Diy Tack Locker
DIY Tack Locker
So I decided to attempt to make a tack locker as my horse is moving barns again! I figured this would be a great way to keep my tack and belongings safe and locked while still being portable.
I was asked by a few people to post the steps I took in doing this, so here is my attempt at doing so! When I was making plans for this I could not find anything online that helped so I also wanted to post in hopes it could help someone in their next project.
Originally I was going to make the whole thing which included building the frame for it... but that was WAY too much work for it! So I went on the hunt to find a used dresser, armoire, cabinet, or anything else that I could craft!
First, I bought a TV armoire at the thrift store for $35. I really was hoping to put my saddle straight in, but that would mean I would have had to find an armoire or cabinet that was at least 25 inches deep! So instead, I found an armoire that was a little wider to put my saddle in sideways.
The dimensions are 37 inches W x 73 H x 21 D.
I needed the saddles to have at least 25 inches of room on the racks. I wanted two saddle racks so if I decide to try fitting my other saddle in I can. My lovely boyfriend had previously made me a collapsible saddle rack for tacking up, so I decided to take that idea and use those in the locker. In the time crunch I just bought them online for super cheap on Stateline.
I usually use a plastic drawer system to put my brushes and medical things in to have easy access to them. So it made sense to just use my existing one and put it in the cabinet instead of having to build shelves.
I wanted to hang my bridles on one side with a small basket below for bonnets, bit wipes, ear puffs, etc. The other door I wanted to have some shelves to put spray bottles and other bottled items in. Since the inside was crunched for space, I decided to just put another wire shelf inside for any other items that could fit:
On the back wall I decided to hang a small tack hook to hand random things like halters, fly masks, etc.
So the upper part was super easy to just throw together some of the things I already had. I debated putting velcro on the door to hang wraps and boots but realized I had the whole bottom half to utalize still! So I put a small white board up to write notes or appointments on instead.
The bottom luckily was already the perfect setup for this. I designated the bottom drawer for wraps and such:
The middle shelf I bought a few small plastic bins to put medical supplies and other random things in. The shelf is only 8 inches high so I had to measure everything!! The top shelf I am hoping to put extra saddle pads and extra tack pieces.
This was an easy project to throw together last minute! The best part is, it only costed $135 in total (including all hardware, shelving, and even storage bins) to put it together... much cheaper than buying a custom made one.
Here is the finished product:
Hope this helps!
So I decided to attempt to make a tack locker as my horse is moving barns again! I figured this would be a great way to keep my tack and belongings safe and locked while still being portable.
I was asked by a few people to post the steps I took in doing this, so here is my attempt at doing so! When I was making plans for this I could not find anything online that helped so I also wanted to post in hopes it could help someone in their next project.
Originally I was going to make the whole thing which included building the frame for it... but that was WAY too much work for it! So I went on the hunt to find a used dresser, armoire, cabinet, or anything else that I could craft!
First, I bought a TV armoire at the thrift store for $35. I really was hoping to put my saddle straight in, but that would mean I would have had to find an armoire or cabinet that was at least 25 inches deep! So instead, I found an armoire that was a little wider to put my saddle in sideways.
The dimensions are 37 inches W x 73 H x 21 D.
I did not want it to be this tall, so I cut off the top and bottom lips that were both 3.5 inches. It was just excess wood that kept the shelves sturdy:
I then added some support wood on the bottom which allowed me to attach the wheels and bolt them through without having to worry about the integrity of the bottom of the cabinet:
There was a top shelf in the cabinet that I did not want so I removed that as well. Next, the doors were mounted on the inside to allow them to be pushed into the cabinet for TV viewing. I removed the one on the right side and the support wood as well:
My original thought was to actually mount the saddle racks onto the wood on the left that was mounted to the sliding system. This would allow me to pull the mounts out to make it easier for me to get to my saddles. I had to reinforce the sliding system to allow for this support my saddle:
I had to buy some brackets to mount the door on the outside instead. Since I wanted to lock this up, I used a bolt in each bracket so someone couldn't just unscrew the door!
I decided to stick with the black hardware, so I also replaced the handles to have it match. I bought a few different latches to decide how I wanted to lock it up and settled on these with a simple combo lock on them:
On to the inside plans!
I took my time measuring and figuring out the setup that I wanted for the inside. Here were some of my thoughts:
I usually use a plastic drawer system to put my brushes and medical things in to have easy access to them. So it made sense to just use my existing one and put it in the cabinet instead of having to build shelves.
I wanted to hang my bridles on one side with a small basket below for bonnets, bit wipes, ear puffs, etc. The other door I wanted to have some shelves to put spray bottles and other bottled items in. Since the inside was crunched for space, I decided to just put another wire shelf inside for any other items that could fit:
On the back wall I decided to hang a small tack hook to hand random things like halters, fly masks, etc.
So the upper part was super easy to just throw together some of the things I already had. I debated putting velcro on the door to hang wraps and boots but realized I had the whole bottom half to utalize still! So I put a small white board up to write notes or appointments on instead.
The bottom luckily was already the perfect setup for this. I designated the bottom drawer for wraps and such:
The middle shelf I bought a few small plastic bins to put medical supplies and other random things in. The shelf is only 8 inches high so I had to measure everything!! The top shelf I am hoping to put extra saddle pads and extra tack pieces.
This was an easy project to throw together last minute! The best part is, it only costed $135 in total (including all hardware, shelving, and even storage bins) to put it together... much cheaper than buying a custom made one.
Here is the finished product:
Hope this helps!