Upcycled Wood Bowl Key Hanger

Today's project is another installment in Operation Garage Cleanout and it starts with a simple wooden bowl. You see them all the time at the thrift store.

I saw something on Pinterest that inspired this project (I'll share the inspiration pin at the end of this post). I started this project not really having a solid plan, I just thought maybe inspiration would hit during the process and it did!


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Here is the bowl I started with.


I used my chop saw to cut it in half.


I don't know why but using that chop saw is so satisfying! It cuts through things like they are butter!


I used some thin plywood to draw out a shape to use for the back of my half bowls. I just free handed this design, you could really use any shape you want! I did trace around the bottom of the bowl to start my design.



I used a jig saw and cut two of these since I had two bowl halves!


And this is where the process stopped for a few days while I waited for inspiration to hit.

Every time I passed by them they looked like little mountains to me.

I decided to go with the mountain theme and stained them black. I just used watered down black craft paint to make my stain. Once I brushed it on with a sponge applicator I then used a paper towel and blotted some of the paint off while it was still wet so that the wood grain would show.


In keeping with the mountains theme and the fact that I had decided to make key holders, I chose the phrase "Seek Adventure" to paint on the mountain.

I printed it out in the size and font I wanted and then used white transfer paper to trace the words onto the wood.


Here are the transferred words and I added little snow-capped peaks to my mountain tops!


I filled the words in with white craft paint. The bowl halves were painted with grey and glued to the front of the mountains with E6000 glue.


And I added a little hook to the peak to hang keys from.


I think one of these would be SO cute inside a camper or motorhome, don't you?!



One of these is now hanging by my front door and I think I might list the other in my Etsy shop!


I also thought this would be cute as a succulent planter (faux succulents of course since it's a wooden bowl!)

Bam! Isn't that cute?!


You could still hang some keys on the hook too!