Indoor Projects

Hanging Hooks on a Hollow Door

Living in a tiny house like mine really makes you get creative with storage solutions. An easy trick, though, is to hang things on the backs of doors. There are mirrors, jewelry organizers, shoe organizers, etc. made for such an application.

For probably close to 2 years I’ve had our step ladder hanging on one of the laundry doors. Unfortunately the laundry doors are both hollow core doors so a normal hook would just fall out with a little pressure on it since there’s no “meat” to the door. My solution was to use my favorite adhesive Command hooks from 3M.

They worked well for several months before one fell off. I replaced the adhesive and hung it again. A few more months went by and it fell off again.

white 3m command hook hanging on white hollow core door

They say the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting different results. So to keep myself from going insane, I came up with another way to hang hooks on that hollow door.

white robe hooks hanging on hollow core door step ladder hanging

Normally using toggle, or molly, bolts would be a great solution. But they require at least a 2-inch clearance depending on the size you get. (So they’re a great way to hang heavy items on drywall.) Our doors have an inch at most once you subtract the front panel and back panel from the overall door width.

After a few minutes of scanning the drywall anchors at the hardware store, I saw these and thought they’d work well.

green drywall anchors in plastic package

They basically have one side that pops out (inside the door) once you screw something in instead of the normal anchor that squeezes out against the drywall.

To install them, I drilled a hole slightly smaller than the anchors. Then hammered the anchors into them.

Green Drywall Anchors in Wood Door

Next all I had to do was attach the small white robe hooks with the included screws and I was ready to rehang my step ladder for good!

New Hooks with Step Ladder Hanging

On the other door we have our broom and floor mop hanging in a garden tool organizer.

Brooms Hanging on Laundry Door

It’s been great having the step ladder hanging up. Easy to access without it blocking access to anything else! I highly recommend hanging stuff on the back of available doors in your house!

You can watch one of my older webisodes for how to build a caddy for a linen closet to hold beauty goods.

Happy organizing! Thanks for Checking In! ~ Chelsea

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