The Bite:
Need more than luck when it comes to DIY projects? Crafty book The Salvage Studio: Sustainable Home Comforts to Organize, Entertain, and Inspire can help with the performance anxiety so you can learn to DIY like Martha - or at least act the part with this project that turns an old rake into a shabby-chic wall organizer.
Rake Wall Organizer
20-30 minutes
What You Need:
Safety goggles
Used fan-shaped metal garden rake with wooden handle
Saw
Medium-grit sandpaper
Section of wooden dowel about 1 inch in diameter and 6-12 inches in length (or the wooden handle of the rake)
Rubber mallet (optional)
About 24 inches 18- or 20-gauge wire
Needle-nose pliers
Wire cutters
1. Put on your goggles (safety first), and then saw off the wooden handle as close to the metal head of the rake as possible.
2. Sand the wooden stub smooth.
3. Lay the rake on a flat surface with the tines (the metal prong-y things) curling under (same direction if you were raking something). Using a section of wooden dowel (perhaps the wooden handle you just sawed off) to brace the lower portion of the tine, bend every other tine backward, forming a 90-degree angle (voice of experience: If you just pull the tine back with nothing supporting its base, it may snap off.)
4. To have the rake lie flush against the wall for hanging, flatten the curling ends of the tines that are still straight. Whack them flat with a rubber mallet or place the rake on your garage floor, with the tines you didn't bend back curling under, and stand on the curled-up part.
5. To hang the rake, form a 1-inch loop in the middle of the 24-inch wire and twist closed with three twists using pliers. At the middle of the back of the rake head, lay the wire loop flat. Extend the wire ends away from the loop, and then wind the wire ends over and under the base of the two tines on either side of the loop until the loop is secure. Rejoin the ends with several twists at the center and cut off any excess wire.
Rake Wall Organizer
20-30 minutes
What You Need:
Safety goggles
Used fan-shaped metal garden rake with wooden handle
Saw
Medium-grit sandpaper
Section of wooden dowel about 1 inch in diameter and 6-12 inches in length (or the wooden handle of the rake)
Rubber mallet (optional)
About 24 inches 18- or 20-gauge wire
Needle-nose pliers
Wire cutters
1. Put on your goggles (safety first), and then saw off the wooden handle as close to the metal head of the rake as possible.
2. Sand the wooden stub smooth.
3. Lay the rake on a flat surface with the tines (the metal prong-y things) curling under (same direction if you were raking something). Using a section of wooden dowel (perhaps the wooden handle you just sawed off) to brace the lower portion of the tine, bend every other tine backward, forming a 90-degree angle (voice of experience: If you just pull the tine back with nothing supporting its base, it may snap off.)
4. To have the rake lie flush against the wall for hanging, flatten the curling ends of the tines that are still straight. Whack them flat with a rubber mallet or place the rake on your garage floor, with the tines you didn't bend back curling under, and stand on the curled-up part.
5. To hang the rake, form a 1-inch loop in the middle of the 24-inch wire and twist closed with three twists using pliers. At the middle of the back of the rake head, lay the wire loop flat. Extend the wire ends away from the loop, and then wind the wire ends over and under the base of the two tines on either side of the loop until the loop is secure. Rejoin the ends with several twists at the center and cut off any excess wire.
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