Mail and Key Holder

Do you have a pile of papers on your kitchen counter that never seem to go away?  I do and I needed a way to keep my counter clutter free.

I have been looking everywhere for a cute mail holder that also had hooks for keys and I couldn't find anything that I liked.  Everything was either too big or didn't have hooks for keys, so of course I decided to make one.

And I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.  I think the hardest part was picking out the scrapbook paper because there were so many to choose from. 

  Here are the materials you will need to make your own mail and key holder:

• I started with 2 pieces of wood from Home Depot.  One piece of wood was 2 feet by 3.5 inches and a half inch thick.  The other piece was 2 feet by 1.5 inches and a half inch thick.  (Both pieces of wood cost around $7)
• scrapbook paper:  (.50)
• Nails and wood glue (I already had)
• hooks ($1.50)

I started by cutting each piece 10 inches long.

I attached the 3.5 inch piece of wood to the side of the 1.5 inch piece of wood using small nails.

Then I attached the second 4 inch piece of wood to the top of 2 inch piece of wood.  I did this so that I could attach the shelf to the wall.  

I drilled two holes in the back piece of wood about an inch from the top.

I added the hooks by evenly spacing them out on the bottom of the shelf.  I did this before painting so I could make marks with my pen without having to worry about writing on my paint.  I had to make sure they were the same exact width apart because I'm a perfectionist:)

I painted the entire shelf white and decoupaged the front with scrapbook paper.  You could probably just keep it white or use fabric instead of scrapbook paper.  There are many different options.  I even thought about adding clear contact paper so it could be used as a dry erase board.

When everything was dry, I hung it up and moved all my mail from the counter to my new mail and key holder.

I love the fact that it matches with my kitchen decor!

Total cost:

• I got the wood for around $7
• Scrapbook paper was .50
• I already had the nails and wood glue
• The hooks were $1.50

All together, I spent around $10 to make a custom mail and key holder.  It could be made longer and with more hooks for even more storage.

So how do you keep your mail from piling up around your house?

If you've made something similar to this, please leave a comment with a link below.   If you make your own using these directions, please share your final product.   I'd love to see it.