How to Turn a Cornice Into a Garden Tool Holder

With its deep ledge, this 19th-century terra-cotta cornice was perfect for the top shelf of the rack I wanted to build. All I needed was an old piece of wood to attach it to and a handful of hooks. Scrounging in the This Old House editorial closet, where we store props for photo shoots, I found just the thing: a beat up beam with the carpenter's saw marks still visible on one side. After searching in vain at three different salvage yards for five matching wrought-iron hooks, I ordered reproductions from House of Antique Hardware.