Coat Rail Makeover with Mini Door Knobs

You may or may not already know of my love of bringing new life to old furniture. Sometimes I take it to extremes, taking something that really doesn't have a lot of potential, hidden beauty or any other redeeming features and making something out of it. The Bavarian despairs of me when I refuse to throw out what most people consider rubbish. In the particular case I am going to show you today, the object in question is a broken coat rail that the previous owners of our house left in the cloakroom.

It was the kind of coat rail you can find in any DIY shop for a few quid, made of cheap pine. Of the original six wooden pegs, only four were left. One was very loose. The other three were well secured still. Why bother keeping it? Well, the simple answer is beacuse it might come in handy. The truthful answer is that I cannot accept that something that is not completely irreparable should be dumped because we don't definitely need it right now.

So the rail sat in the cellar for four and a half years until one day in a full-to-bursting trinket shop in Dachau of all places I found the *perfect* knobs to replace the three missing ones. And so the make-over could begin.

To transform my coat rail I needed:

White undercoat suitable for use on wood

Cream satin finish paint

Three small dooor knobs

A drill

A paintbrush

First of all I gave the rail a good cleaning with a damp cloth. It had been in the cellar, so a fair amount of dust and cobwebs had gathered on it.

After that, the whole thing got a coat of white undercoat, knobs and all. After the undercoat had dried, I applied two coats of cream satin finish paint, letting the first coat dry overnight. 

During the painting, the holes for the screws to attach the rail to the wall had become clogged, so these needed drilling through to unclog them. The holes for the screws of the mini door knobs also needed widening, so the drill was used for that job too.

Once the holes has been cleared, the project got to the good part - adding the unique touch. This is the part of renovation projects I love most, making the item my own. 

In this case, I had already selected the knobs. Now I needed to arrange them in the order I wanted. I chose to put the flat-topped knobs to the left and right and place the round-topped knob between two of the original wooden hangers.

Here you can see the rail and knobs in a bit more detail.

Hung on our pale green bedroom wall, the rail has become very handy for scarves, chains or handbags. I am so happy thatit has finally make it out of the cellar and avoided the bin.