Need a place to hang the kid’s jackets, backpacks or other items? We didn’t have a mudroom area in our last house and desperately needed a place to hang our 4 kids backpacks out of the way.  Over the years I tried a variety of hooks here and there but often they were not strong enough to handle the heavy bags but eventually I found a solution.

You’ll see a striped wall at first glance but look closely at the stripes with hooks.  I painted a 1×4 black and cut it to fit the space.  Next I screwed the board into studs and then was able to space the boat cleats vertically where I wanted them.  This created a very sturdy backpack hanger!

Save yourself from holes in the walls and try mounting a 1×4 into the studs first then hang your hooks.  No more tripping over backpacks on the floor!