Repurposed Hutch Top into a Coat Rack Shelf

Repurposed Hutch Top into a Coat Rack Shelf

MyRepurposedLife before and after of a repurposed hutch top into a coat rack shelf

Sometimes I’m a little slow to process ideas. Today I’m going to show you a project that I have been waiting years for it to speak to me. I finally made this repurposed hutch top into a coat rack shelf.

My friend Cathy gave me this top piece of her china cabinet so long ago. It sort of got buried in my shed. I drug it out recently and decided that I must do something with it.

Many times when I can’t figure out what a piece wants to be I paint it. I think making the color uniform helps me to see what it can be. Look again at the before—you can see that once it’s all the same color, it is easier to talk to.

It’s at this point that I decided to make it a coat rack shelf by trimming off a little on each end, and adding some new lumber for a shelf and extending the bottom in order to accommodate the coat hooks.

I clamped the piece onto my compound miter saw and trimmed some off each side. I chose to do it right beyond the smaller hole—less to patch.

In order to have room to add hooks, I would need to add a board to the bottom of the original hutch top.

For a long time my Kreg R3 Jr. was my favorite, but I have found that this Kreg Jig K4 is much easier on my bad shoulder. It’s also much quicker to drill several pocket holes back to back.

You can see I used the pocket holes to attach the bottom board the the lower portion of the original piece.

The repurposed hutch top becomes a coat rack shelf . . .

If you look closely, you can see a small indentation that is perfect for the addition of a shelf.

I added more pocket holes to attach the shelf. I seriously don’t know how I ever built anything without pocket holes. It makes projects quick easy and it gives a strong, secure hold.

By the way, I had a visitor while I was doing this—a nephew. While he was watching me drill these holes a neighbor stopped by. I think both men were a little jealous of my Kreg Jig!

You never know what someone might put on this shelf, or who might try to do a pull-up on it. For extra strength I supplemented my pocket holes with Gorilla Wood Glue. The pocket holes are under the shelf, and screw into the original piece. I was sure to stagger the holes so they would not interfere with the screws/holes from the extension piece. Do you see that little mark by the pocket hole? I always mark my spots during a dry fit.

What do you think? It’s really turning out better than I imagined.

I mixed up some DIY chalky paint primer and gave everything 2 quick light coats.

I’ve seen this dresser on Pinterest for awhile now. I have loved the paint technique, but never really had anything with enough detail to pull it off.

I sort of followed the directions. I didn’t have the paint they did. I did a clear coat over the entire shelf.

(you can see a bunch of hooks in the background. I was trying to figure out which hooks to use for the coat rack)

I brushed on some black paint and wiped it back. I can’t say that I immediately loved the look.

I was testing out the hooks I had. I realized I needed shorter hooks, but I wasn’t liking the silver—brushed nickel.

I went back to my stash of hooks and found these oil rubbed bronze hooks from D. Lawless Hardware.

The paint technique didn’t turn out how I wanted or expected, but I’m okay with it. I have it hanging on my plank wall, above my kitchen cabinet window seat.

The small REPURPOSE sign is a tile that was made for me by a blog reader many years ago.

The color is much darker than the inspiration piece, but it’s growing on me.

What would you have done with this piece? Would it have taken you 4-5 years to complete?

gail

see more coat racks below:

Original article and pictures take www.myrepurposedlife.com site