DIY Laundry Drying Rack
Last updated August 21, 2024
The Merrythought is a creative blog by Manda and Caitlin McGrath, who live in Western New York. They share creative DIYs and crafts with a focus on natural and re-purposed items, as well as yummy recipes and inspirational posts about fashion, home décor and projects, travels, pretty parties, faith and bits of their family lives.
A Note From The Home Depot
Manda McGrath, half the team of The Merrythought, came up with this very cool laundry drying rack for our DIY Challenge here on The Home Depot Blog. We asked her to create a fun and useful DIY project using wood from our Millwork Department.
This old school drying rack is indeed very useful and versatile. It looks good, too. Best of all, it’s a very doable DIY project. Just follow Manda’s step-by-step tutorial to build your own.
Table of Contents
How to Build This Laundry Drying Rack
Step 1: Cutting the Legs
Step 2: Drilling Leg Holes
Step 3: Cutting the Dowels
Step 4: Drilling Dowel Holes
Step 5: Assemble the Laundry Drying Rack
How to Build This Laundry Drying Rack
Create this folding laundry drying rack with a few simple materials and enjoy extra space to hang clothes and linens to dry!
We’ve been needing extra space to hang delicates/clothes that can’t be dried in the dryer. We wanted something that would hold more than just a couple things, be able to move to sunny spots within the house and most importantly, be able to fold up for storage when not in use.
This folding clothes drying rack meets all those needs, as well having a simple, natural design. It also has dowels that can move, which makes it nice for when bulkier items need to be dried, you can slide the dowels around to accommodate those items.
Step 1: Cutting the Legs
Using the miter box, cut pine board to length– 48 in.
Using the table saw cut pine board in half, 1⅛ in. wide. Use a power planer on sides of pine board to remove saw marks.
To round the ends of the pine board, use a small round object to trace half circle onto ends of pine board, cut the lines with a jig saw.
Step 2: Drilling Leg Holes
Measure and mark the ends of pine board where the dowels will go– 9/16 in. from the edge and ends. Measure and mark a center hole where the screw will go– 9/16 in. from the edge and 24 in. from the ends.
Use drill with ⅝ in. Forstner bit and drill holes for dowels. Use drill with 3/16 in. drill bit and drill hole for screws.
Step 3: Cutting the Dowels
Cut larger dowels to length using a miter box, one at 24 in. one at 22½ in.
Cut smaller dowels in half– 24 in.
Step 4: Drilling Dowel Holes
Measure and mark where the rope hole will be, on the two larger dowels: 1⅛ in. from the end on the shorter large dowel; and 1⅞ in. from the end on the longer large dowel.
Measure and mark rope holes on the four smaller dowels, 1⅞ in. from end.
Drill holes for rope to go through using a drill with a bit the diameter the rope is.
Step 5: Assemble the Laundry Drying Rack
Add wood glue to top inside holes on one leg.
Insert the shorter large dowel into holes.
Add wood glue to bottom inside holes on that same leg, insert the second shorter large dowel.
Make sure it’s lying flat and is square, and let the glue dry.
Repeat the gluing process with the other leg using the longer large dowels.
Once the glue is dry on both legs, place the smaller leg and dowel frame inside the larger leg and dowel frame, lining up the screw holes.
Attach the screws, placing a washer on both sides and a nylon lock nut on the back side.
Slide the screw through hole and tighten screw with screwdriver and pliers.
Tie a knot 40 in. from the end of the rope.
Feed the rope through hole in large dowel, pushing the dowel all the way to the knot.
Feed the rope through the four small dowels and then the large dowel on the other leg. Tie a secure knot.
Repeat on the other side.
Once the rope is attached, you can arrange the dowels in th desired positions, sliding them along the rope to move them. If necessary, sand down any rough spots on the wood with sandpaper.
The Completed Laundry Drying Rack
The Merrythought is a creative blog made authored by couple gals – Manda and Caitlin McGrath – living in Western New York. They share creative DIYs and crafts with a focus on natural and re-purposed items, as well as yummy recipes and inspirational posts about fashion, home décor and projects, travels, pretty parties, faith and bits of their family lives.
Follow our Easy DIY Projectsboard on Pinterest for more projects and inspiration.
This post was created in partnership with The Home Depot. The author may have received compensation for this article and associated images or video, potentially in the form of products and/or services. All expressed opinions and experiences are the author’s own words.
