Hang It Up With Doorknob Coat Hooks

by Rachel @ Fifty Two Weekends of DIY

I recently made these wall mounted coat hooks for our front entry. I love them because the doorknobs are coated with Plasti Dip which makes them nice and “grippy” and prevents coats and scarves from falling off.

I started by purchasing a few old doorknobs from the Habitat Restore. They were having a Customer Appreciation event so my knobs were less than a dollar a piece!  Also, if you do this, I would recommend going bold and opening up the bags to see what type of mechanism they have before purchasing. You want knobs that come apart easily. More on that in a minute.

Next, I headed over to our local hardware store to buy a can of black Plasti Dip. I thought Plasti Dip would be kinda scary to work with since it’s basically liquid plastic and the can has warning labels like “extremely flammable vapors.” However, once I got set up outside, it wasn’t a big deal. The smell was a bit like spray paint but not as strong. Just use the Plasti Dip outside, dispose of it properly, don’t eat it and you’ll be fine! I used a small paintbrush to cover the knobs, rather than actually dipping them.

This next part can get a little tricky.  When shopping for secondhand knobs, try to find those with interior hardware that will “pop” out. It’s kinda hard to explain, but some are all once piece and you want the kind that have spindles and screw posts soldered into place. We used a pair of vise grips to carefully wiggle the parts back and forth until they came off.

Each pair of knobs will have one side with screw holes and one side without. To make the side without holes work, use a drill (or drill press) to add them. Side note - I drilled out the second hole with Jesse’s help - I’m like Rosie the Riveter over here!

After the holes were drilled, we measured and evenly spaced the knobs and then screwed them onto a salvaged board. I covered the screws with another dab of Plasti Dip and let the piece dry for about an hour before mounting it on the wall. If you’d like more details, there are additional photos on my website,Fifty Two Weekends of DIY.