Upcycled Coat Rack From Spoons

January 9, 2018August 12, 2018 / Yen-Van Tran / 1 Comment

01.09.2018

0600

Materials:

Wood board (18 inches long x 5 inches wide 1-1/2 inches deep)
Four 3 inch wood screws
Ten 1-1/2 inch wood screws
5 Spoons

Tools:

Power Drill
Power Screwdriver
Needle Nose Pliers
Slip Joint Pliers
Safety glasses
Gloves

So I wanted to make a coat hanger but I didn’t want to buy one. Apparently I had materials at home to make one of my own. This project is a fairly easy DIY for any of you who are curious.

My board was 18 inches wide and I wanted a minimum of 1 inch on each side, for margins. This left me with 16″ to work with. So initially I wanted to use 7 spoons for the hangers, but after I measured the distance, I decided to only use 5 spoons.

I divided the board up into three sections. The height of my board was 5-1/2″, but if you don’t want to use numbers, simply take a piece of paper and fold it into thirds. Then with a pencil, mark the first line and then the second. I wanted to offset my rows of spoons so the red line is for the top row of spoons and the green line is for the center of the bottom row of spoons.

Where the red line and margins intersect is where I drilled my top mounting holes. My bottom mounting holes is where the green line and the margins intersect. These holes are marked by the yellow circles in the image.

For the spoons, I wanted to drill 2 holes to mount each spoon and I knew I had to create hooks by manipulating the spoons. I picked out a drill bit that was a similar size diameter of my screws I was going to use on the spoons. Usually I choose a drill bit smaller than my screw, but that working with wood only. When working with metal, you want a drill bit that the same size as the screw since metal won’t give. Also, if you don’t choose a drill bit smaller than your screw, there’s a good chance you’ll strip the screw’s threads as you drill.

The green line marks the point of where I wanted my spoons to bend upwards, so they could be used as hooks.

When I drilled the holes, I wore gloves and my safety glasses because the metal slivers would fly off of the power drill. I applied slow but steady pressure while holding the spoon still and then I dumped the metal shavings into one side of my purple container. I did this to contain the shavings but also because it would be easier to discard them after I finished.

I first started bending the spoons by using the edge of my step ladder, then I used my Slip Joint Pliers to hold the spoon while using the Needle Nose Pliers to bend the spoons into hooks.

Once all of the spoons had holes drilled into them, I spaced the spons apart from each other in three inch increments. I proceed to attach the spoons to the board. For the wall mount attachment holes, I sunk the holes into the wood so that there was a slight design detail. I initial had made 2 drill holes so that I could mount it to the stud in the wall (those are the extra holes you see floating on the left half of the board), but I changed my mind and decided to directly attach it to the drywall instead. Because I was planning to use three inch screws, I knew that mounting it to the drywall wouldn’t be a problem.

But because I changed my mind on which drill holes I wanted to use to mount the coat rack, I now had two random holes that looked out of place. To fix this, I mirrored the holes to the other side of the board and then filled in the extra holes will extra wood filler we had left over.

I centered my coat rack and attached it to my wall. As you can see, the mistake holes look like design elements with the wood filler.

So there it is, my coat rack made from spoons. These spoons are a few extra spare spoons from my mother’s kitchen and I really like that I was able to upcycle these extra spoons, knowing that a part of her kitchen was now used in an item I really needed. It’s a nice homage to my mom in a subtle way.

Our homes and possessions hold a great deal of different types of materials in which we can reuse and upcycle into new items. Once you breakdown how different types of materials are used, the possibilities are endless. Scan your home and surroundings, I’m sure you’ll find a lot of resources.

Christmas Ornaments Hack

December 6, 2016November 15, 2018 / Yen-Van Tran / 1 Comment

12.06.2016
0800

Materials:

Keychains
Extra thread or string

Tools:

Sewing Kit

So when I decluttered my sentimental possessions, I pulled out the few keychains I had leftover and decided to turn them into Christmas ornaments. I’ve done this before for other years as I was slowly decluttering my sentimental possessions, but these are the last keychains I own. So with the last set of keychains, I thought I’d show you how I upcycle these items.

