The Background Story

Four years ago, when my kids and I were living at our last residence, my daughter wanted a clothing rack that she saw in a PBteen magazine.  The clothing rack was $400.  At the time, I wasn’t able to afford any kind of rack.  We had just found a place to live.  Four months later, the Lord blessed me with the funds to build her a rack.  I gave it to her as an early Christmas present.  She had enough closet space, but she wanted this particular clothing rack to be used as a furniture piece in her room.

I took the picture from the PBTeen magazine to Home Depot with me.  One of the guys there was more than happy to help out.  I told him that I wanted a spin off of the rack with the best solution possible.  He took the time to walk me through the aisles, showing me every single part that I needed.  I wrote all the parts down so that I would be prepared whenever God’s timing was right to send the funds.  The list of parts came out to about $118.00.  Three months later, I had the money to build the rack.  That’s when I decided to go to Menards to compare prices.  I was able to get all the parts that I needed for about $56 dollars.

The Reveal

I had my son to build the rack while my daughter was gone to a function.  I told him, “You have to hurry up before she gets home, so it won’t ruin the surprise”.  I could tell that he enjoyed doing it, because he stated that it was just like building Legos.  I was so excited to be able to bless her with this gift after everything that we had been through.  After he put the rack together, we waited for her to come home.  I told her to come up to her room because I had something to talk to her about.  When she got to her room, she was had the weirdest look on her face.  She kept saying over and over again, “When did you get this?”  This made my heart happy.  The smallest things during the toughest times can mean a lot to anyone.

If you like to be adventurous, and build a rack, then here are the instructions:

Materials:

• (4) 1/2″ pipe flanges
• (2) 1/2″ T’s
• (4) 1/2″ 8″ plumbing pipe nipples
• (2) 6 feet nipples
• (1) 1/2″ 3 feet nipple
• 2 1/2″ 90 degree elbows
• 2 1/2″ 45 degree elbows

Instructions:

• Make sure not to tighten all parts fully until you have put the whole thing together.
• Place two flanges on one side and two flanges on the other side.
• Picture in your head that you are building a towel bar.
• On both sides, screw a 90 degree elbow into the two pipe flanges.
• On both sides, screw an 8 inch nipple, then T, then 8 inch nipple to form a “towel bar”.
• Attach the 6 feet nipples to the T’s on both sides.
• Attach the 45 degree elbows to the 6 feet nipples.
• Place the 3 feet long nipple in between the 45 degree elbows.
• Tighten all the parts to make sure it is steady.
• Enjoy your clothing rack!

 

Wishing everyone a blessed weekend!