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You are here: Home / Crafts / How To Make a Fun Wall Key Holder From Junk

How To Make a Fun Wall Key Holder From Junk

7th June 2017 by Claire Armstrong 49 Comments

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I decided to make this fun wall key holder, as I seem to spend half my life looking for my keys especially my car keys.

What I need to do is put them in the same place every time so I know where they are. Now that I have a wall key holder, when I come in I hang my keys up and I don’t have to hunt for them anymore!

Upcycle Scrap Wood Into a Unique Wall Key Holder

When I say that this wall key holder is made from junk I’m not exaggerating, it’s literally some scraps of wood and rusty nails. My husband thought I’d lost it when I went on the hunt for some rusty nails in the garden for my project.

The houses are supposed to represent the homes on my street, which they kind of look like except we don’t have flowery roofs, unfortunately. That’s why I stamped our street name on the key rack. I even used a bit of old skirting board (baseboard) from the house

These key holders would make a lovely gift, especially if you stamped the recipient’s street name on the rack. For my next one, I want to get a bit more ambitious and do one for my old home in Hong Kong with some icon buildings made out of scrap wood.

I have also made some map rock key chains for my keys to hang on to the rack, which will also make a great gift. Perhaps you could make both as a set.

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How to make a wooden key holder from junk

What you need to make a wooden wall key holder

  • Scraps of wood, some long thin bits (ie 2″x 1″) and a bit of skirting board (baseboard). Or some other piece of molded wood-like architrave.
wood scraps
  • Rusty nails, small ones for the houses and large ones to use as hooks.
  • Hacksaw
  • Acrylic paint in various colours.
  • Fabric scraps or decorative washi tape
  • Letter stamp set and a black stamp pad.
  • Green felting wool and a felting needle and sponge

How to Make a Wooden Wall Key Holder

Making the cute houses…

1.. First, using a hack saw cut scraps of wood into 3 small pieces approximately 2″ high 1″ wide. Use the saw also to create a pointed roof.

Top Tip: Don’t worry too much about getting a perfect shape the wonkiness of the houses gives them their charm.

2. Next, smooth any jagged edges on the houses with a hand chisel, and give them a light sand.
 

Wooden house blocks

3. Next, paint each house a different colour. Then, stick fabric scraps or decorative washi tape on the pointed roofs.

4. Then, when the paint has dried on the houses, paint white dots for the windows and a coloured front door.

5. Next, after the window and door paint has dried, paint black window frames around them. You could even use a black sharpie for this.

Painted wooden houses for wall key holder

6. To finish off the houses, hammer a small rusty nail into the the roof for a chimney.

Scrap wood house with rusty nail for chimney

Making the felt tree

There are lots of trees on my street so I wanted a tree on my key holder. To make a tree, firstly I needle felted some green roving wall into a round tree shape.

If you are not familiar with needle felting there are loads of tutorials on YouTube like this one from Hawthorn Handmade.
 

7. When you have your tree shaped green felted ball simply stick it on top of one of the big rusty nails.

felt tree for key rack design

Stamping and making the key holder rack..

8. For the main back board of the key holder, I used a piece of old skirting board (baseboard). But any moulded bit of old wood would work well, such as mouldings from a window frame. Saw the wood into a piece about 7″ (18cm) wide and about 5″ (12cm) wide.

skirting board bit

9. Next to personalie the wooden key rack and make it extra special, stamp your street name onto the skirting board. Just use as simple letter stamp kit to do this.

stamping key holder rack

Assembling the wall key holder..

9. Then, hammer one of the four large rusty nails into the top of the baseboard at one end. This rusty nail is the trunk for the felt tree. Hammer the other 3 nails into the front of the key rack and an equal distance apart. Bend the nails as you hammer them in so that they form a hook.

Rusty nails into baseboard.

10. Finally, the last thing to do is to glue the wooden houses onto the key rack. I used a hot glue gun for this.

fixing wooden houses to key holder
Make a cute wall key holder out of scrap wood from your house and stamp your street name on the rack.  For a unique cute quirky and useful key rack.
Make a cute wall key holder out of scrap wood from your house and stamp your street name on the rack.  For a unique cute quirky and useful key rack.
Use some pieces of scrap wood and nails to make this cute handy upcycled wall key holder.  It would make a lovely gift as you can personalize it with your street name.

I love to upcycle old bits of discarded wood into something useful and fun, or just fun. I’ve made some map wooden ornaments out of scraps before. I’ve even rescued and upcycled an old drawer from a skip(dumpster) and turned it into a bathroom storage shelf.

Every time I walk past a skip I can’t help taking a peek and seeing if there are any interesting bits of old wood to upcycle. I have amassed quite a collection in my shed. One of the best things I made from this scrap wood was a unique wooden Christmas tree.

Filed Under: Crafts, DIY Upcycling Tagged With: junk, junk crafting, junk upcycle, key, key holder, key rack, keys, needle felting, rusty nails, scrap wood, skirting board, stamping, upcycled, wall key holder, wall key rack

Previous Post: « How to Make a Unique Marimekko Bench
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Maria

    15th July 2020 at 6:28 pm

    What a cute upcycle! Just darling !

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      16th July 2020 at 3:00 pm

      Thank you so much Maria.

      Reply
  2. Linda at Mixed Kreations

    14th April 2019 at 4:13 pm

    What an adorable little key holder! Love the little houses and tree and how you used the nails for the hooks. Super cute!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      15th April 2019 at 5:56 am

      Thank you so much.

      Reply
  3. Julie

    16th June 2017 at 11:42 pm

    Sooo cute. Pretty and practical – another fabulous project Claire. Thanks for sharing it with us at #HandmadeMonday 🙂

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      17th June 2017 at 8:39 pm

      Thank you Julie, I really enjoyed making it.

