DIY Distressed Coat Rack

After thinking up at least 100 different ways I wanted to make a coat rack, I finally just jumped in and made one.

I was going for an old rustic look with a hint of a collective chic flare.

I wanted to take tutorial pictures to make this so much easier to understand but I didn't have my camera at the time of the making of this project so I'll just do my best to talk you through it as detailed as possible.

 

 

1. First off, I measured the wall area where I wanted to hang my coat rack, which is behind my front door and figured out how long and wide I wanted my coat rack to be.  38"x8"x1.5"
    
2. I didn't want to make it with the usual hooks that you always see.  I thought that different styled knobs would be really cute and at Hobby Lobby they just so happened to have dresser knobs 50% off this week (in my area) so I bought 7 of them.
   SCORE!  This was meant to be!!!
    
3. Went to Lowe's and bought a board that measures 8'x8"x1.5".  My original plan was to stain the wood but I had my heart set on a darker Caribbean blueish-green.  Well they had blue stains and green stains.  Yes I know I could have bought one of each color and mixed them together but hey...  I'm a budget kinda girl and I can't justify myself on buying more then what I need, so I settled for paint instead.  I bought a quart sized Flat Valspar Ultra Paint + Primer called Turquoise Tint, which is way to much for what I need but I'll find more uses for it.  I didn't buy the brown that I used because I had a quart in my tiny work shop cabinet and it's a Flat Olympic Premium called Spiced Wine.  Both of the paints that I used are for interior.
    
4. I don't have a table saw or a routing table so I asked my dear o'l Dad to help me out so he cut and routed all of the edges for me.
    
5. When I got my board home I started in it right away.  I used the crappiest 2" paint brush I had and started painting my board with the brush dry and as if I was a small child.  I didn't apply much paint because I wanted a thin layer all over it.  After it dried I sanded it down just a little bit here and there.  I didn't use any rhyme or reason, just picked random places as I went along.  I did sand a few areas like the beautiful knots in the board down to where you could actually see the wood it's self.  You'll want to wipe all of sanding dust off.  I then took a tiny can that I had saved and a plastic spoon and dipped out 3 or 4 spoon fulls of brown paint into it and mixed it with a little bit of water.  Probably...  about...  3 Tbsp.  ???  I'm not really sure, I eye balled it until I got the thin consistency that I wanted.  I wanted it really thin and watery.  I used the same crappy 2" paint brush and lightly brushed on the brown.  In a few areas I painted it heavier then others.  Let that dry.  Then I took the sand paper back to it and sanded it some more.  Again, sanding down some areas more then others so I could bring out the blue-green paint and in some areas like the edges down to the wood.  The areas where I sanded all the way down to the wood I took my finger, dipped it into the paint and rubbed it on the wood areas and lightly wiped it off with a paper towel.  After you're finished with sanding wipe all the dust off again.  After the brown paint dried I then sprayed it with a Clear coat of Matte Spray Paint to seal and protect it.
   The best tip I have is to not plan how it's going to look distressed.  The more random the better.  After all when you find an actual distressed object, Mother Nature doesn't "plan" on how that object ages.  Also I personally don't think it matters what grit of sand paper you use, it all depends on how heavy your hand is and how long you want to sand your board.
   BAM step 5 is done.
    
6. I then took the side of a hammer and lightly beat the board to make it look dinged up and even more distressed.  I used the side of the hammer because I didn't want a bunch of little circles all over my board.  Lines and marks are more appealing to me.
    
7. I flipped my board over and found the center of the board by measuring and marked it with a pencil dot.  Then I figured out how far apart I wanted all my knobs which came out to be 19" was my center and 5" between each knob on both sides from the center.  I hope that makes sense.  I then had my Love drill the holes straight through for me because I am terrible with power tools.  I wanted my project to look distressed not sloppy.
   You'll want to measure your knob or hook screws in diameter to figure what size drill bit you'll need to use.  The knobs I bought came with nuts to secure the knobs to your project.  (They all should come with nuts and/or washers.)  Since I want my coat rack to be flush with the wall my Love drilled bigger holes over the screw just enough so we were able to use a socket to tighten the nuts as much as we could to the knob screws so they would stay secure.  We also drilled 2 up side down key shaped holes close to the top two corners so the nails in the wall would have a place to hold the board up (we used 2 different sized drill bits to accomplish that).
    
8. Remember to keep the weight of your board in mind because you may have to use these weird little plastic things that your nail/screw goes into in the hole of the wall and then put your nail/screw in it.  I know I sound ignorant but I honestly don't know what they are called.  I do know they are commonly found boxed up with heavy shelves that you buy in a department store and that their purpose is to give strength to the wall for heavy objects. 
   I had to use them for my coat rack.
    
   That's pretty much it, I now have a beautiful and uniquely made coat rack that adds the perfect touch of my living room.
    
   I do apologize if any of this was confusing, if you need more help feel free to drop me a line and I'll do my best to explain in better detail.  It's late and I think the lack of sleep is starting to kick in.