Over-the-door coat rack - advice needed

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Over-the-door coat rack - advice needed

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Started 4 months ago by Ella
Latest reply from foilhead1
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Ella
Member

In order to open up more space in my closet, I'd like to move at least three heavy coats and jackets to the narrow entry hall. There's no room for a free-standing rack or for anything hanging on the wall. The best solution seems to be an over-the-door coat rack, since I can't put holes in the door. I've decided against 3M Command hooks for various reasons, aesthetics mostly. I've been shopping around for a
good-looking OTD rack made of sturdy metal. Some are quite expensive, so I thought I'd better get your advice first.

Here are my questions for anybody who uses a metal OTD rack:
- Does the rack stay in place, or does it wobble or shift around?
- Is it sturdy enough for heavy coats and possibly heavy handbags too?
- Does it cause any problems in opening or closing the door?
- Has it done any damage to the door, such as gouging or scratching?

All advice and comments are welcome. Thanks!

Posted 4 months ago #
Rosa
Member

I haven't used a rack, we have metal hooks screwed into our doors.

What I can say is, if you hang heavy things on a door regularly, the hinges will warp and the door will not stay closed because it's latch won't match the spot in the frame it goes into anymore.

We don't have much closet space, so all our doors came equipped by previous owners with long, sturdy metal hooks. We've lived here 10 years now and the most-used hook doors (our bedroom and the bathroom) have visibly bent their hinges over time.

I suspect a less-sturdy door (ours are solid hardwood, more than 100 years old) might pull the hinges out of the door before it would actually bend them, but I'm not sure that's better.

Posted 4 months ago #
susanintexas
Member

We have a few of these -- over the bathroom door, for example, to hold a bathrobe. In answer to your questions (from my experience):

(1) Ours do shift around -- travel/skid a little bit along the top. They don't seem to actually whack like a door knocker and I haven't seen any damage (and some of the doors we have these on are painted, so I would notice.) I think it would depend on the design. The tighter it is the less likely it is to skid or knock, but the tightness itself could cause gouging.

(2) I think the sturdiness is a function of the design. One of the ones we have is really sturdy -- cast iron-like material. Others I have seen are flimsier. We have an over-the-door rack at our library at work to hold videos/DVDs -- it's a wire bin arrangement -- and we had to screw it to the door to keep it from bending.

(3) No problems with door operation, but that might depend on how tight your doors are. It's something you would detect right away, I would think.

Posted 4 months ago #
arthelemis
Member

I have one on my bedroom door. The model I have is made of 12ga sheet metal, and quite sturdy. It can hold my weight and I'm 110lbs but my door is also very strong (solid oak). I wouldn't tried that on normal interior door. The ''hook'' part that hold on the door is U-shaped, and extend far on the other side, meaning it's visible from the hallway.

It does shift a little bit, but not that much, since the ''U'' is almost the same width as the door thickness. Every couple of month, I notice that the hook is not centered anymore, but it's not an hassle to move it back in position.

I did had to shave a bit of wood from the door trim to allow it to close properly. But again, my door doesn't flex a lot, so maybe a normal door would have enough ''give'' in it. And so far, after 5 years of use, I didn't see any damage done at the door. But if you are afraid of scratching or gouging it, maybe you could glue a small piece of felt or rubber behind the hook ?

Sadly, I don't know which brand it was because I've picked it at the flea market. It looks like this one: http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/90061249/ but with 3 knob instead of 5

Posted 4 months ago #
bandicoot
Member

i have a couple of EXCELLENT over the door racks from IKEA.
they are the GRUNDTAL range.
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/90061249/
we use ours for bath towels....until we renovate.
ella...would you like mine?
i'd be happy to post it.....it's is about a year old, not a mark on it.
i won't need it soon. if you can wait a month, it's yours.

Posted 4 months ago #
Ella
Member

bandicoot: That's really a very kind offer. But I think it might be better to buy something locally, so I can take it back if it doesn't work out. Probably I'll buy from the nearby Container Store, as they have an easy return policy. But thank you!
And isn't it extraordinary that you and arthelemis have nearly the identical rack?

Posted 4 months ago #
snosie
Member

Ella, I'm a recent home owner. Before I bought, I told the tenants to leave all the hooks they'd 'added', and I wouldn't fault them on the handover condition report. See the thing is, things like hooks on backs of doors are useful! I would suggest asking your landlord if you can use a more permanent fixture. Sure, it leaves a hole, but if you have a good hook, there's next to no reason to ever remove it.. Just an alternative thought.

Posted 4 months ago #
Ella
Member

snosie: Unfortunately, my lease specifically prohibits making holes in the doors. Holes in the walls are ok, but I don't have any available wall space where I need it. The hall is lined with tall bookcases, so the back of the door is my only option.

