Growing up we had a pencil sharpener in my dad’s office where you cranked the handle and it could be mounted to the desk. I loved that thing! We have had a problem in our house for what seems like forever. We are always losing our little pencil sharpeners. I am not sure where they go. Maybe they are hanging out will all those missing socks and Tupperware. I decided to look online for a vintage pencil sharpener that I could mount to the wall so it would never get lost.
I found one on Ebay and I love that it is rusty and dented!
And while it looks so pretty on the wall, getting it on there was not as easy as I had hoped. There wasn’t a stud anywhere near where I wanted to hang it. Sometimes you have to get out the tools and do some demo to get things the way you want it.
I cut the wall open that was behind this wall (the bathroom wall) and added a 2×4 between the studs. That way I could screw the pencil sharpener into a block of wood rather than just the lathe and plaster. It was going to get a lot of use (aka pulling and tugging) so it needed to be really secure.
The bathroom is already torn apart and not looking so great so I will patch the wall when I work on the bathroom.
The other thing I added to this wall was a collage of photos from over the years. I had originally put some of my kids’ art there but I was sad I could only hang six. I have since decided to turn the downstairs hallway into a gallery so I can hang more.
And of course I am still loving the rock knobs!
We have had it up for about 2 weeks and the kids love it. I don’t think we have a dull pencil in the whole house :)
My son has one mounted to the desk in his bedroom. I literally have a blister on my thumb right now from sharpening about 40 colored pencils this morning. :p. I do love them, though.
Are you serious??? Busting open a wall to mount something like that that could go on a desk or , well anywhere else? , next blog will be how to fix the gaping hole I guess. The blog description is fixing up on a budget… In what world does this make economical sense?
We mounted ours inside a closet door. Quick, Budget, easy to get to, no plastering needed.
clever as usual. great idea with the colored lines so everyone keeps stuff in the proper area. we have an electric sharpeber in the business office but most dislike emptying it. so, as it is filling up my bil uses the old fashioned one on the wall so he will not get caught as the one needing to empty it. so, the oldie retains its spot on the wall. always getting bumped and shavings go everywhere.
I have one and love it. Sharpens the best. Mine is rusty too but not as old as yours. Love yours.
It’s nice to know there are others out there who appreciate these things as much as I do! My office has one from the 1960’s that I nicked from an old storage room we were cleaning out, and insisted be kept for our use. These old pencil sharpeners keep on working when an electric or battery-powered one won’t, which is why sometimes the old stuff is the best stuff. I’m really glad your kids will get to use one for a long time to come!