The Coat Rack

For Sale Now - $150

We've been working on some new ideas, gathering inspiration from wherever we can find it (antique stores, online, family and friends) and we are excited about how this project turned out! This project is currently for sale. It's completely handmade and includes all mounting hardware. It measures 26" X 12" is made from steel with a red oak backing and antique spigot handles, we're selling it for $150. Send us a message or give us a call if you're interested. We can also make a customized version if you have some ideas on variations you'd like.

Coat Rack for Glenn and Brenda Criddle

 We have actually made two of these coat racks, one is for Zach's dad (it's not completely done just yet - we're just doing the bare bones for that one and then turning it over to Glenn and Brenda to customize it - they're really creative and will have it looking awesome, just like their new house that they custom built from the ground up). Here's a look at what that one looks like now, we'll post an updated picture once they've got it completed. This one measures 36" X 11" and has a full pine backing. They've got some really cool ideas on a wood stain to use and have discussed possibly using plow bolts or antique door handles for the coat knobs. We're excited to see how it all turns out! 
Sidebar: Zach gets his creative genes from his dad and we call him a lot for advice! 

The Creative Process

While Zach was working on these projects, I helped a bit here and there (a little sanding and a little staining) - but mostly followed him around with my camera and took pictures of the whole process, while he did all of the hard work. I just think it's fun to see the raw materials he starts with and how he is able to transform them. I wanted to share a bit of that here, hope you don't mind. It all starts with a sketch (see picture to the left), which has a lot more math involved than what I can usually grasp, which is why I stick to the photography.  :)


After the sketching, he gets started on the manual labor part of the project. Here he's cutting and grinding the steel tubing for the frame of the rack.

Here he is getting the steel tubing pieced together and cleaned up, the main part of the frame is complete, just need to add the cross bars!

Got the wood backing sanded and stained (hey, I did that part!) and then it's time for Zach to get the cross bars, made from 1/4" round stock, lined up just right and welded on.

Now to add the backing for attaching the wood and also the mounting hardware and hey look, Zach's brother Josh showed up to help. Thanks Josh and nice hat!

Next we put a good coat of primer on everything, even the screw heads. And I missed getting some pictures of the the black coat of paint, so you'll just have to use your imagination on that one.

Now the final touches, putting everything together. We attached the red oak plank to the steel frame and then added the red antique spigot handles and voila...coat rack! Or hat rack, if you prefer.

Here's a couple additional shots of the finished product!

Let's Get It Started

We're getting ready to go live with our website, we've looked at the trial site a million times and sent it out to family and friends to check out for us, we made a tweak here, a tweak there and reread all the text a million times. Okay - who am I kidding - so Zach hasn't reread all the text a million times - I have though and probably driven him crazy asking, "does this sound okay... are you sure this sounds okay... maybe I should change this one word...what about this picture...should I resize this... will you look at it in every different browser available to mankind on every different computer we have access to..." I can get a little OCD sometimes. While we're being honest, I'll go ahead and put this out there - chances are Zach probably won't be writing the blog posts. Not to say he couldn't, but that's not the point of Fuse. Zach needs to work with his hands, he needs to create things and, after working in an office for a big part of the work week, the Fuse projects allow him the opportunity to pour his creativity into something quite productive. So, if you're reading this blog now and happen to decide you might come back and read it from time to time, well... then... you're stuck with me (Kelly, the K in ZaK... in case you haven't read our about page yet).

So, here's what I'm going to try and accomplish here:
I want to give everyone the opportunity to learn a little more about Zach and I, as well as give detailed updates on projects we are working on. Mostly, we'd just like anyone who's interested to be able to follow us on this journey (even though we have no idea where it may lead), without completely annoying everyone on social media. We do have a facebook, instagram and pinterest going (there's links at the bottom of our site, if you're interested in any of those), but we'll just be posting short glimpses, periodically, into what we're doing there; we'll get more into the nitty gritty here. I enjoy stalking Zach with my camera when he's working on projects in the backyard, so hopefully you'll get to see lots of good shots of Zach hard at work. I figure we can be more annoying here, because blogs aren't as in your face as facebook, you have to decide you want to come read this. But please, oh please, let me know if I'm wrong about that!

I'll start wrapping this up, basically - the entire idea behind Fuse was for Zach and I to take something we enjoy doing in our spare time and make it something more. How will you ever know how something will work out if you never try, right?   There's a book that's pretty inspiring that has helped push us to get going. It's called Start by Jon Acuff - if you're looking for some inspiration. If you're reading this blog, we genuinely appreciate you taking the time to check out what we're doing. Let's get it started (and since this blog entry's title is a blatant reference to a black eyed peas song, here you go, just for fun).