Hello hooks!

hi, my name is catastrophegirl, and i have a flat surface problem

as in, if it's flat, i'll pile things on it. and leave them there. so a few years ago when i bought a house, i started trying to move things onto the OTHER flat surface - the vertical one. specifically, i bought a house for the purpose of being able to make holes in my walls and hang things from them

which all comes down to hooks.



they come in shapes and sizes to suit just about every need. i'm sure you all know the options like "use cup hooks under your cabinets to hang your cooking utensils" so i won't bore you with those.

instead i'll bore you with these:

here is my bread basket. it's actually a piece of wire grid shelving, cut [with bolt cutters] and bent into the shape of a loaf of bread. it keeps the bread away from the hot, plastic melting toaster oven door, and off the counter, where it kept getting smushed.

 

these are the type of hooks i used to hold it up. utility hooks. they go anywhere that you can drive a screw. the screw goes through the holes. i especially love these since they are strong, but just soft enough to bend around things. like bend around wire racks. 

so they can be driven flat against the underside of the cabinet, and then bent to hold the wire of the bread basket

here is an example of two hooks. one to hold it up and one to attach more stuff to it. this is one of those cheap white wire can racks that goes on a wall or the back of a door.

holding the rack up are utility hooks with wall dog self anchoring drywall screws driven through them

and shower curtain hooks holding a shoe pocket organizer to hang off the bottom of it. shower curtain hooks are my second favorite kind

since i am already showing you the inside of my pantry, here's the weird thing in it. 

the pantry came with a closet rod. and hangers. 

 

 

the previous owners were apparently using it as a bit of a mud room too. since i only have one coat and keep it in the hall closet, i didn't need this. but i also needed to use the space and i am extremely lazy. i'd much rather figure out what to do with what i have than remodel the pantry. on the wall behind it i put some wire baskets for bottles of sauces, but then i put the rod itself to use.

using the hangers with plastic grocery bags keeps fragile snack foods from getting crushed. smashed cheez pufs are no good. 

 

also hanging on the rod is this wire closet organizer i got many years ago for cheap. it holds baskets and stuff quite nicely. 

 

as you can see, it doesn't slip on like a coat hanger, it must be disassembled to install. this keeps it more stable. but for safety, and because sometimes my cats climb it, it's also attached to the back wall of the pantry with the cable tie trick seen here

http://whitehothammer.blogspot.com/2011/02/3-minutes-and-some-cable-ties.html

out in the hall by the kitchen door i have this "incredible hook" stuck in the wall holding my broom. i drilled a hole in the broom [some already have a hole] and stuck a cable tie through it. the cable tie just lives there and the hook holds really well. this kind of hook is only good for drywall   

the cable tie is also useful for anything with a hole in the handle that needs to be hung, when the hole doesn't fit the hook. although in the case of the cat brush i didn't use a hook. i wanted the brush to hang parallel to the wall and not rub all over the wall and scratch the paint. so i used a cable tie and hook it over a really long drywall screw that i left sticking out an inch and a half

oh, ok, i do use lots of cup hooks. get the big ones and you can even hang a pitcher "as you wish"

and last but not least, my most boring hooks.  the house came with a disassembled rack for plastic wrap and foil, stuck away in a cupboard. i didn't want to use it for its intended purpose, but the little rods looked useful. this one became a pot rack. it's suspended from the largest size cup hooks, screwed into the wooden facade over the sink.

ikea grundtal S hooks, the large size, fit it perfectly to make a nice little pot rack.