Posted 4 months ago #
AleighJc
Member

I can usually find nice ones at marshalls/tjmax. I don't know the name/brand. I try to get ones that match the doorknob hardware type/color.

Posted 4 months ago #
s
Member

I LOVE over-door hooks! I've gotten a few from Target/Walmart. If your doors are painted white, you should be able to find white hooks, so the over-door part isn't too noticable on the back/outside. Also, some come with a spacer that keeps them kind of snug on the door. And sticky felt could be put on the part of the hook itself that might scratch the door (rather than sticking stuff on the actual door), but I haven't had trouble with that. I haven't had trouble with bending hinges either, but don't overload them, I guess.

Posted 4 months ago #
Lori Paximadis
Member

I have one on a closet door off our entry to hold tote bags and the bag with the emergency crank radio, and I love it.

I second @AleighJc: look at Marshall's or TJMaxx. I don't think I paid more than $15 for either of mine, and they are very sturdy. They don't move around, like the lighter ones do, and they haven't caused any damage to the doors.

The only thing you have to look out for, especially with heftier ones, is that you have enough of a gap at the top of the door so you can close the door -- some of the sturdy racks have quite thick metal on the part that hangs over the door.

Also, if you don't like the little tabs of metal that show over the top of the door when it's closed, you can paint those to match the door so they'll be less noticeable.

Posted 4 months ago #
Ella
Member

Thanks for all your excellent advice! I did take a look at TJMaxx this weekend, but didn't find anything I liked. Hadn't thought of Marshall's... I'll go this week. I'll also try Bed Bath & Beyond, since I have one of their $5-off coupons.

TJMaxx was dangerous! I found so many things I wanted just because they were such incredible bargains, yikes. I finally had to tell myself: Ella, put that down and walk to exit NOW!

Posted 4 months ago #
marrymill
Member

I really wouldnt bother. I have had a few over the door hooks in my life and they always end up in the bin. They mark the door and the frame, move around and just look messy and clattery anyway.

Id rather make a few holes in my wall than mark my paintwork and wooden doors and frames.

One idea I love is the under the shelf hook, like the "hook a self" hook at abodent.com

http://www.abodent.com/hardware/coat-hooks/Page-1-100.html

It mounts under a shelf, or stairs or any clever stop you can think of, has two hooks which rotate and is just a good looking product.

check it out on http://www.abodent.com

Posted 4 months ago #
writing all the time
Member

Try using some hooks on visible ends of your bookcases. If you place a couple up high, then a couple lower, you can hang handbags on the higher ones and coats on the lower ones. No warping of the doors!

You can buy very attractive hooks at places like Restoration Hardware. If you don't want to put holes in your bookcases, you're stuck w/over the door solutions. Good luck!

Posted 4 months ago #
PJ
Member

Hi marrymill,

I didn't think I'd seen your name on here before, so I peeked at your profile to see how long you'd been around on the forum. I see you have abodent listed as your website - not that it's necessarily a problem to share info about products you're afiliated with, but people on this forum tend to mention that, in the interests of full disclosure.

Anyway, welcome to the forum, I hope you'll contribute to some of our other discussions too.

Posted 4 months ago #
Ella
Member

Erin recently gave us very helpful guidelines for dealing with spammers on our forum:

http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/how-to-respond-to-spam

Unfortunately, when spam occurs in the midst of an ongoing thread, there's nothing we can do except ignore it. Spammers are loathsome shape-shifters, and this site is a magnet for them.

But getting back to the rack...

writing: I won't use my bookcases as coat racks. I will be using the back of the door.

Marshall's didn't have any racks in stock, so I'll try BB&B next. More news as it breaks...

Posted 4 months ago #
AleighJc
Member

I wanted to mention, for keeping it from marking up the door, I add those pads you add to the bottom of furniture. You can buy them at most hardware stores.

Posted 4 months ago #
bandicoot
Member

spammers are just more clutter.

if you don't find anything ella, the offer stands.

Posted 4 months ago #
Jeri Dansky
Member

I haven't tried this myself, but one of my blog readers uses wreath hangers as over-the-door coat racks. I wrote a blog post about that, which you can see here.

Posted 3 months ago #
Ella
Member

Jeri: I was on the verge of buying a wreath hanger when I found a 2-pack of these overdoor hooks for the same price at BB&B.
http://www.amazon.com/Spectrum-35900-Over-The-Door-Hanger-Holder/dp/B000HJ78ZY

They blend in against my door and seem to be quite sturdy. No problems with slippage or with closing the door.

Posted 3 months ago #

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