Location: West Village, NYC
Time: Two easy weekends
Cost: @ $31
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We're finally done. We actually finished last week, but got backed up at the office. We'd actually promised Ursula and SKGR that they'd have towel hooks by the end of January, so we just made it....
As you may remember, my project was a relatively humble attempt to install bathroom hooks into our new bathroom. I didn't want to do brand new hooks, but wanted instead to do something crafty and unique that would add some LIFE to the plain sheetrock walls in our bathroom.
In the end the effect is sorta subtle, but I'm happy with it nonetheless. The hooks have great shapes for towels and I like the fact that I did it myself - much more interesting. The paint I used - Marston & Langinger - is beautiful paint, the only problem with it is that it doesn't come in gloss. I may still give the hooks a quick spray of gloss in order to seal them up and make them shiny, but that would interfere with the overall green approach. We shall see.
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Tell us the tools and resources you used for the project:
• five antique coat hooks
• one small matchpot of Pearl Gray paint from Marston & Langinger
• one pint of white primer from Marston & Langinger
• paint brush
• drill and bits, with screw bit
• screws with plastic anchors
• pencil and tape to mark all lines
• Marston & Langinger Paints - these are great "green" paint solutions, I painted everything in our apartment without toxic fumes or any worry
• Olde Good Things - AMAZING resource for endless amounts of old hardware
Share step by step instructions for how you completed the project:
• buy your old hooks
• clean them well (I boiled mine in soapy water)
• prime them well (it's easier to paint them if they are screwed to a piece of wood)
• paint them with your color
• draw light pencil line along wall 57" from floor
• hold up hooks, mark holes along line and set hooks 1 foot apart
• drill holes, set plastic anchors
• mount hooks with screws into anchors
• erase pencil marks and clean up floor
Note: I could have painted over the screws or used silver (and still might) but these sheetrock screws were the best I had and I sorta like the contrast for now.
Maxwell's Project Posts:
>> Bathroom Hooks #1
>> Bathroom Hooks #2
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
I was wondering how this project had turned out! I like it--not too uniform, and not too eclectic!
view OneWallKitchen's profile
I am liking the darker screws- they make the hooks look like faces
view brooklynjennie's profile
turned out very nice. I'm thinking of doing this for a coat rack.
view a to the toy's profile
I like the hooks. They look great. Having said that... this is setting the bar kind of low for a DIY project. Who needs directions on how to hang hooks?
view jyw's profile
Glad to see the orange penises are back. Oh, and the hooks look good too.
view petro's profile
Hey Maxwell,
The hooks look related to your squiggle artwork!
view mattplantguy's profile
jyw -
I think that the point in such a "simple" project is that if you really think about what it takes to make something look like you want it to, there's a lot of thought that goes into the technique of making the paint adhere evenly and correctly and hanging the hooks straight and/or the particular flavor of not straight in order to get the look you really look, and that you individualize and customize even simple things.
Details like how the darkness of screws make things look like a face are the kinds of things that can make a difference.
view Curtis's profile
really looks great!
view mschatelaine's profile
sweet and simple. if you wanted something with more 'pop', then you could paint them a nice bright orange. i could even see leaving them au naturel in some spaces.
view meganificent's profile
Who needs directions on how to hang hooks?
It's not precisely that people need directions -- it's that this is exactly the sort of project where you think, "Yeah, I need to do that... but I need to go to the hardware store first... and I don't exactly know what I have to get... and the clerks at the nearest big-box store are idiots... but the little family-owned hardware store is only open until 6 on weekdays and not on Sundays at all, so I have to go on Saturday..." and so it never gets done. A detailed walk-through makes it all seem more manageable.
Everyone has random stuff -- usually with missing screws of some peculiar size -- hanging around. Finishing those projects may not be award-winning work, but it improves one's quality of life.
view wende in the twin cities's profile
very nice. inspires me to try something other than metal hardware in my bathroom.
one question though: why do you have an ipod charger in your bathroom? (by the sink)
view jolly's profile