Umbrella Stand: Behind the Door, quick weekend project

Art Mulder

Member
Messages
3,383
Location
London, Ontario
Before:
u-before.jpg

After:
u-after.jpg

Plans:
v3-exploded.jpg

Any questions? :hide:

Okay, seriously... we've got a small mudroom and a large family. So, between the umpteen boots and coats, let alone the washer/dryer/sink, there just is NO extra space in the room. The umbrellas have lived behind the door forever, and are forever falling over and getting in the way. Last weekend was "the" weekend, so on Sunday afternoon I sat down and forced myself to come up with a design which would fit the space and the problem, and then went down to the shop. There my plan met my wood stash and morphed into the above end result, which I think was even better than the original plan.

I only had 3-1/2" of space to work with there. This stand is only 3" thick, by 12" long, and it holds 3 full size golf umbrellas. In fact, I could have squeezed in a fourth pretty easily. Actually, given that the doorstop holds the door 3" off the wall, I actually have the full 32" of the door width to play with, so I could easily fit a dozen umbrellas back there. I'll have to consider what other storage I could put there! :headbang:

Here's a closeup shop of the umbrella stand. It is about 4" above the floor, just above the baseboard. It's held on with two screws into a stud
u-closeup.jpg

And another shot showing the door mostly closed, and how the umbrellas are completely out of the way.
u-skinny.jpg

There are more pictures on my website, and more explanation, but really that is about all there is to it. I love big projects, but there is also something immensely satisfying about designing and building a project in a day. Actually it took me only a few hours on Sunday afternoon, but then there was the finishing cycle which takes some time, but still I was able to install it by Tuesday morning.
 
It looks great, and obviously works well, but does it need the middle level of holes? Since umbrellas are so light I would have thought that the upper and lower "holes" would have been sufficient.
 
It looks great, and obviously works well, but does it need the middle level of holes? Since umbrellas are so light I would have thought that the upper and lower "holes" would have been sufficient.

Probably not, Charlie. But I thought they looked nice, and I do wonder if it'll help a bit with "guiding" the umbrella down, less chance of slipping it in at an angle and missing the bottom hole. Time will tell, it's only been there a day! :D
 
Very creative indeed! Would a drip tray on the bottom or floor help?

Al, I never put an umbrella away wet -- not at home anyway. It is always left open (usually in the garage) until dry and then put away. So I didn't think I needed one.
Besides, in our house the boots are already dripping on the vinyl floor with snow melt, so who worries about umbrellas! :D
 
Al, I never put an umbrella away wet -- not at home anyway. It is always left open (usually in the garage) until dry and then put away. So I didn't think I needed one.
Besides, in our house the boots are already dripping on the vinyl floor with snow melt, so who worries about umbrellas! :D
Nothing against that, if you store them dry. If it was the opposite, I would be more concerned about the paint on the wall not about the floor. As it is not the case, please disregard.;)
 
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