Coat Tree?? Why not a Bag Tree???

Do you solve problems in your sleep? I know I do. Often my best ideas come to me in dreams. I had pulled my sons changing table to my craft room for storage after getting him potty trained.... OK lets stop and do a celebration dance here... no more diapers or pull ups in this house!! So the changing table was holding project bags, knit washing bucket, blocking boards and a pillow for Bailey to lay on. The problem it was blocking my window and a different color wood than everything else and stood out and said "Hello I am the old changing table in your room" every time I came in here... it had to go.

So I dreamed about a bag tree. Yep I said it... See last year we had to cut down some pencil pines in fear of them falling on the shop or my in laws house. In that process one fell on a lovely Dogwood tree breaking off this huge 8 feet limb. I knew I wanted to do something with it because well its a Dogwood and the wood is very smooth and pretty. It sat out along the fence line for almost 11 months :( Then it came to me... clean it up, stain it, add hooks and stick in my craft room. The project was fast and easy and looks awesome if I do say so myself. 

 

so this is the wood before I had knocked off the bark and bugs lol now for sanding...

Once sanded I used the Olympic Deck Cleaner to clean the wood. This stuff is super strong and we already owned some. It smell like a mixture of Clorox and chlorine from a pool. My limb is a little over 8 feet tall my ceilings are 8 ft so I used the battery operated chain saw to cut off some height and clean up the limbs I wanted to remain. (my hubby will not let me use the gas powered chain saw unattended lol. 

The wood is dried out and looks pretty white now. I could stain it like it is but I want it to match my desk. I also do not like the bright white brackets hold the limb up. Speaking of those they are shelf brackets that can be found in Lowes for $1.20 each. I bought 3. I also go a circle almost 2 ft in diameter pre-cut board at Home Depot for $7.00 The hooks I bout were $1.25 for 2 so I got 4 packs of those. I used wood putty to fill in any areas that needed it... and sanded again.

Now time to stain. I already had stain and clear coat so that was not a cost to consider.... I used the same stain that is on my desk called Driftwood. I even put some on those bright white metal brackets. You have to let it dry well before you add the clear coat. Once it dried I used a sealer (clear coat) and let it dry over night. This stuff is strong! Do not do it in your house!!!! You can see in the photo on the left the wood looks like a gray-ish white... the brackets turned out great as well. They almost Blend in now.

The Finished product! I love my 80's monster on top :) The whole thing cost me under $20.00. I now have a way to display my project bags and more space!!