Slat Wall Part 3: Coat Hooks

With the slat wall in place and looking fabulous, it was time to make it practical beyond just being a room divider. One of the original reasons for the wall was to create a nice-looking/integrated space to hang coats. So it was time to add hooks.

Step one was figuring out our ideal placement and hook heights. We wanted to make sure that the kids could reach the coat hooks (spoiler alert: now that it is installed, we still find coats and hoodies on the floor and have to call the kids back to hang them up). We also wanted to fit in as many as we could without everything feeling too crowded. We opted for a pattern of a hook every three spaces, at alternating heights. For stability and looks, we decided to put spacers in every space, rather than just those that held a hook, so practically this meant a pattern of three high, three low. 

Having decided on the pattern in theory, we had to pick our actual hook heights. This was easier with an actual hook to practice on. Clamps, apparently, make great hooks, if  a little ugly:

We also had to decide on the design of the hooks themselves. Loving the IKEA hooks we installed in our stairwell in 2010 (yup 2010, and long-since discontinued), we wanted hooks that could open and close. As D wanted them to be inset into the wood spacers, the hook also would work better if they already had a frame around the hook. We settled on these from Amazon, which were reasonably priced but have an annoying icon on the hooks for "press here."

After picking out the hooks themselves, it was time to decide how they would be integrated into the slat wall, D's CNC machine could cut hollows into wood, and he really wanted the hooks to be flush. So with the hook measurements in hand, he made many prototype boxes (in cheap pine and other scrap woods, rather than the actual mahogony) for them and eventually got a size that let the hooks be press-fit in and matched the correct space between the slats.

Also we had to procure some VERY shallow length screws to secure them into the little box spacers as the depth of the hook was only a little bit less than the wood itself. (Even though they were snug enough for press-fitting, they still needed hardware to be securely held in place.)

Once we had the optimized designs, then the CNC machine churned out 39 boxes.

Before even starting to put up the wall itself, we had decided how to attach the boxes, because we knew then that if we wanted to use screws or nails, they would have to go in as each slat was going up. That would have significantly complicated construction (especially if you wanted to hide the screw heads). Plus we were not sure what height(s) the hook should be at, before installation.

We decided that wood glue was strong enough - and they could be installed after wall construction. Cue the clamps again.

Of course anything that requires precise measuring also means the lasers get to come out again too.

One strange thing about our Bosch laser is that it doesn't come with any way to mount the laser on a tripod. So D had to jury-rig the laser with a clipboard and a kettlebell on the (now gone) Expedit to get the height exactly right.

After several weeks of (un)steady work all the spacers and hooks were installed!

The wall is MUCH steadier now. This left "just" the bench to be designed and built! Stay tuned for our next installment.