I love old wooden hangers, so I took a vintage wooden pants hanger and made it into a custom gallery hanger. I added my son’s name so I can use it to display his artwork. Vintage hangers make an interesting display device, whether they’re labeled or not. You can hang up prints you find at the flea market, old book pages, or whatever you want to display, and switching art takes about ten seconds. So, when my son creates a new work of art, I’ll be able to display it right away!

I used the Silhouette cutter to cut a custom vinyl sticker with my son’s name on it, but if you don’t have a cutting machine, you can paint a label with acrylic craft paint, decoupage, or use letter stickers (found in the scrapbooking section). I think typewriter key stickers would be really cool! If you don’t have children, leave the hanger blank, or label it with another clever (or obvious) label. How about “art” or “inspiration”? Or, if you don’t like the pants hanger display idea, how about just personalizing or monogramming some hangers as a gift? This could be the answer to the question of what to get HIM for the next big holiday. (You know who I mean! That hard to shop for guy on your list.)

Project Estimate:

• Pants hanger, $1 or less
• A bit of vinyl + craft cutter, or acrylic craft paint, or stickers, $.50 and up

Total: $1 and up

Sourcing vintage hangers: I got mine on eBay, but you can also just splash out for a package of new wooden hangers – they look great, too. If you’re stuck on the vintage thing, just antique and distress them a little. You can find wooden hangers in just about any store with an organizational section (including the big blue discount store!) Oh, and don’t stop at the pants hangers – regular wooden coat hangers are great for displaying textiles like small quilts, lace, or other decorative foldable items. They’d make super cool bathroom towel bars.