No Mantle for the Stockings!

Oops! I meant to do this post yesterday but got a little distracted....

After living in our home for 3 years I've finally come up with a solution for hanging our stockings. We have a wood burning stove which means no mantle and we don't have a railing to our 2nd floor either.

While walking through Hobby Lobby last month I came across  the clearance isle. I didn't even know there WAS a clearance isle! I saw some cute decorations and things and then I found lettered knobs. They were originally $3.99 each, marked down to $1.99 each and then to $.79 each!!! I stood there staring at them trying to figure out what on earth I could use them for. And then a pin from Pinterest popped into my head.

via

My first thought was to spell out N-O-E-L but I couldn't find an O. So I decided instead to use our initials. I wasn't sure if Scott and I should be D and M (for dad & mom) or just S and H. In the end I decided the kids know we have real names so S and H would be fine :)

I bought a 4 foot piece of 1 by 8 at Home depot for about $6. After planning out the locations of my knobs I decided to cut the board to 25 inches long. 

I stained it with Minwax Jacobean then dry brushed it white with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in pure white, then I white washed over that and distressed.

I marked where I would drill holes for the knobs. The first hole is 2 inches from the start of the board. Then 7 inches over to the 2nd hole, 7 inches to the 3rd, 7 inches to the 4th and then 2 inches to the end of the board. That's why I went with a 25 inch board :) I drilled holes with a bit the exact same size as the bolt on my knobs.

This way I was able to screw in the knob so tight that I didn't need to attach a nut to the back to hold it in. The bolt on the knob was way too long though, it stuck out of the back of the board.

So Scott took the knobs to his friends house and cut the bolt shorter with a grinder that had a diamond blade on it. Yeah, that was straight from Scott's mouth:) Sorry I don't have any pictures, I was at home with the kids.

Once the bolts were short enough I just needed to screw them into the board and I was all set! I used Command picture hanging strips to hang it on the wall. They're like velcro. Scott was nervous it might not hold so I used 6 of them and it's on there very good!!

I'm so relieved that the stocking issue is finally over! I'm thinking that in future Christmas' it's going to be the thing I'm most excited to get out of the crawl space! I just love it that much! :)

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Centsational Girl

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

The Shady Porch

Too Much Time on my Hands

Funky Junk Interiors

Craft-O-Maniac