DIY Face Mask Organizer

6 Materials
$10
4 Hours
Easy

Face Masks it seems are here to stay for the foreseeable future. But until recently in my house we didn’t have a very good system for where they would go when they were clean and ready for use other than in a little pile in our entryway.


I decided keys go on a key rack so why not put these face masks on a sort of a face mask rack/organizer/thingy?


So I made this face mask organizer with an off-cut of pallet wood and some drawer knobs I'd been squirrelling away.

It has pride of place near the front door over the alarm panel! Just a way of normalizing reaching for a face mask as I go out I guess!

Cut your wood to size


I come by a lot of scrap wood for various reasons so I had some spare pallets in the backyard.


I measured the space above the alarm and the light switch in my entryway and decided that a 15″ length of wood was about right so I used my jigsaw to cut a piece off of one of my pallets.

Sanding


Next I used my Black & Decker Mouse Sander to sand down the piece of wood so it was nice and smooth.


That’s me in the photo in my lockdown lounge wear/pyjamas doing my sanding – as you do!

Mexican Ceramic Knobs


As well as a pile of scrap wood, I also have a drawer full of knobs & handles – yes I’m that lady. Some of them came off of pieces of furniture where I had replaced the original handles and some of them I pick up when I see a bargain somewhere – just because you never know when you might need new drawer knobs – right?


Anyway I had these 4 Mexican handles that I picked up somewhere.

When I showed my sister the photo of my face mask organizer she said, ‘where did you get the handles?’


I said ‘I don’t know I just had them’, she said ‘I thought you would say that’.


So my reputation precedes me here a bit!


But I also know that is an annoying answer so I did have a look on my go to shopping destination for stuff like this – Etsy – and found some  similar knobs that would let you get the same look without having to go drawer knob bargain hunting for days!

Measuring & Drilling Holes


So once I’d picked my handles I tried spacing them out to get an idea of how they would look and then I measured for the holes.


I measured the height of my piece of wood and aimed to put the knobs halfway down.


To space the knobs horizontally I eyeballed what looked good and then got out my tape measure and adjusted so they were even with each other.


For my face mask organizer, the first drill holes were 2″ from either end of the plank of wood to the first knobs and then 3″ between each drill hole in the middle.


Keep in mind that the drill hole is just where the bolt goes – your actual knob will likely be wider so you need to account for that when you are choosing your spacing – which is why starting with the tried and tested eyeballing method is always my go to!

Attach a hanging


It’s your call if you want to put the hanging on now or after the next step. I did it first.

I used a sawtooth picture hanging attachment – my favourite for hanging most things.

Staining


I liked the grain of the pallet wood so I decided to stain it rather than paint it.


From our house renovation several years ago we still have a utility room full of odds and sods from the builders – some of which we know what it was for, some of which we aren’t as sure.


Anyway one of the things we had squirrelled away in there was this worktop oil.


The brand is Scandiwood and it’s a natural finish wood oil meant for kitchen worktops.


It darkened the wood ever so slightly, made it look warmer and brought out the grain nicely.


I left it outside to dry and it was touch dry in about 3 hours, so I was pretty pleased with that too, as I like getting on with things once I’ve started!


And yes, that is a pizza box I’m using as a work surface in that photo!

Attaching the knobs.


I was sure when I started this project that I was going to be sawing off ends of bolts and using a counter sink drill bit to make the bolts flush at the back.


In fact I was looking forward to trying it because I’ve never used the counter sink attachment on my drill! (the counter sinks are the round ended ones that you use at the back of something like this to make a little ‘pocket’ for the nut to rest in).


However once I screwed my knobs in I realised I would be cutting off so little of the bolt end that it probably wasn’t worth it to try.


I figured if I put it up on the wall and it didn’t sit flat I could always go back and cut them.


But in the end I didn’t need to it sat just fine as it was.

If you don’t want to be bothered with cutting bolts or learning about counter sinks either then try looking for the kind of knobs that screw in from the back – like kitchen knobs.


These types of knobs will sit much flusher to the back of your piece of wood and once you add the hanging it shouldn’t effect how flat it sits at all.

Finished Face Mask Oranizer!


And that’s it! This project took almost no time – the longest bit was waiting for the stain to dry.

If you like this project you might be interested in some of my other upcycled home decor ideas. You can find the whole archive of my home decor projects here.

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Kristen Hubert
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Frequently asked questions
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  1 question
  • Mary Paradowski Mary Paradowski on Sep 12, 2020

    Why are knobs so close? Masks are touching. Is it for clean masks only?

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  • Comet Comet on Sep 18, 2020

    Use small wire hook type COMMAND HOOKS on your car dashboard to hold masks & small bottles of hand sanitizer. We tried a few kinds & the ones with the flippable WIRE hooks have worked since January, in all weathers. Hang a few, refill with clean ones when you wash the used ones. Too small ones won't hold the elastics.


    Put a larger bottle of hand sanitizer in the door pocket to refill the small travel size ones with the small *leashes* on them that will fit on hooks.


    Kids have over the seat back organizers for hand sani, tissues, wipes, masks, etc.

  • Cindy Quinn Cindy Quinn on Oct 13, 2021

    I have 2 trash cans from Dollar Tree sitting by the door. I labeled 1 clean, 1 dirty. I filled the clean with new masks. That way, grab a clean one as you go out the door, come in and put in dirty bin to wash.

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