How to Decorate With an Old Porch Post

Decorating with an old porch post can add a special shabby chic look to your home. Welcome your friends by making this easy porch post coat rack for them to hang their hat and coat. It requires minimal woodworking skills, and the painting is an easy, no-fuss dry-brushing technique. This old porch post coat rack looks especially nice in a shabby chic, vintage or country cottage decor style.

Things You'll Need

• Old porch post, 6 feet tall
• 1-by-4 scrap boards
• Pencil
• Drill, small bit and screwdriver bit
• Jigsaw
• Measuring tape
• 1 1/2-inch wood screws
• Sandpaper
• Rag
• Light-green house paint
• White house paint
• Paintbrush
• Three coat hooks and screws

Instructions

1. Measure and cut the porch post 6 feet long. Your post will still work if it is slightly shorter than that.

2. Cut four pieces of the 1-by-4, 12 inches long. This wood does not need to be new.

3. Draw a curve on one end of a 1-by-4, and cut out using the jigsaw. Place this 1-by-4 on top of each of the other 1-by-4s and use as a pattern to draw the curved shape. Cut the curve out on the other three 1-by-4s. These are your coat rack feet.

4. Stand the old porch post straight up and down. Lean it against a wall if you need to. Set one 1-by-4 on its long side with the short, straight end on the left flush with a corner edge of the old porch post. If the porch post is round, place another 1-by-4 at a right angle over the first 1-by-4 and place the porch post into the angle. This will give you your placement for the first coat rack foot. Remove the second 1-by-4.

5. Drill pilot holes through the 1-by-4 foot and into the porch post. Insert the wood screws to attach the coat rack foot.

6. Turn the porch post coat rack 90 degrees to the left and place another 1-by-4 flush on the inside of the first coat rack foot and the edge of the porch post. The first coat rack foot will extend past the edge at a 90-degree angle of the second coat rack foot. Attach this foot in the same way as the first.

7. Repeat for the remaining two feet. The results should resemble a pinwheel around the bottom of the porch post.

8. Sand edges and peeling paint from the porch post. There is no need to sand the paint off completely. Wipe the dust particles from the porch post coat rack using a dry rag.

9. Dry-brush the entire coat rack using the light-green house paint. Allow the paint to dry. Dry brush over the light green using the white house paint. Allow the paint to dry. You could, of course, use any colors you desire.

10. Measure down from the top edge of the coat rack 6 inches and mark. Evenly space around the coat rack with two more marks.

11. Attach the three coat hooks to the coat rack at the marks. Drill pilot holes before inserting screws to prevent splitting.