed so that you can see how neatly it tucks in behind.  She has all of her gear neatly put away, without taking up wall space that she might want to hang a picture, mirror or a corkboard on.

wall shelf with hooks, key rack, coat rack, coat rack with tray, tray with hooks

I think, all totaled, the build took me about 30 minutes so this DIY wall shelf with hooks would be a simple and functional gift you could make for friends or family.

wall shelf with hooks, key rack, coat rack, coat rack with tray, tray with hooks

My teachers always taught that we should close our essays by summarizing and referring back to the opening of the piece – but how do I connect a scrap wood project back to my oozing back boobs?

I guess I just did! lol

Have a great one!

 

 

 

2 Responses

  1. Honey, U need to look at all of ur drawings. They don’t match. The angles r all different.

  2. What angles? My drawings are all showing straight cuts except for the decorative edge at the bottom? If you are talking about the photos, that’s because I tend to build first and then draw building plans afterwards – the building plans are generally easier and more accurate than my “winging it” photos. Hope this helps.