13 Creative Ways To Upcycle A Vintage Thrift Store Quilt Rack

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You might not have any quilts on hand, but don't let that fact stop you from grabbing a vintage quilt rack during your next trip to the thrift store. You might have come across such a rack while you were secondhand shopping or perhaps you have one that was handed down from your grandparents. You can easily upcycle these classic items to serve all kinds of uses throughout your home. The tall shape, long hanging rod, and whimsical cut outs quilt racks often display make it easy to find new purposes for this furniture. Instead of letting it collect dust, try using it for clothing, jewelry, and other items.

Quilt racks likely date back more than 100 years ago, though their exact origins aren't clear, it's likely they originate sometime near the 18th or 19th century when quilting was becoming exceedingly popular. Coming in both free-standing and wall-mounted styles, they are made, true to their name, to showcase a hanging quilt or two. They're often made of hardwood such as walnut or oak, and many you might find secondhand feature these woods. Sometimes the racks feature cut-out hearts or other shapes on the side to use as a handle when you need to move the rack.

Woodworkers still create quilt racks today, and you can also buy reproductions online, but there's nothing like a real, authentic vintage wood rack, especially one that's seen a variety of owners through the years. By adding paint, hooks, or baskets, you can turn this old-fashioned staple into a functional must-have for your home. 

These racks are good for displaying cozy coverings other than quilts. Due to the wide size of most quilt racks, they often have the ability to hold more than one blanket at a time. Set the rack up against the back of your couch or to the side of it, fold your blankets over them, and you'll have one within reach for all of those late-night streaming sessions. You could even change the blankets with the holidays, giving yourself an easy decoration for Halloween or Christmas.

Another garden-inspired way anyone with a green thumb can repurpose a quilt rack they bought from the thrift store is to make it into a clever planter. By screwing a series of small brackets into the bars of the rack and up into the bottom of planter boxes, you make an effective standing planter for herbs or flowers. Just make sure there's drainage holes in the planter box if not present already. 

A quilt rack is a perfect place to hang your stockings if you have a small apartment or home without a fireplace mantle. You can drape the stockings over the bars or just a set of hooks to anchor each stocking. Once they're hung, your rack becomes more than a piece of furniture, it becomes a seasonal decoration itself. Best of all, you can move the stockings to whatever spot you like, such as beside your Christmas tree.

Whether you make it into a dress up clothing display or it's just used to store the week's planned outfits for school, a quilt rack is perfect for holding children's clothing. When you add a few kid-size hangers to the quilt hanging bar, you've got a clothing rack that sits at just the right height for little ones. As they grow taller and their hanging clothes grow bigger, you could turn into a rack for their favorite jeans.

If a good pair of jeans and boots are part of your everyday wear or you just like to sport a Western aesthetic, a secondhand quilt rack is the perfect fashion accessory for your needs. You can set the rack up, then drape your denim jeans over the bar for quick retrieval. If the rack has a bottom shelf, as some do, use it for setting your boots underneath. You could also buy a pre-cut shelf and mount it on the bottom for the same purpose.

The floating style of the wall-mounted quilt racks can make them into a suitable TV ledge, provided you put a smaller TV on there. The rack's lower bar can be used to hold your favorite blanket for cuddling up or even display magazines for quick reading. Just ensure that you mount the quilt rack into a stud or use anchors so it's securely attached to the wall for safety purposes. 

Do you keep chickens or other birds? A quilt rack can become their new favorite coop perch, and its small height makes it easier for young birds to fly up and roost. Some chicken owners like to do something similar by repurposing a ladder. Using a quilt rack is the same approach, just on a shorter scale. You can also attach a feed box to the top and make it into a feeding perch.

A quilt rack doesn't have to be relegated to your living room or bedroom, because a wall-mounted version makes a perfect cutting board display. Once you hang the shelf, use a pack of S hooks to create hangers for your collection. If you don't have more than one cutting board, try this hack as a way to hang ladles, serving spoons, and other large utensils.

Do you have cats who love to climb? Try flipping a thrifted quilt display into a multi-level cat tower for them to get out their energy. Cat lovers can make a clever kitty cat condo out of a quilt rack by adding a few carpet-covered shelves across the bars and crafting a lower basket for a bed. A slanted board covered with a scratching mat placed between the shelves gives the kitties a chance to sharpen their claws. Adding on additional toys like a dangling mouse can make it more enticing. 

Installing canvas "hammocks" between the ends of a quilt rack allows you collect all of your children's books and make them easily accessible for little readers. Adding matching baskets on the bottom shelf, if present, lets you corral smaller-sized board books so they don't get lost. Painting the vintage wood white matches any room, while the slings can feature bright kid-friendly primary colors.

With a set of vintage-style wire baskets, some chalk paint, and other creative touches, you can give your vintage thrift store quilt rack a farmhouse glow-up. This DIY works best with the quilt racks with more than one bar, but you could always add a curtain rod across it to do the trick. Set a set of Amazon Basics Wire Storage Baskets on the bars and you've got your own produce stand for your kitchen.

Quilt racks can be towel racks as well. If wood, apply a coat of waterproofing treatment to protect the it against warping or other damage caused by humidity, and you can easily use your quilt rack as a towel rack for clean towel in the bathroom. This would be a good way to dry your children's towels so they can easily reach them or to simply have more towels available for guests. Another option is to  use one to organize your dish towels and cloths in the kitchen. 

An ingenious way to use a vintage thrift store quilt rack is to hold your harvested crops like shallots and onions to cure. The rack's slats are the perfect size to hold smaller vegetables for air drying, creating circulation in your kitchen or any other space out of direct sunlight. And unlike a cumbersome hanging rack you might buy, this solution takes up less space so you don't have to fold and put it away when not in use.