Friday, April 16, 2010

Two Ideas House Projects

The Bachman's Ideas House is filled with clever and practical uses for vintage objects - most that can be found easily and purchased for next to nothing. Here's a couple of my favorite projects.

In the upstairs bathroom, I repurposed two old wooden hangers as towel bars. By anchoring a scrap piece of dowel to the wall before the hanger was attached with 2 screws, I created a simple, yet sturdy place to hang a towel!



Notice that the metal "hook" on the hanger makes a great (and easy) place to quickly hang your towel - no excuse for wet towels on the floor! And the wooden form is a great place to add a washcloth or even a hand towel.



For the next project, I challenged my friend, Sara Smith (you may remember her from Flea Market Style magazine) to create a side table with stacks of old coverless Reader's Digest Condensed Books. This project proved to be a bit tricky because it was really important to create a stable base - out of of books, no less!



Sara was able to drill through the center of the books (individually), insert a threaded metal rod and attach it to a wood base with nuts. At the top she added another thin piece of wood for extra stability and topped it with the 4 volumes you see through the glass top. You can see the washer/nut combination under the glass which I think gives it sort of an industrial look. (Clear rubber surface protectors placed on top of the nuts keep the glass from sliding.)



I am off to Florida for the next week to check in with my parents and fam, the bunk house and do some horse back riding....and maybe even a bit of junking.

Cheers!
Ki

21 comments:

  1. both great ideas, and "why didn't I think of that" for the hangers. Great re-purpose, Guess I've got a new project now.
    Thanks for the inspiration.
    Margo

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  2. Genius on the wooden hanger for the bathroom..

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  3. supercool projects!

    happy visitin' & junkin'!

    xo
    elyse

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  4. Love the wood hanger towel rack! You are such a smart girl!
    Anna

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  5. Brilliant! Love the hooks made from hangers!

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  6. great idea...and i have some hangers like that from the 50's and '60s from the local mens stores :D i should pair them up with the wooden shoe stretcher things for a mans bathroom or office :D
    kudzu

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  7. Great ideas...enjoy your Florida time ~ hope you have great weather!

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  8. Fun, creative ideas, thanks for sharing.

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  9. LOVE these ideas! what fun projects. Thanks!
    Shannon
    www.cascobaysoap.blogspot.com

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  10. I really enjoyed my visit to the Bachman's Ideas House- SO fun and wonderful inspiration- loved the hanger idea!

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  11. Great ideas (of course!). I hope you have a great week and some relaxation time!

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  12. I love that hanger idea! It's so clever and cute!

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  13. the hanger are a great idea! Jennifer jennsthreegraces

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  14. LOVE the hangers, so simple, yet brilliant! Lezlee

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  15. The hangers are a stroke of genius...just too marvelous, too marvelous for words.
    Enjoy your blog and all your work..
    glenda

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  16. Wow..I heard about those hangers from Margo. Out of sight !!!!!

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  17. YOU are the clever-est!(is that a word?)
    rosie

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  18. Ok...people like you frustrate me just a little bit 'cause I wanna be just like you!!! And I'm not sure I got what it takes. Wonderful, inspirational ideas. Can I follow in your footsteps, I still wonder?! I might try.... Love the upside down hangers and table. Great post. Thanks for sharing.

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  19. Very cool idea loved it to cute for towels hangers.
    You have inspired me.
    hugs have a wonderful day!

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  20. what a clever idea... who would ever think of that but you! Maybe I should turn other things upside down...like my house.. it needs a a redo!~

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  21. Great hanger project. I'm Susan your newest follower and my blog is homeroad.net... come on over sometime! You've got a great site!

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