I have a habit of writing the year I received each ornament on the ornament somewhere. I actually didn’t start doing this up until about a decade ago. For the ornaments that came before then, I literally reserved a random Saturday and recalled ALL of the years that each ornament came into our lives. The years help me remember a time in my life, or what was happening during that year, and even what was going on around the world. Keychains hold the same sentimental value for me that ornaments do. I used to collect keychains, but that goal was short lived being that I realized that I didn’t have enough zippers to attach them to. Also, with the certain keychains, they get in the way of the function of the bag I’m using or it just becomes an extra piece on my bag that will inevitably get caught in something as I’m walking or moving around and rip off. I also don’t use keychains for my keys.

I know that sounds strange, but as I got older, and I had to be responsible for more keys to more places and items. I prefered to not weigh down my keys with so much excess weight. (It’s also annoying when I’m driving and I have a large chunk of metal just hanging and swinging from the car ignition). I like my leg room. I also don’t want to hang to much weight from the ignition in case it ruins the tumblers in the ignition over time.

Some of my keychains are from my own purchases and the rest were given to me. For this post, my last keychains that I used (from left to right), a pewter cat keychain from my brother when were first took in an older feral cat who was a variation of greys. She was a sweet and fat cat. She left us after four years or so, never saw her again.

The next keychain I bought was when I went to Vietnam in the summer of 1998. This was my first trip to Vietnam and as a teen, it changed my view of the world and I knew how blessed and lucky I was to be born a United States citizen. My father and I had a stopover in South Korea after 12 hours in the air. I played soccer for a very long time throughout my childhood, and I continued to follow different clubs and leagues from around the world. Although this keychain said “2002 World Cup Korea”, it was the first World Cup to be held in Asia, the first to be held on a continent other than Europe or the Americas, the last World Cup during which the golden goal rule was in force and the only World Cup to be jointly hosted by more than one nation. It was a landmark world cup tournament and it was exciting to have Japan and Korea join together to co-host such a celebrated event. I actually bought this keychain at the airport where we stopped over, it wasn’t anything big, but it was the first marketing item I had seen for the 2002 World Cup. The United States hadn’t even released marketing for that World Cup yet.

The third keychain is a beetle, yup a beetle. My father had mailed me the keychain from Vietnam for my sixteenth birthday. It came with a card. Although it was pretty unconventional, the beetle was actually a beautiful specimen. I don’t have a fear of many things at all, and I actually understood why my dad had mailed it to me. He was purely focused on the the colors of the beetle and how nature could create such an interesting yet iridescent bug. I kept that keychain on my backpack throughout high school. It was either a great conversation starter, or I simply received strange looks from passer byers.

The last keychain is from my mother when she went to the Grand Canyon. I’ve actually never been there but she brought this back for me. It was a fun trip for her with her friends and I thought that I should finally add it to this project.

Using pliers, I unhinged the chains that attached the metal rings to the metal chains. I keep all metal rings from items that I manipulate, because rings are very versatile when creating my DIY projects.

I rummaged around my mother’s sewing kit (good thing she keeps her thread samples from old clothes) and found some thick thread to use for these ornaments. I chose thread that was dark, so that it would blend in with the fake Christmas tree branches.

Because keychains come with a built-in loop for the metal chains, I simply created large loops so they could be placed on the branches easier. I carve or write the year of each ornament on the it before I put it away.

I actually haven’t bought new ornaments in thirteen years. I’ve been creating ornaments from small memorabilia that I’ve owned for a long time. Each year, I go digging through the decluttering process (I told you it takes time to go through everything), and I’ll create one or two more ornaments each year.

