DIY Network

Hanging Rack, Nesting Boxes Turn an unsightly pile into storage with style. From "Wasted Spaces" episode DWSP-210

Sleeping bags, Halloween costumes, backpacks, out-of-season clothes – Cynthia Meek’s storage closet holds a ton of stuff for her five active kids. The first step in shaping up this cluttered closet: mounting a ledger board to hold oversized "hangers" for sleeping bags, costumes and other bulky textiles.

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Materials:

2x6 lumber lag bolts and washers birch plywood wood glue nails wood screws wood filler sandpaper paint

gudgeons pintles bolts, nuts and washers for the gudgeons bolts, nuts and washers to secure clamps PVC pipe wooden dowels clamps machine screws nuts to fit screws

	Karl and Cynthia corral the clutter...
	With custom nesting boxes...
	And convenient swivel hangers.

Tools:

safety glasses
carpenter’s pencil
tape measure
level
stud finder
drill
socket wrench
table saw
miter saw
nail gun
hammer
chop saw
screwdriver
circular saw
metal fence
staple gun

Paint Colors:

Benjamin Moore, semi-gloss

• Blue Suede Shoes 798
  
• Habenero Pepper 1306
  
• Viking Yellow 321

Planning the Rack

Karl’s design for the storage closet includes an oversized hanging rack like those used in stores to display large rugs or quilts. Here’s how to design a custom rack:

• The key to custom storage is knowing what you’re going to store. After purging any unwanted items, lay out the remaining items.

• Cynthia’s rack will store sleeping bags, Halloween costumes and other large, "hangable" textiles. Hanging the sleeping bags will help them keep their shape and stay fresher than if they were stored in tight rolls.

• Using the measurement of the longest sleeping bag (or other hanging item) and the number of items to hang, figure out the height and width of the hanging rack. Make sure to allow a little space between the bottom of the longest item and the floor to prevent dragging. Also leave some extra space for additional items to hang.

• At the wall, use a stud finder and pencil to mark the locations of the wall studs (usually 16 inches apart) as well as the top edge of the rack.
  

  The ledger board is the backbone of the hanging rack.

• Wearing safety glasses, cut a piece of 2x6 lumber to slightly less than the total width of the rack. This board, called a ledger board, will attach to the studs and give a solid surface for attaching the rack. This way, the rack can attach at any point along the ledger board instead of having to screw directly into studs.

• Position the ledger board at the top mark for the rack. Wearing safety glasses, drill pilot holes and secure the board to the studs with lag bolts and washers. Once the first bolt is in place, make sure the board is level before attaching the other bolts.

It may not look like much – and won’t even show in the final piece – but a properly positioned ledger board is the key to the entire rack. With this piece secured, Karl and Cynthia were ready to build the body of the rack.

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