Today I'm sharing a handy way to corral your small garden tools in one place. Its wall mount style is perfect to hang in a garden shed or on a potting bench. The inspiration for my rustic garden hand tool organizer came from an adorable garden tools key rack at Goodwill.

It reminded me of how I was constantly looking for my favorite garden trowel last summer. I figured if it's used to keep keys organized, why not small garden tools! So I gathered some scrap wood and a few other things in my stash and I'll show you how easy it is to make.

Upcycled Garden Tools Key Rack Holder

I'll also be sharing how to create the look of galvanized metal with paint. This way all the metal pieces on the garden tool hanger will be unified.

Plus my recipe for aging new wood with stuff from the kitchen AND how to transfer graphics onto wood with glossy paper.

These are the supplies I gathered to make the wall mount wooden garden tool rack. There's that garden tool key holder and what it looked like before.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of how to make the small garden tool holder, almost all of the DIY projects shared here at Interior Frugalista have step-by-step tutorials so why not get your budget DIY on and subscribe. You can also follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

This post contains affiliate links so you can see what products I used or recommend for this project. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Here's How I Made It

We'll start with how to make the scrap wood sign along with how to magically age the wood.

Scrap Wood Garden Tool Holder Assembly

To make the rustic wood garden tool holder you'll need some scrap wood. I salvaged two pieces of battered pallet wood and joined them together with pocket holes every 12-inches using a Kreg Pocket Hole Jig as pictured below.

Recipe For Aging Wood

To give the scrap wood even more character, the boards are aged with this homemade Wood Aging Solution recipe from stuff in your kitchen.

You can see the difference between the treated and untreated wood in the photo below. When it dries the nail holes, knot holes, and imperfections in the wood are pronounced to give it a rustic charm.

How To Get The Look Of Galvanized Metal With Paint

The challenge was how to unify the patina on the metal garden tool key rack with the galvanized metal bucket.

The first thing I did was paint the key rack with matte metallic silver paint.

After it dried I lightly burnished it with the same aging solution used on the wood and removed the excess with a paper towel (pictured below).

We'll create the look of the white rust spots common on galvanized metal with paint. Dilute wicker white acrylic craft paint with a couple drops of water. With a small brush or toothbrush, flick the paint with your fingers to splatter white spots.

Next, dry brush medium gray paint on all the raised bits. To do this first offload the paint onto a paper towel until very little paint remains on the brush. With light pressure sweep the brush over the metallic paint on both the key rack and the galvanized bucket.

Once dry, lightly sand with #0000 steel wool to basically blend (burnish) the colors together. It's not a perfect match to the bucket but pretty darn close. Wouldn't you agree that the upcycled garden tool key rack looks so much better galvanized?

How To Transfer Graphics Onto Wood With Glossy Paper

Now we're ready to add the cute Bloom Where You Are Planted typography on the aged wood.

I created the graphic in PicMonkey and enlarged it to fit the length of the board. I changed the print settings for a mirror image (reverse print). I've included a free printable of the BLOOM typography HERE and the WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED typography HERE if you'd like to use it.

Now we're ready to print the graphic with your inkjet printer and transfer the typography onto the wood with this image transfer with gloss paper tutorial.

After you've transferred the typography onto the wood, paint the word BLOOM with an artist's brush and Tomato Red acrylic craft paint. Draw a shadow line with a fine point Black Sharpie marker.

Wall Mount Garden Tool Organizer Assembly

Attach the faux wrought iron water spout onto the pallet wood with 1 1/2-inch brown wood crews. On the back of the sign add two D-Ring picture hangers.

It's a little too early to be planting flowers here in Canada so I filled the galvanized bucket with faux pansies for now.

Hang the galvanized bucket onto the water spout and you're ready to find a new home for your new garden tool holder. No more searching for your gardening hand tools!

Here's another garden decor idea using mini garden tools from the dollar store. This handmade Garden Lovers Wreath is perfect to hang on the inside of a garden shed window. For more Spring and Summer DIY inspiration visit our Spring Ideas Page or our Summer Ideas Page where we share everything from water features to whimsical garden decor ideas.

Thanks for stopping by the Interior Frugalista today! I hope you were inspired by this handmade garden hand tool holder. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section below or the Contact Me tab at the top to drop me an email. I love hearing from you!

If you enjoyed this wall-mounted garden tool storage idea, I'd be so thankful if you shared it with a friend and pinned it to your Gardening Ideas or Garden Shed Decor board on Pinterest.

I share my projects at these inspiring link parties.