Vintage Keyhole – Key Holder

I wanted to make a key holder for my new command center.  Our old one just wasn’t working.  It had 4 large pegs, and the key rings were hard to get on the pegs, so a lot of the time, the keys weren’t where they should be.  You know how frustrating that can be 🙂  I thought it might be fun to make the key holder look like an old vintage keyhole.  The decorative radiator grate idea came from a previous Jewelry Display Project.

To build the vintage keyhole – key holder you’ll need:

• Bead board – 18″ x 13″  (you can substitute a thin MDF for the beadboard if you don’t want lines.)
• 3/4″ MDF – 18″ x 13″
• Radiator Grate – 12″ x 8″ – available at some Home Depot’s (check online) and amazon.  One 1′ x 2′ radiator grate will make 3 key holders (affiliate link provided for convenience)

• S-hooks
• thumb tacks/furniture nails
• wood glue
• brad nails
• paint

First, print off the keyhole pattern, make sure your pdf print settings are print 100%, not ‘fit to page’.

• key holder 1
• key holder 2
• key holder 3
• key holder 4

Line up the pattern and tape the pages together.  The pages will overlap.

Cut out around the outside oval, and cut out the inner keyhole.

Trace the pattern, both inside and outside onto a piece of bead board and again onto a piece of mdf.

My helper is giving me a hand with tracing the pattern.

Drill a pilot hole in the keyhole portion.  Use a jig saw or a scroll saw to cut out the patterns on the bead board and mdf.

Using tin snips, cut a piece of radiator grate about 1/2″ – 1″ larger than the keyhole pattern.

Apply plenty of wood glue and sandwich the radiator grate between the mdf and bead board.

Clamp the mdf, radiator grate, bead board sandwich together.  Let the glue dry, 1 hour minimum.

I added a few brad nails just outside the keyhole pattern, then covered the holes with Spackle.

Once the key holder is fully dry.  Sand around the outside edge to get a smooth oval and remove any excess glue.

I added thumb tacks every 2″ around the outside oval.  I needed to predrill about 1/8″ down then hammer the rest of the way or the thumb tacks would just bend over.

Tape off the radiator grate with painters tape.  Prime the key holder, especially the sides where the mdf is showing.  Once the primer is dry, paint the key holder in your favorite color.  Allow the paint to dry.  To get an aged look, lightly sand around the corners and rub a tiny amount of stain on the outside corner, on the thumb tacks and inner keyhole.

Add a hanger to the back.  I almost always use a keyhole bit and route a hanger hole on the back, so I don’t have to buy hangers for each project.

The S-Hooks that I bought at Home Depot were silver, I decided to spray paint them blue to tie into my command center and add a little color fun.

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Check out the rest of the command center

Linked up to:

Remodelaholic, Savvy Southern Style, That DIY Party, Homestoriesatoz