Better Homes and Gardens (Australia)
How to be on key Give a timber offcut new life as a handy wall-mounted key rack
You’ll never lose your keys again with this handy wall-mounted rack you can whip up from a leftover piece of timber
Gather your supplies
• 66 x 30 x 300mm pine
• Clear stain or wax
• Leather thonging
• Wooden beads
You’ll also need Painter’s tape; tape measure; pencil; mitre box and saw; screwdriver; sandpaper; offcut; paintbrush; lint-free cloth; scissors; picture hanging strips Here’s how
STEP 1 So you only cut halfway through the timber, apply painter's tape to both sides of your mitre box to act as a depth guide.
STEP 2 Measure and mark double lines, 5mm apart, at 60mm intervals on pine length in pencil.
STEP 3 Place timber in mitre box and saw on marked lines down to the painter’s tape.
STEP 4 Remove waste from between cuts with a screwdriver. Check grooves are 5mm wide. Clear away any sawdust.
STEP 5 Wrap sandpaper around a timber offcut or old ruler and use it to sand the grooves.
STEP 6 To finish the timber, apply 2 coats of clear stain using a paintbrush, leaving to dry aer each coat, or clear wax with a so lint-free cloth.
STEP 7 Cut lengths of leather thonging as hangers, factoring in the size of the wooden beads, height of keyholder block and at least 50mm extra to tie off string at the top and leave a tail for the keys.
STEP 8 Thread one or two keys onto each length of leather thonging.
STEP 9 Take thong ends through bead hole and tie off at the top.
STEP 10 Aach the picture hanging strips to the back of the keyholder block and mount on the wall. If you aren’t concerned about making holes in the wall, you can use sawtooth picture hangers and nails.
do you toss your keys on the nearest table or shelf when you come home? Or do you put them down at some point as you move into your home, then have to go looking for them later? If so there’s a simple way to keep track of your keys and your hallway clear of clutter. You can make a minimalist keyholder to hang on the wall by your front door and you don’t need any power tools or special skills to do it. You just cut notches in a block of timber with a handsaw and use wooden beads and leather thonging to hang your keys. So simple, so streamlined!