How to Make a Wall-Mounted Shopping List

Here’s a fun way to keep things organized at home: a wall-mounted shopping list. We made ours by topping a piece of ½-inch plywood with chair-rail molding, which we finished with decorative ends using a coping saw. A roll of kraft paper spins on a wood dowel, held by a pair of hooks and finished with ornamental knobs. An old hacksaw blade ensures a nice, clean tear. Place it by the door so that you can just write, rip, and go. Call it a noteworthy way to keep track of your to-dos.

Step 1: Cut the Back

Using the circular saw, cut the plywood to size. Ours is 14 by 16 inches.

Step 2: Give Chair Rail a Decorative Edge

Starting at one end, draw a pencil line along the molding’s profile, making a curve that bows inward where the surface of the molding is concave, outward where the surface is convex, and straight where it’s flat.

Step 3: Carve the Edge

Using the coping saw, make a series of small perpendicular cuts, or kerfs, up to the drawn line. This will make cutting along the curved detail easier. After you’ve made a series of kerfs, start cutting along the curved line. When you’re finished cutting, repeat the process at the other end of the molding so that the flat, straight edge of the molding is the same width as the plywood. Sand to smooth the cut profile.

Step 4: Install the Hooks

Measure in 2 inches from the top and 2 inches from the side of the plywood. Drill pilot holes for the cup hooks. Position the hacksaw blade and drill pilot holes where the holes are in the blade—you’ll screw the hooks and the blade in later.

Step 5: Prepare the Knobs

Replace the machine screws of the decorative knobs with hanger bolts.

Step 6: Make the Paper Holder

Drill a pilot hole in the center of both ends of a 1-inch dowel, cut to size. Dryfit the decorative knobs—you’ll screw them in later when assembling the piece.

Step 7: Attach the Molding

Using a combination of wood glue and superglue, affix the decorative molding across the top of the plywood; the superglue acts like a fast-setting clamp, while the wood glue offers lasting hold.

Step 8: Paint the Assembly

Give the plywood and molding a coat of paint with the small brush and the mini roller.

Step 9: Add the Finishing Touches

Screw in the cup hooks. Slip your kraft-paper roll onto the dowel, set it in the hooks, and screw the decorative knobs into the ends of the dowel.

Step 10: Position the Blade

Pull your paper under the hacksaw blade, then screw the blade in place.

Tools