DIY Medal Rack
It was Douglas’ birthday recently. I am not allowed to say when – he does not like the attention – but I wanted to share the present I made him for his birthday. He mentioned recently that he was not as well represented in the living room as he would like to be. He wished that he could hang his medals in there.
Several years ago, I made him a coat rack where he now hangs some of his medals, but I decided to make a rack that could be solely dedicated to his awards. I started by buying a board. It was a 2 x 4, and I had to choose between poplar and pine. I chose pine because it is a softer wood. I wanted to screw hooks directly into the wood and thought that the poplar would be too hard. I asked the guy at the hardware store to cut it down to 65 inches for me.
First, I sanded and stained the board. I do not have any pictures of that stage because I was trying to do it covertly so that Douglas would not notice. Then, I had to figure out the spacing for the hooks. I made some calculations and marked the board. I started marking with a pencil, but the marks did not come off easily when I made a mistake so I switched to an awl and made slight indentations in the board.
Next, I started screwing the hooks in. It was time consuming, so I did it while watching television. Ponche kept me company for a while, but even he got bored. I could not blame him. It was tedious work. The other inspector never even made an appearance.
Some of the hooks were crooked, but I just straightened them out with some pliers.
After a while I developed an enormous blister on my finger from the hooks. Before long it had peeled off. I could not find any gloves, so I put a sock on my hand. My projects are so glamorous. I don’t understand why Better Homes & Gardens has not called to feature any of them yet.
I put fifty hooks on the board and hung even more medals than that on the board. There are fifty medals hanging by their ribbons, but then there are more that are hung on top of them by hooking the medal directly onto the hook over the ribbon of the other medal. Does that make sense?
Anyway, Douglas came home before I was done. It was my plan to hang the board on the wall in the living room where the map had been hanging. However, Douglas thinks that putting all of the medals in there might be a little “braggy”. That was his word. I suppose that it might be overkill.
So, now we are looking for another place to hang this board, and I am going to make something smaller to hang just his Ironman medals in the living room. I also made another gift for him, but I will share that in another post.
Happy Homemaking!
I am a teacher, traveler, artist, writer, homemaker and a whole lot more. In January 2009, I bought the Cape of Dreams. It was the second house that I had ever owned, but it was the first that I bought by myself. I now live in the house with my husband Douglas, our dog Kahlua, and Crème de Menthe, the cat. Because, what life is complete without a little Kahlua and Cream? I love arts and crafts of all kinds, and I refinish furniture as well. We are slowly redoing our entire house. You can read about my projects on my blog www.CapeofDreams.com
WOW! that is an impressive board and an impressive array of medals! And the picture of Ponche yawning is toooooooo cute!!!!!!!!!!! Great job! Love the sock trick. Going to have to remember that.
I only wish that I had thought of the sock earlier. The blister on my finger peeled off and is taking forever to heal.
I love how it turned out and of course the adorable pic of my nephew! I can’t wait to give him kisses and binks!
He wants to know what you are waiting for. “Come now!” he says.
Yeah! I should come tomorrow!
Such a great idea and good execution. When I heard more than “50” I was really impressed. Braggy in your own home is perfectly OK. We love seeing your accomplishments. Jo @ Let’s Face the Music
It is hard to believe how many races he does a year, and he keeps getting better with age. Not many people can say that. I tell him that it’s ok because now he has a wife to brag for him. 😉
I love my new medals rack! Now if they will all just fit… 🙂
What do the rest of you think about hanging it in living room? I really want to show off my present, and don’t want Jessica’s hard work to go unseen, but that many medals in main room of the house may be a bit of overkill. We have a couple of other ideas: stairwell to basement/man cave, rafter in basement/man cave, and (a new one I just had) right at base of stairs into basement/man cave.
Would love to hear others thoughts…
I would love to see your accomplishments in the living room and I think they look beautiful on the rack Jessica made. And I thought you weren’t supposed to call it a man cave…
I vote to call it the couple’s cave.
Wait a second!?!? The inspector didn’t sign off on this project? We can’t mount it anywhere until we have her certificate of approval…
I think that she passed this assignment on to Ponche, but he obviously fell asleep on the job.
Does Creme approve??? Need the cats input before it gets hung anywhere!!!! Braggy is a FINE word to describe Senior’s accomplishments
Creme has not approved of much that we have done since we brought the kitten home. She loves him, she just doesn’t want us to know it yet.
Wow, an amazing amount of medals! And a great rack to display them on. Nice work, Jessica.
My husband is similar: doesn’t like showing off his trophies in the main part of the house. For him, the man cave is the perfect solution Still on display for himself to see, without being too “bragging” in front of any visitors! Sounds like your hubby is a lovely, humble man, too. 🙂
So maybe in there, or on the stairwell leading there. Could always display three or four of the most special ones in the living room, but that would mean making another small rack… 😉
We are thinking of putting the Ironman medals in the living room and hanging the rest somewhere else. Now we just have to figure out where to hang the rack I just made and what kind of rack to make for the Ironman medals.
Thanks! Glad to see it isn’t just me. Really want to display her hard work and my lovely present, but glad it isn’t just me that feels that way about displaying them.
I think all the medals look cool on display. They are colorful and the designs are often interesting. A friend of mine does lots of half marathons and she has her medals hanging in the living room (not quite as many as Douglas, though).
I agree, you can’t legally hang them until the inspector signs off. An apprentice’s signature doesn’t qualify.