Functional meets fun: Turn a tabletop ironing board into a coatrack

Do you still have a tabletop ironing board from college or your first apartment? If you do, or if you found one at a flea market or garage sale, how about transforming it into a functional yet eye-catching coatrack? Removing the legs makes it easy to mount this rack almost anywhere -- just make sure you mount it on studs in the wall, as the combined weight of the coats could pull the rack off a thin wall.
You can customize the paint job on this craft. If you're not a fan of the angles demonstrated in the tutorial, create whatever design you want. Try polka-dots or pinstripes, or pick a favorite stencil from the hobby shop and stencil over a primer base. Use any color combination to complement or contrast with the decor in the room where you'll be hanging your sensational new coatrack.
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Materials
- Wood tabletop ironing board
- Power drill
- Phillips-head screw tip or handheld Phillips screwdriver
- Fine-grit sanding block
- Clean rag or hand towel
- Chalk paint, glacier or pale blue
- 2-inch bristle brush
- Ruler
- Pencil
- Chalk paint, white
- Artist's paintbrush
- 1-inch painter's tape
- 4 coat hooks
- Drill tip
DIY Everywhere
Instructions
1. Remove the screws attaching the legs to the ironing board. Set aside the legs.
2. Sand the board's surface and edges until any finish is gone. Wipe off the sawdust with a clean rag.
3. Paint the surface and edges with the glacier-tone paint. Let it dry completely.
4. Lightly sand the board's surface and edges to create a slightly rough surface. Wipe with a clean rag. Apply a second coat of glacier paint and let it dry.
5. Place the board on the work surface horizontally, with the pointed end on the right side. Measure 3 inches in from the left edge. Set the ruler perpendicularly at that measurement. The ruler should be vertical and 3 inches in from the end, with the ruler's edge meeting the top edge of the board.
6. Make a mark at the halfway point of the ruler portion that's lying on the board.
7. Slide the ruler 5 inches to the right of the mark made in step 5. Make a mark at the top and bottom where the ruler meets the board.
8. Connect the mark in step 5 to the top mark in step 7. Connect the mark in step 5 to the bottom mark in step 7. This will make a "V." Extend each line around the top and bottom sides of the board, cutting across them.
9. Paint along the lines with white paint. Use the 2-inch brush to paint in the area now outlined on the left end section of the board. Paint the outside edges within the outline. Let the paint dry.
10. Place a strip of painter's tape so it runs horizontally from just above the center of the V-- where the mark from step 5 was -- to the right endpoint of the board. Place a strip of painter's tape so it runs horizontally from just below the center of the V-- where the mark from step 5 was -- to the right endpoint of the board.
11. Use the artist's paintbrush to paint white the area exposed between the two pieces of tape. Let the paint dry.
12. Place each hook 1 inch below the center painted line, equidistant from one another. Mark where the screw holes are. Remove the hooks. Drill a pilot hole in each mark.
13. Replace the hooks and screw each one in place.
14. Mount the coatrack where there are studs in the wall to support it.
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