DIY Vintage Tennis Racket Wall Organizer

I am not only an aspiring architect, I am also an amateur designer, artist, and crafter. 

My Mama's birthday just passed, so of course I decided to make her something (with the help of my sister and Mr. Engineer) instead of buying her something. Making her something is from the heart as well as being easy on a budget. It also ensures that the gift is one of a kind!

Tennis is her sport, so that is where I started thinking of ideas and this is what I came up with...

... aVintage Tennis Racket Wall Organizer that we created for her!

I am going to go through step by step instructions if anyone wants to try it for themselves. Of course  you can also use this idea for another sport, by using some different vintage sporting equipment baseball bat, golf club, or hockey stick.

Supplies for this project:

- drill and bits

- spray paint (I used Krylon Brushed Metallic Satin - 1251 Sesame Shimmer) 

- permanent marker

- hooks (the only thing I actually bought for this project - I used white 7/8 inch cup hooks)
- vintage racket (or other types sports equipment)

My sister got this vintage wooden racket for free, given to her by a friend. First I spray painted the racket (I don't have any before pictures, I did this step a few months ago in the pre-blog days)

Then I drilled a few pilot holes for the hooks on the bottom of the racket handle.

Then I twisted in the screws. They were a little hard to screw it in by hand, so I asked Mr. Engineer to help me and he suggested using pliers... he is so smart because it was much easier with leverage from the pliers.

Finally, we wanted to personalize it. So, my sister (who has better penmanship than I do) added the words "Tennis Beast" which is our Mama's tennis nickname.

She can hang her tennis metals, jewelry, or anything else. Eventually she will hang it in her new master closet, which is currently being built, so I will eventually have to include a photo when she hangs it and fills it with her pretty trinkets!