With so many beautiful kitchen and table linens on the market I wanted to have a simple way to hang them on my walls. This wood cleat DIY is an easy and inexpensive way to turn a tea towel into a textural work of art. It would also look awesome with a table runner if you have high ceilings, or a napkin if space is tight. The whole thing cost me around $20, with the most expensive item being the drill bit at $10, so if you already have one, you're looking at $10 worth of supplies!
Supplies
- One ½” x 2 ½” x 36” poplar board cut into two equal pieces slightly longer than the shortest side of your tea towel. My towel was 16” so I cut two 17” pieces.
- Four round magnets ¾” in diameter and about 3/16” thick
- Large self-leveling picture hanger
- Glue (I used some contact cement I already had)
- ¾” forstner drill bit
- 320 grit sandpaper
- Tape measure
- Pencil
- Hammer
- Masking tape
Instructions
1. Sand down the cut edges of your wood to smooth out any rough pieces, wipe clean with a damp cloth and let dry. At this point you could also stain and finish the boards, but I chose to leave mine raw.
2. Decide which sides of the cut boards you prefer the look of, the opposite sides will be where you will place your magnets.
3. On the wrong side of each board find the center of each short edge and make a mark 3" inward. This is where you will drill your holes (2 holes per board).
4. Drill your holes with your forstner bit on each mark. Make sure to only drill in slightly less than the thickness of your magnet so the magnet sticks out slightly when placed in the hole (see the image below). I originally tried taping a piece of masking tape on the drill bit at the depth I wanted the hole to be, but it wouldn’t stay in place, so I ended up just going slowly and measuring the depth with the magnet along the way.
5. Put a small amount of glue in each hole followed by the magnet. Make sure to put the north sides of the magnets facing out on one board, and the south sides on the other so the magnets will attract and not repel each other. Push the magnets firmly into each hole and wipe away the excess glue. Let dry according to your glue instructions.
6. Once the glue has dried take the board that you want to be the back of the cleat and center the picture hanger at the top of the side without the magnets. Secure it with masking tape to hold it in place while you hammer in the nails.
7. Sandwich the top edge of your tea towel between the two boards and hang.
Subscribe to our newsletter: