Check out this great coat rack! My sister and her partner said they wanted a coat rack for their new apartment...REALLY?!! I've been thinking about making a coat rack from an old porch post for years. I quickly told them not to buy anything new - that I have an idea! My husband and I worked together on this really fun project. It seemed like such a simple project when we started, but bringing all the materials together got a little difficult. We wanted to use all repurposed materials and not spend a 
lot of money. The not spending a lot money part was the difficult part! A lot of the materials were proving to be hard to find inexpensively. But we persevered and succeeded! After a long search, my husband and I found the perfect porch post (well, actually we found two!) I knew what I wanted the coat rack to look like but had no idea how to make it stand up; what to use as a base? This is where my husband comes in - he found an old cast-iron tractor wheel! The tractor wheel is heavy but not too big - it doesn't take up too much floor space. We didn't want huge legs protruding from the coat rack creating the potential for being tripped on.We had such a good time searching antique markets and brainstorming and discussing the potential of different objects to use as hooks and the finial for the top. My husband got really into the coat rack production - such as testing different paint and stain techniques. Of course, he was the one to put it all together! How to attach the tractor 
wheel to the post? That was all him! We wanted to keep the coat rack rustic looking and I think we have succeeded in making a beautiful and useful piece of furniture. We presented it to the girls as a Christmas gift and they were very pleased and it looks great in their apartment!
We are now finishing putting together another coat rack out of the second post we bought. We have all the materials gathered; my husband just has to put it together and then we will offer it for sale. Keep posted for pictures.
Here is a Christmas decoration idea for next year. I found this old band cap at an antique mall. I fell in love with it and had to have it, but I didn't know what I was going to do with it. As I was standing in line waiting to pay for it; it came to me - the dog can wear it for the Christmas card picture! It will be sooo cute! ...but the dog was afraid of it and wouldn't wear it...?
So I took it home, turned it upside down and put my Christmas tree in it! How cute is that?! Not as cute as a Bernese Mountain dog, but pretty darn cute! I'm thinking you could even use it as a vase and put a poinsettia in it!
