How to make your own medal rack

I've got two finisher medals (yay!). There are three more races that I am hoping to do this year that have finisher medals. So I decided to start looking for a medal rack to display the documentation of my commitment to running. Here's the deal: the cheapest one I found was $40, and I didn't really like any of them. It didn't take me long to realize that I could just buy a tie rack for a fraction of what these medal racks cost.

That train of thought expanded, and now I think I know how to make a personalized medal rack. The best thing about this idea is that if you get sick of your medal rack design you can just unscrew the tie rack and get a new piece of wood and decorate another design or paint over the original design. And if you don't want to go all the way out with a wood background, there is no reason you can't cut out a piece of poster board and decorate it. You could create a photo collage of your races or some other design, tape the paper design to the wall and screw the tie rack under on onto it.

If all this decorating isn't your thing, you can just find a moderately attractive tie rack and call it a day. You would still come out much cheaper than buying a medal rack.


Materials:

- Tie rack that can be mounted on a wall (preferably a lightweight metal one like this one)

- A basic piece of lumber that is at least 7 inches wider than the width of your tie rack and is at least 2 inches longer than the tie rack. (For example, if your tie rack is 3x15 in dimension, you want a piece of wood that is 10x5. The wood piece shouldn't be more than 1.5 inch thick since this is to be put on a wall. Any major hardware store can cut the wood for you.)

- 2 screws long enough to secure the tie rack

- 2 screws at least 1.5 inch long

- 10-inch long wire (frame wires can be found in hardware section)

- Paint, rhinestones, photos or whatever you want to use to decorate your medal rack

Step 1: Decorate the wood piece. I plan on spray painting my tie rack as well.

Step 2: After the painting, glued photos, rhinestones or whatever you use have dried in place, use the two screws to attach the tie rack to the wood piece

Step 3: (If you have access to a drill, just drill two small holes at the top of your new medal rack, hang it on the wall and call it a day...that is what I plan to do.) Wrap the ends of the wire right under the head of the screw. Secure the screw to the back of the wood piece like you would on a picture frame.

Enjoy your new medal rack!


(FYI, I intend on posting a photo of my finished product, but like all my projects, it takes me forever to come up with a design.)