Personalized Nursery Clothing Rack

For Christmas, we got my daughter a toddler bed and a new bedding set – Disney Fairies.  Yes.  Full-on girly, right?  Totally my husband’s idea. ;)  Anyway, since the decor is changing, I’ve had to come up with some new ideas for her room.  I have been wanting to make her a little rack (for those adorable size 2T hoodies and hats) and when I saw some knobs that take a 1″ round insert at D. Lawless Hardware, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them.

(Yes, we’ve got snow.  I’ve been trying for 3 days to get a good photo of how cute this rack is and it’s just not working out – you’ll have to take my word for it, it turned out awesome!)

Each of the four knobs spell out Raya’s name, and I added a Tinkerbell graphic to each tile.

There are SO many possibilities with these knobs – let me show you how I made this little rack!

First, I found an inexpensive unfinished wood rack.  It was the kind that had pegs glued in… and not very well.  But, it fit the bill for price, and I was planning to add more secure hardware anyway.  I removed the pegs, painted it white, and drilled holes in the peg holes to accommodate my hardware screws.

Now – let me show you how I made the knobs.  I used these knob bases and some 1″ glass tiles.  You will be able to find glass tiles on Etsy or at consumercrafts.com – I have quite a few in my stash because I use them for lots of different projects.

I painted the knobs white and added my graphics to my tiles.  This is a lot easier than it looks if you follow these tips.

First, I get the best results printing on the cheapest photo paper possible.  Regular paper doesn’t give as crisp an image, and the higher-quality paper tends to smudge.  I have the best luck with the photo paper from Dollar Tree, in all honesty!  Just cut your graphics to size, and add some Mod Podge to the top once the ink has about 10 minutes to dry.  Then, add your tile on.  Do not panic when it looks like this:

Just twist it around to get it well-coated, and then squeegee out the excess Mod Podge.  I have a plastic scraper I use, but a credit card or firm spatula would work well too.

Check the front side and make sure you got the bubbles out – if not, squeegee it again and squeeze them out.

Once the knobs were dry, I added the threaded inserts to them with a bit of Amazing E6000, and screwed them onto the rack.

Then, I added just a little bit more adhesive to the top (and really, any heavy-duty permanent adhesive will work fine) so I could glue the tiles on.

(A little goes a long way with the adhesive.  If you get too much, not only is it unnecessary  but it can bleed through your paper graphic.)

Then, I added the tile.  By doing this last, I didn’t have to worry whether my tile was screwed on exactly straight – though you can certainly add the tile before you mount it if it’s going on a cabinet or drawer!

(Then I fussed with it.  I painted it.  I sanded it.  I painted it again.  And painted over it.  And distressed it.  And still couldn’t quite get the accent color I was going for.  So finally, I just added a pair of sawtooth hangers to the back, and put it up in Raya’s room!)

A note – I wasn’t compensated for this post, though I did receive free product to craft with.  In fact, you can too!  If you like the knob, then be sure to check out the giveaway to D. Lawless Hardware going on all week!