      Reply
  4. Sandra Garth

    16th June 2017 at 10:15 pm

    The fabric scraps on the rooftops are just too cute. You’ve reminded me that in a closet somewhere I have a keyholder and I should dig it out. I throw my keys in my purse and this is a much better idea. Thanks for linking up with us at Celebrate Your Story and I hope you have plans for a fun weekend.

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      17th June 2017 at 6:30 am

      Thank you Sandra. I’ll be crafting in the sunshine this weekend.

      Reply
  5. Christina Makri

    15th June 2017 at 5:15 pm

    So many cute details make this keyholder very special! Great idea!!!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      15th June 2017 at 8:32 pm

      Thank you so much!

      Reply
  6. Cecilia

    13th June 2017 at 3:52 pm

    So cute! Love the floral roofs–thanks for sharing @Vintage Charm!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      13th June 2017 at 7:30 pm

      Thank you! Yes, I wish we had floral roofs in real life, that would be fun.

      Reply
  7. Leanna

    13th June 2017 at 5:26 am

    This is such a adorable idea. Love the little houses and the pairing of keys and houses is fun. Love this little key holder.

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      13th June 2017 at 6:17 am

      Thank you so much Leanna, it does look cute on my kitchen wall.

      Reply
  8. Wendy

    13th June 2017 at 1:29 am

    This is so darn cute! It reminds me of a little ceramic key holder I bought in France and we’ve been using it for 20 years!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      13th June 2017 at 6:20 am

      Thank you Wendy. Maybe this one will last as long hopefully.

      Reply
  9. Ann

    12th June 2017 at 4:47 pm

    Such a clever way to use scraps – I love this idea!
    Pinning it!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      13th June 2017 at 6:21 am

      Thank you and Cheers for the share.

      Reply
  10. Menaka Bharathi

    12th June 2017 at 5:26 am

    Now this looks totally cute and adorable….A perfect gift too for someone s house warming

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      12th June 2017 at 6:11 am

      Thank you so much!

      Reply
  11. Katy SkipTheBag

    11th June 2017 at 6:49 pm

    This is so beautiful and you are right, it would make an adorable housewarming gift. Thanks for sharing on the #WasteLessWednesday Blog hop

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      11th June 2017 at 9:48 pm

      Thank you ?

      Reply
  12. Demi | made by demi

    11th June 2017 at 3:01 pm

    Such a unique idea!! I love it 🙂

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      11th June 2017 at 9:48 pm

      Thank you ?

      Reply
  13. creativejewishmom/sara

    10th June 2017 at 9:16 pm

    I just LOVE this Claire, truly great in so many ways…..the nail chimneys and tree trunk is a little brilliant moment of creativity that I imagine just came to you as you were creating……thanks so much for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      10th June 2017 at 10:09 pm

      Thank you Sara. You are right the tree was something that just came too me as I was creating it.

      Reply
  14. Ezgi

    10th June 2017 at 7:20 pm

    It is wonderful Idea. I love it..

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      10th June 2017 at 7:27 pm

      Thank you very much.

      Reply
  15. Susan

    10th June 2017 at 12:37 pm

    This is so charming. I really love how the imperfections really make the craft so cute. Many times I see a tutorial and I think “there’s no way I can make mine perfect like that” so I don’t even try.

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      10th June 2017 at 7:26 pm

      Thank you, sometimes it’s the imperfections that make things great, perfection is over rated.

      Reply
  16. Victoria @DazzleWhileFrazzled

    9th June 2017 at 3:59 pm

    OMG, I love this project! I could probably handle this type of wood working project. Love the houses. You’ve inspired me to want to create something totally fun like them this weekend. Visiting from Creativity Unleashed party.

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      9th June 2017 at 4:58 pm

      Thank you, Victoria. It is easy and fun to make you could even involve the kids.

      Reply
  17. IOANNA

    9th June 2017 at 7:55 am

    Adorable,I love it!!!!!!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      9th June 2017 at 5:04 pm

      Thank you ?

      Reply
  18. Rossella

    8th June 2017 at 3:03 pm

    How cute and how beautiful! I absolutely love your key holder.
    I immediately go to find some old wood scraps!
    Excuse for my imperfect english and congratulations for your blog.
    Hugs from Verona (Italy)

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      8th June 2017 at 3:31 pm

      Thank you, and good luck I’d love to see how it turns out.

      Reply
  19. Susie

    8th June 2017 at 2:27 pm

    Stopped by to Stumble and just had to linger. This is such a cute post! Wildly creative. 🙂 Susie from The Chelsea Project

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      8th June 2017 at 2:54 pm

      Thank you, Susie, I really enjoyed making it.

      Reply
  20. DEBRASHOPPENO5

    7th June 2017 at 10:32 pm

    This is such an adorable project. I like the gift idea, how special to receive something like this. And it is so handy to have a hook by the door to hang the keys.

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      8th June 2017 at 10:18 am

      Thank you, it is handy and I can’t wait to make another one.

      Reply
  21. Margot

    7th June 2017 at 7:29 pm

    Everything here is adorable! I love this! Thanks so much for visiting my blog. I will definitely be back.

    Cheers,
    Madge

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      7th June 2017 at 8:09 pm

      Thank you, Madge and thanks for popping over.

      Reply
  22. Carol ("Mimi")

    7th June 2017 at 5:26 pm

    This is such a cute key holder. I like the primitive art approach. The little houses and the tree on the piece of antique molding give the piece lots of character.

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      7th June 2017 at 8:09 pm

      Thank you, they idea was to create something almost child-like and primitive.

      Reply

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