Pot Rack in New House!

 I have a new house, yay! It's actually a rather old house. Built in 1923. The kitchen was updated by the previous owner though. Smart. That's how you sell a house (and the finished basement).
But the kitchen still needed something. The cabinets didn't provide enough space for my pots and pans; some had been sitting on the stove since I moved in. So I decided... I needed a pot rack! This space above the counter/breakfast bar through to the dining room was all boring and PERFECT for the pot rack!

Boring and empty!

I didn't like any I found online though. But Pinterest to the rescue! I was inspired by this blog to make my own. Well, have my dad make it :D It took more than 15 minutes, but I will explain.
Here was my design (on a post-it):

I thank Mrs. Harry for my ability to draw perspectives

Can you picture it?
I found heavy-duty shelf brackets with a rod holder at Menard's ($6 each). They claim a pair will hold 500 pounds! My pots won't weigh that much! I wasn't sure how long I wanted it to be, either 3 feet or 4 feet. Once my parents got here on Friday, they helped hold up the brackets to get a feel for it. Dad found studs in the wall (16" apart as usual) and put the first 3 brackets in with dry-wall screws so they'd hold REALLY well. Then we decided to make it 4 feet wide so we had to get another bracket. And the rod, which I forgot to buy the first time I was at Menard's. (I was there 3 times in 4 days. I kind of know my way around now.)

Just the brackets

We also needed hooks from which to hang the pots. S-hooks would work but the pots wouldn't hang the right way. We needed a hook that turned 90 degrees. Then at the Container store, we found these chrome "tote" hangers in the closet storage section! Perfect! 6 for $10 wasn't so bad and they worked perfectly (unfortunately didn't match the hardware, but whatever). Dad tightened them onto the rod so they don't move around or slip off.

The last thing to figure out was the shelf. You can get laminated 4-food shelf boards at Menard's in 3 widths, but we agreed there should be some over-hang on each side. So we thought we'd look around for something else, or stain/paint some plain wood boards. That sounded like work. Until my Mom found 6 pieces of 1x6's in the basement (by the boiler, there's rando stuff everywhere) and 2 of them next to each other fit PERFECTLY! Didn't even need to trim them. We also found paint to match the rest of the trim in the kitchen, so we painted those up yesterday. (side note: I inherited a lot of paint)

Last night we didn't have screws to hang the shelves and finish the project! I thought, out of Dad's huge basket of screws, he'd have some 3/4" ones, but noooo. So today while we were out for Grand Old Day, he went into the Ace hardware store and picked some up. But only 11, and we needed 12! haha. Bad counting.

Pre-drilling the screw holes and sucking up the sawdust

After we got home, we put the shelves up, and the rod back on, and bam, it was done!

All it shall hold is cookies

  

Finished! I could get some more of the hangers and fit a few more pans up there.

 

In summary:

• 4 brackets: $24
• 6 foot Rod (cut down): $19 
• End caps: $6
•  Hangar hooks: $10
• Shelves and screws: free
• Total: $59!

Not shabby! Maybe I'll spruce it up by putting a potted vine plant up there to fill in the space. I don't recommend doing this project if you aren't handy, so ask your dad or a handy person to help.

The other project that dad mostly did by himself was upgrade the attic vent to a power vent (with thermostat), and add 3 aluminum eave/soffit vents. Drilling holes in the stucco was scary for me, I was afraid I'd end up with big holes to repair. But he did a fine job. I helped put up the eave vents. No crawling on the roof for me!