Inside: Store in style with this DIY iron and ironing board holder. Perfect functional addition to your laundry space to keep all your ironing essentials together.
I think it ‘s safe to say that we all want beautiful functional spaces to live in. Sometimes our budget, time and layout of our house make this challenging.
This is true for my laundry room. The studs are still visible in our unfinished basement laundry room. So we keep our iron and ironing board in the upstairs linen/coat closet. The ironing board was hanging by its arm literally on the closet rod pole.
I wish this post was about how we did this amazing remodel in our laundry room…but it’s not, sigh. Instead, I have this DIY Iron and Ironing board holder that improved this space by at least 11% and helped me clear some scrap wood. I built the holder to hold the ironing board and the iron to easily keep everything in one place. I also plan to put distilled water in a glass bottle with a cute label to make the space even better.
I made this iron and ironing board holder when I challenged DIYers to build projects only from scrap wood (#buildfromscrap). This project along with these DIY Lanterns and this Dog Leash Holder were all made from scrap wood.
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*Before you get started make sure you have your Safety Gear. For this project, I recommend safety goggles, ear protection and optional N95 mask to prevent breathing wood particles during sawing and sanding.
TOOLS FOR DIY IRON AND IRONING BOARD HOLDER
- Measuring tape
- Pencil
- Saw – I use a Rigid Table Saw
- Miter saw
- Wood clamps
- Carpenter square
- Brad nailer – I use a Ryobi Nail gun
- Pin nailer (optional) – I use a Ryobi pin nailer
- Drill
- 5/8 inch forstner bit
SUPPLIES FOR DIY IRON AND IRONING BOARD HOLDER
I used scrap 3/4″ plywood and scrap 5/8 inch and 1 1/4 inch wood dowels. If you don’t have enough scrap wood then I have included what wood to purchase below.
- Scrap 3/4 inch plywood, a half sheet 24 x 48 x 3/4 inch sheet of plywood or a 1 x 12 x 8 board
- 1 – 5/8 inch wood dowel (if you don’t have a wood dowel consider using a thin piece of scrap or metal as a rail instead)
- 1 – 1 1/4 inch wood dowel (if you don’t have a wood dowel consider using a 2 x 2 scrap)
- 18G 1 1/4 inch brad nails
- 23G 1 inch pin nails
- Wood glue
- Wood filler – I use Elmer’s Wood Filler in Natural
- Sander or sandpaper
- 2 – 1 5/8 inch wood screws
- Wood stain – I used Varathane Sunbleached and Mixwax Early American
- Keyhole fasteners
CUTS FOR DIY IRON AND IRONING BOARD HOLDER
My iron and ironing board holder measured 11 x 11 x 7 3/4 inches. Adjust your size according to the size of your ironing board and per your preference.
- 1 – 3/4 inch plywood cut at 11 x 11 (back)
- 1 – 3/4 inch plywood cut at 9 5/8 x 7 inches (bottom)
- 2 – 3/4 inch plywood cut at 7 x 6 3/8 inches (sides) – note that I initially cut the sides at 7 x 7 inches and ended up cutting an additional 5/8 inches from the bottom of the sides to allow for more clearance for the ironing board to be hung
- 1 – 5/8 inch wood dowel cut at 10 1/8 (rail) – I recommend cutting this after you nail one of your sides to the back
- 2 – 1 1/4 inch wood dowel cut at 2 1/2 inches (ironing board hooks)
As an option you can make a 45 degree angle cut on each upper outward-facing corner of the side pieces. To do this measure and mark 1 inch from the corner. Then cut the corner off.
Here are my cuts.
STEPS TO MAKE DIY IRON AND IRONING BOARD HOLDER
Step 1) Drill a 5/8 inch hole on each of the side pieces for the 5/8 inch dowel (rail). If you don’t have a forstner bit you can glue and clamp in place and secure with a few nails. Another option is to use a scrap piece of wood, glue and nail in place, or a thin piece of metal and nail it to the front.
Step 2) Attach one of the side pieces to the back using wood glue and 1 1/4 inch 18G brad nails nailed through the back piece. Wood clamps help to hold it in place. Then stand up the other side piece and mark your 5/8 inch wood dowel measurement for the rail.
Dry fit your dowel until you get the correct length. Apply glue in the dowel holes, clamp in place and nail the second side piece in place as you did with the first side piece. If needed you can add a couple of nails to the outside of the side piece to hold the dowel in place. I used a pin nailer for this with 1-inch pin nails.
Step 3) Add the bottom piece. Apply glue on three sides, clamp and nail in place.
Step 4) Sand the holder.
Step 5) Add the hooks. I used 1 1/4 inch wood dowels for my hooks. You can use metal hooks, scrap 2 x 2 or any other ideas you can come up with. To add the wood dowels mark for placement. I left about three inches of clearance for placing and removing the ironing board. Drill a pilot hole through the back piece and in the center of each wood dowel.
Apply wood glue to the dowels and insert the 1 5/8 inch screws through the back board and into the wood dowels. Use a clamp to hold the wood dowel in place while you screw it in for a tight fit.
*Tip – Before adding the screws, I drilled a countersink hole in the back to allow the screw to lay flush with the wood.
Step 6) Stain or paint the holder. I layered two different stains, first Varathane Sunbleached then Mixwax Early American.
Step 7) Add hanging hardware and hang in your desired place. I attached two keyhole fasteners to the back.
Then hung it in our linen/coat closet.
So not the amazing laundry makeover of my dreams but at least 1% better.
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