So who really needs an entry wall organizer? Does any of this sound familiar?
“Babe, do you know where I left my wallet?”
“I can’t find my keys.”
“Where’s the receipt from _______?”
“Can we clear this junk from the table? We’re about to have people over.”
Enough of this.
Material
- Four (4) 1/2x4x36 pine appearance boards
- Wood Glue
- Two (2) small robe hooks
- Two (2) double-arm undermount/ceiling hooks
- Three (3) sawtooth picture frame hangers
- Two (2) drywall anchors
- Paint/stain as desired
Tools
- 18″ bar clamps
- Circular saw
- Speed Square
- Drill / Driver (even just a screwdriver should be fine)
- Hammer
- Tape measure
- Pencil
Step 1 – Box Frame
Cut four boards to 16″ long.
Next, arrange them into a box on a flat surface.
Glue the ends to each other, using your clamps to hold them together. Make sure the edges are square!
Step 2 – Inner Shelf
Measure the inside dimension of the box, and cut a board to that length. This will be the long inner shelf.
Now glue that board within the box about 1/4 of the way up from the bottom.
Step 3 – Center Divider
Once the glue has dried around the perimeter and on the ends of the inner shelf (around 30 minutes depending on your glue), measure the vertical distance from the top of the box to the inner shelf.
Now cut another board to this length. Actually, go ahead and cut 3 of them, assuming your shelf is square with the sides. These will be your vertical dividers.
Step 3a – The SMART Way
You’ll notice that in the next pictures that I did NOT do it this way…
Before gluing the dividers in place, attach the robe hooks where you want them on the dividers. If you wait until after they’re glued (like I did), you are going to have a terrible time trying to get them attached, since there will be no room to work in the cubbies.
I positioned my hooks 1″ down from the top and 1″ in from the front of the board. Make sure to drill pilot holes for the screws if you’re going to be close to the ends of the board.
NOTE: Before screwing the hooks into the board, MAKE SURE the screws are not so long that they will penetrate out the back side of the board when fully driven. So I discovered that the screws that came with the hooks were, in fact, going to be too long, so I cut them down about 1/8″ or so. You can do this with a bench grinder, or bolt cutters, or a file. Or you can just buy some shorter screws at the store, which may be easier.
Step 3b – The Dumb Way
Glue one of these 3 boards directly in the center between the top board and the shelf.
Step 4 – Right and Left Dividers and Cubbies
Once the center divider is set, glue the second of the 3 boards you cut in between the center divider and the side of the box. NOTE: If you intend on using one of these for your wallet, measure and make sure that it will fit in the space you provide! The space I needed for mine was about 3-1/2″ inches, so for me this new divider was a little further out than exactly center between the divider and the wall.
While this one is being glued, cut two little small boards to fit between this new vertical divider and the side of the box for the small cubbies. Space them equally and glue them in place, too.
Once the other pieces have finished drying (or while they’re drying, if you have another clamp), set in the last divider where you want it. Again, verify that what you to fit in there will actually fit.
Step 5 – Hardware
If you haven’t already, see the notes on Step 3a above for the internal hooks.
The T-hooks are much easier, as you just set them in line with the vertical dividers above. I did also position those a little more toward the front of the box so that there would be a little more space between the hook and the wall to hang things.
So now flip the box over to the back and attach the sawtooth picture frame brackets as shown below. The upper ones are positioned to conceal the drywall anchors behind the dividers, and the lower one is really just a hidden shim to keep the whole thing truly plumb to the wall.
Step 6 – Mounting
Find where you want this to go (ours is right outside the door between the kitchen and the mudroom, where we walk every time we come home) and mark the location for your drywall anchors.
We set our anchors at 6′-0″ above the floor. That seemed about right for our reach and still gave enough room to hang things below it.
Remember that the anchors should be spaced the distance between the dividers that have the sawtooth hangers on them.
Now, all that’s left is to set it in place, and your’re ready to go!
Step 7 – Finishing the Entry Wall Organizer
So now it’s time to add the final magical touches. You can use paint, wallpaper, stencils, you name it. Be creative! We tried two finishes, one with wallpaper and one with paint. The wallpaper samples from Spoonflower were perfect for the entry wall organizer. Their artists’ designs are amazing! I loved how the organizer turned out with Yellow Rose Garden Wallpaper in combination with Stripe Goldendrod Yellow Wallpaper. What do you think??
It’s also hard to go wrong with some beautiful blue hues. And sample sizes or leftovers work great. We used some of the leftover paint from our Guest Room Makeover.
And there you have it! A lovely entry wall organizer. A few bucks and a few minutes here and there between other chores and problem solved. Now we always know where our keys, purse, and wallet are, plus we have a place to immediately put important mail and receipts as we walk in the door. One more little victory over the chaos.