Trekkie Mom: Iron and Ironing Board Holder

It is sad, but my iron was a fixture on my mantel for years, and more recently my ironing board was a fixture in my family room because putting it 'away' would require time and effort that would need repeating too frequently to bother with doing so.

How do you make more storage in a house that already feels full?

You make it to fit, of course.

Please disregard the hideousness of my ironing board cover. That is a project for another day.

Moving on, I had some hidden space behind the door that leads to our mudroom/laundry room/back door and most used exit - i.e. this door is almost never closed, so it will effectively hide my ironing board and iron storage solution. (In my next home - and maybe in my next life - I want a craft/office/laundry/storage room, maybe even a room for each.)

Materials

scrap wood
IKEA iron holder
IKEA hooks
Kreg Jig
2" screws for mounting to the studs
1 5/8" screws
wood glue
sand paper

I started with a 4' 1x6 of poplar that I had previously cut in half and screwed together. I used pocket holes created with my Kreg Jig and wood glue to marry these 2 pieces together.

I completed this project with just weeks to go before my third child was due so I did not finish it with the 2 coats of poly that I wanted, but I was going for function more than beauty. I did sand off any rough patches.

Since I skipped the poly, I was ready to mount it to the wall. I used my cousin's handy, dandy stud finder (thanks, Karl!) to locate the studs and fastened it to the wall with 2" wood screws.

This piece spans 2 studs, so a pair of screws is hidden by the IKEA iron holder. Since the holder is mounted on a piece of wood, I only used 4 screws to attach it.

Finally, I was ready to mount my hooks for the ironing board, but when I placed my ironing board against the wood to get an idea of where to mount the hooks, I discovered a problem.

Look at all that space. There was no way the hooks I had or any others that I could afford would span that type of distance. Turning to my scrap wood pile, I found the perfect solution, and it didn't even require me to cut the piece to fit.

I predrilled my holes and attached the extension so that I could use my hooks, which fit the ironing board bar to a T.

I placed the hooks over the screws attaching my extension to hide them and left the hooks loose so that I could hang ironing board in place and get the perfect angle before tightening the hooks in their fixed position with the ironing board in place.