DIY Repurposed Wood Backpack Hooks

I have spent the last 7 years with a pile of backpacks in a corner of my mudroom floor. It was time to get organized. The older the kidlets get the more mess they bring home! The pile has now grown to include a saxaphone, gym shoes, Awana bags, and a Chromebook. Yikes!

I really had hoped to use re-purposed wood but the reality is that it is so dry and often cracked I was afraid that it would snap with the weight of three backpacks that probably weigh more than my kids.

So off to Pinterest I went searching for how to fake barnwood! I found an awesome tutorial here but it also looked expensive as I didn't have any of the materials in the house and time consuming (dislike).

So God bless my creative husband who took my dream and simplified it!

With leftover board from some shelves he recently made me (post coming soon) he distressed and stained a piece of new board.

He used all kinds of fun tools from the work room. It looks very drastic in this photo but once it goes up on the wall the marks look perfect!!

Once the wood was nicely distressed and abused he used rag to rub stain into the wood making sure the gouges and holes got nice and dark. We had some Provincial by Minwax left over from a different project that I think turned out perfect!

He then went over it twice with Minwax polyurethane, give it a quick sanding with steel wool and one more coat of polyurethane to make it super smooth and durable.

For fun I added three different antique bronze hooks I found at Hobby Lobby. I even bought them when they were half off so the entire project cost less than $10!

Be sure to use wood screws and securely attach the bar to the wall studs! Backpacks get ridiculously heavy!