DIY Stocking Holders

How do you hang up your Christmas stockings?  The first year we lived here, the Husband simply nailed directly into the mantel and didn’t think anything of it.  Knowing that I wanted to update our basement and fireplace (including the mantel), I figured it was time to remove those nails and patch those holes!  So then I came up with these DIY stocking holders, and they don’t leave any permanent damage at all :)

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It all started when I received a Metrie Ikon in my swag bag at BlogPodium.  I painted it, and decided it would be the perfect base of a soon-to-be-built DIY stocking holder.  Updating the Ikon was also part of a contest they were having… and I won!  Metrie then surprised me by sending me 3 more Ikons to update and use for this project.  (You can buy the same Ikons here).

I painted them using the same Fusion Champness paint as our stronger TV shelf and custom Ikea boxes.

Then I highlighted the different raised and indented sections with some white details.

I had 4 nicely painted Ikons, but no idea how to turn them into stocking holders!  They’re made from poplar, and are pretty light, so they probably wouldn’t be able to hold stockings up on their own.

My original plan was to add little hooks to the base and mount them on the front of the mantel somehow.  But I knew I needed something that would grip the edge of the mantel AND be strong enough to support the weight of the filled stockings.

I thought of a bunch of ideas on my own, and then decided to check out other blog posts for similar DIY stocking holders.  I found lots of great looking holders that were made for mantels… but guess what!?  None of them could hold heavy items, just empty stockings!

I was determined to make stocking holders that you could actually hang stockings from.

So I continued my search looking for items that I could hack together or attach to the Ikons so they would stay on the mantel.  I really wanted something like a c-clamp, but those might have been a bit too heavy-duty, and I still had to figure out how to attach the Ikon to it.

I searched high and low, looking for different types of clamps-like objects.  I thought about using bulldog clips, but then realized they were too small when I tested them out.  I thought that tablecloth clamps might work perfectly, or maybe even something like this; but I couldn’t find any locally.

If I couldn’t find a mantel-top solution then I would attach my Ikons to some brick clips and hopefully they would work the same way.

Finally, while looking for ANYTHING that might work, I happened upon these over the door hooks at the dollar store.  (You can buy them online here, but they’re clearly more money).  The opening (the “over the door” part) looked like it would fit nicely around the mantel, similar to the tablecloth clamp idea.

My first idea using these was to screw them into the back of the Ikon and clip them onto the front of the mantel.

However, it didn’t full pass my weight test (which was about 3 pounds of all the nearby heavier things I could find).

Back to the drawing board, wherein these two options emerged:

Option 1 had me flipping the Ikon around and using the door hook as the hook (rather than the one I had attached before).  Option 2 was the same setup as my original idea, but I had some added support around the door hook with a string.

The over the door hooks have a little rubber stopper on them, and this is what grips onto the ledge of the mantel.  For option 1, I didn’t really want my holders to be diagonal (I had envisioned them straight-on in my head).  But option 2 was a bit trickier to pull off; it might have been better if I had a bolt going through the door hook (rather than tying some string around).  But that was the key to the strength, since it didn’t work if it was simply clipped on (ie: with the hook on the Ikon; it needed to be pinched tight).

I hope everyone is following me so far!  Trust me, there was a lot of thinking going on this past month with me trying to figure out the best solution for these.  The Husband also likes to tell me that there’s no way people are going to load up stockings as much as I did to test these…

Anyways, as Christmas keeps approaching, and since I didn’t want to spend ALL my time looking at different options at the store, then bringing them back to test at home – I decided to go with Option 1!

For option 1, you need to cut off a little section of the door hook; and I just happened on that solution because I was trying to get my first idea to stick closer to the mantel (no, that didn’t work).

And I do like that you actually use the over the door hooks as the hook for the stocking, and I really lucked out that they match my painted Metrie Ikons perfectly!  (Although I would have painted them to match if they didn’t!).

This option also takes up the least amount of space on the back, so you have more room for your mantel décor.

Now everyone in our family has a stocking holder, and we just need to get one more stocking (although last year the Husband found a dog gift that came with the stocking).

Annnndddd I kind of wish we had more neutral coloured stockings… but I think that will be a project for another year :)

For now, I won’t be too concerned… because after all the engineering feats I had to go through, I won’t worry about a little unmatched stocking.  At least the holders all match and look nice :)

These DIY stocking holders made from Metrie Ikons not only look great, but they actually work!  So whether you will be getting light and fluffy cotton balls for Christmas, or some lumps of coal; you can be sure that your stockings won’t come crashing down in the night.

(Or your mantel décor, which is what happened the me the first time…)

Metrie did not directly sponsor this post; however I did receive the free Ikons for this project. Thanks again :)

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