Belt Bar

Belt Storage

March 2003

Explanation

I have a lot of belts. I try to have one belt for each pair of shoes that I own, so that I know the belt matches the shoes as well as possible. Storing them is a problem. I want to be able to get to any of them without having to move them all, so those hoop things are no help. I also want to keep track of which have been worn recently, so a big pile on the bottom of the closet isn't helpful either. So, I designed the belt bar.

The belt bar consists of a bar, attached about a quarter of an inch away from a board. I insert belts into the gap, and the belt buckle keeps the belts from falling through. When I put a belt away, I slide all the belts back a bit, and insert the new belt at the front. Belts I haven't worn in a while wind up at the back, where they are out of the way, but I can access any of the belts at any time.

Okay, maybe it's not earth shattering, but it is a part of my almost daily life, so I decided that a reasonably nice one was in order. We'd just renovated the bedroom, too. You can see that the bar matches the wooden shelf in the closet, since it's made out of the same wood. This close-up shot lets you see the space between the bar and the board. It's just a piece of quarter-inch red oak.

Materials

• A board, red oak in this case, about 2 feet long, about a half inch thick, and 4 inches tall
• A couple of small (1 inch by 0.5 inch) pieces of quarter-inch red oak scant
• A bar of red oak, also about 2 feet long (this item was manufactured by the same company that made the shelves we purchased for the closet)
• A couple of 1 inch screws to attach the bar to the board
• A couple of longer screws and drywall anchors to attach the assembly to the wall of the closet