Can You Make Furniture From Clothes Hangers?

A stand for a glass tabletop made from coat hangers? This is a creative TikTok idea posted by 5.minute.crafts, The blindingly fast presentation (in typical TikTok style) doesn’t give you much time to appreciate the project details, so we stopped the video multiple times for a closer look.

Here are our thoughts on what’s presented, and what you can do to improve the final product.

@5.minute.crafts

You can make all this furniture for $50 🤩 #ijustfoundout #furnituremakeover #cheapdiy

♬ original sound – 5-Minute Crafts

How It Works

You pull the wire hook off a bunch of identical coat hangers, arrange four on the floor end-on-end to form an octahedron, then stack more on top until you’ve got a stand the right height for a table.

The straight parts of the hangers (they look like dowels in the video) form an inner square you can see through the glass. The square frames a display area for battery-operated mini lights or whatever decorations you prefer.

Problems With the Project

First, the post doesn’t show any adhesives being used to keep the hangers together. That’s a problem. A dab of hot-melt glue on each end before you stack the next course of hangers would prevent the whole structure from crumbling when someone or something bumps into the table or the glass.

Another problem: The apparent ease the poster pulls the wire hooks off the hangers. I tried this on a few hangers in my closet and couldn’t get any of them off. There’s a reason for that: Most hooks are permanently attached so the hangers can support heavy items, like a coat or a suit.

A third problem is the high number of identical coat hangers you’ll need. We counted 48. Who has that many around the house that aren’t in use? So you’ll need to buy some. But I have to admit, that doesn’t make the project any less creative.

Some Strategy Improvements

Problems aside, this coat hanger structure offers an intriguing conversation piece. If you want to try this project at home, I suggest a few tweaks:

• Go ahead and buy the coat hangers. That way you’ll be sure they’re identical, which is essential for the project to work. This collection of hangers looks like the ones in the video. But why not get something decorative like these no-slip hangers. Or even better, some multicolored ones?
• Forget about pulling off the hook. Just cut it off with a hacksaw or bolt cutters.
• Find some way of securing the hangers to each other. Hot-melt glue is one way, but epoxy cement would be more permanent.

Here’s a way to assemble the stand with dowels if you eventually want take it apart:

1. Make a template out of cardboard that matches the end of one of the hangers. Drill a 5/16-in. hole through it.
2. Position the template in the same position on either end of each coat hanger and drill the same size hole through the hanger.
3. Place the first course of hangers on the floor with the holes overlapping and slip a four foot length of 1/4-in. wood dowel into each set of holes.
4. Slide the rest of the hangers onto the dowels. When the stack is the right height, cut the dowels flush with the top course.

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