With making my own ornaments, I actually donated quite a few sets of nice ornaments to different causes. By keeping my ornament count low, I’m not unnecessarily hoarding a bunch of extra ornaments. My Christmas tree is only five feet tall, and it’s actually the same Christmas tree my family has had for the past twenty-five years. I have just enough to cover it.

I hope this might give you some inspiration to make ornaments from your own keychain memories. Now, go grab pliers, thread and all the keychains you’ve got! Because who doesn’t want a iridescent beetle hanging next to Christmas Snoopy? And if you carve the date into your ornament and get cut, blame the Electoral College. It’s always their fault.

Here are some other ideas for homemade ornaments. They’re eco-friendly and easy to make. Check these out from some other sustainable bloggers…

My Basic Toolbox

March 23, 2016August 12, 2018 / Yen-Van Tran / Leave a comment

03.23.2016

0830

I like household fixes, I genuinely do. There’s a sense of accomplishment that goes along with it and a better understanding of how your home functions. Plus, a lot of household repairs are quite simple and easy to get out of the way if you have the right tools and techniques. So I do keep a few tools on hand in my toolbox for this reason, but over the years, I also purged my tool collection. I tend to use a few tools frequently for fixes and I’ll borrow others. I don’t think it’s necessary for me to have an extensive collection in my toolbox due to the fact that I prefer to borrow tools on bigger jobs. Plus, owning more tools means I have to put more effort into maintaining all of my tools. Basically, now my small toolbox includes:

Level 1:
Exacto blades with blade refills, electrical tape, Teflon (plumbers) tape, a combination lock, 2 old ID cards as putty scrapers, solar calculator

Level 2:
Pair of trauma shears, long nose pliers, combination pliers, gardening shears, multi bit screwdriver, wind up flashlight, Eklind Ergo-Fold Hex Key Set, DAP Dry Time Indicator Spackling & Nail Hole Filler, biking gloves

Level 3:
8-Inch pliers wrench, ratcheting adjustable wrench, claw hammer, bike tool kit, masking tape, extension cords, variety of screws and nails, (Denim bag: mini level, compact mirror, measuring tape, laser measure)

My denim bag is the bag I bring to site visits for my job. It’s basically tools I need to map out a floor plan or sketch out a floor plan easily. I’m a big advocator for borrowing tools, being that I think it helps a community in creating a stronger bond and it eases the stress of trying to own every tool out there for every single fix-up job. I do understand that not everyone will hand over their tools to a total stranger, but there are chains such as Cresco Equipment Rental, which is an equipment rental store, that allow you to rent most any equipment you need.

I also keep an eye on tools that may dry up such as the nail hole filler, electrical tape and masking tape. I keep an eye on them due to the fact that I have a tendency to not use an item for a long time and then the product dries up and becomes trash. It’s for that reason as to why I only own a few AAA batteries and only four battery operated items. I’m a believer in owning and buying ONLY WHAT YOU NEED in the quantity that you need it in. With the intention of buying only tools that you need, I also think that investing in a good set of quality tools is essential. Quality over quantity works on all levels. Over estimating your need for items will always lead to more waste and producing trash.

For most household fixes, you can either fix it yourself which means, you’ll go out to buy the part that needs to be fixed (which most likely will come in packaging that will be discarded) or you can hire a contractor to do the job and hope that they take all the trash with them. Hiring someone to do the job may cost more, but I guess that’s the toss up of how you want to produce trash. Unfortunately, either way, trash will be produced. One of the only hopes when it comes to those situations is that you hope your maintenance of the home stands the test of time.

The point of this blog post was not to tell anyone to copy what I own or to give a standard toolbox set, but evoke some thought of how we go about owning tools. My father was a big believer in fixing up our home on his own so as a child, I always saw a massive collection of tools and I had to re-organize my thought process of how I was going to approach tool ownership.

Minimize, minimize, minimize, it’s one of the simplest steps towards a zero waste life.