Today I wanted to share one of my older, favorite DIY projects. It’s one I look at every day. It completely transformed my kitchen. A pot rack repurpose project.
When we bought our house there was a pot rack hanging in the kitchen. Let me start by saying, I’m not really a pot rack kind of girl. They just feel cluttered, and I’ve never had a set of pots and pans that were nice enough to always be on display. When I took it down, the kitchen just felt bare. So I needed to do something.
Inspiration came when my mom and sister came for a visit. They love having a designated project we can work on together. This ugly, empty pot rack became our mission.
The first thing it needed (after a good cleaning) was some paint! I was not a fan of the flower pattern, and the brown was just too much given everything else in my kitchen is brown (tile, cabinets, counters…what were they thinking?!). We opted for gray. Still a neutral color, and the pot rack instantly felt modern. We used Rust-oleum Hammered spray paint. It took several coats to completely cover and get into all of the nooks and crannies.
While it was drying, we went to work on the rest of the pieces. The vision was to have a rustic look that would bring the outside in. We started by clipping about 8-10 branches off a tree. No leaves, just branches that would branch off in all directions. Total length varied with the longest branches being around 50-55 inches. The idea was to have them stacked in the top and hang out over the edges at least a few inches on each side.
The rest of the vision came together with a shopping trip. We needed some color…flowers. Hobby Lobby is the best place around here for fake flowers that look real. The problem is they can get quite pricey! I got lucky because that weekend their flowers were marked down up to 40-50% off. I still ended up spending around $50 total. We went for something that would give a complementary pop of color and still look very realistic. What we ended up with were a couple of different yellow varieties, an orange/red flower, and grape leaves.
Our next find was a bit more random. We were in Old Time Pottery and came across some little glass jars that were on sale for just over $1 each. This was going to add some additional dimension to the project and complete it.
To assemble it all, we started with stacking the sticks in all directions, letting them hang over up to a foot in some cases. Next we added the flowers, spreading the color out so it would show a little on each side. Again, the flowers hung out over the sides and drooped down a bit. Ultimately, we just kept playing with the placement until it seemed right.
The final step was to add the jars. I cut pieces of twine that ranged from 24-34 inches. It was folded in half and then double knotted right at that mark around the handle of the jar. Randomly I hung them around the grid on the bottom of the pot rack using the same technique (double knot but added a cute bow). The lengths and locations were varied.
There you have it. We were done. This was a fun, easy project! My kitchen now has a little color to it, and a great center piece. It gave this old pot rack purpose again. I often think i should have something in the vases. Though for now, this works. What do you think?