Closet Organizing…Peg Board Wall

A few weeks ago, I had mentioned I was cleaning and organizing the basement. One area was my father's old workbench that he doesn't use any more, because can't go up and down the stairs. Well, there were 2 sheets of pegboard that weren't being used, so I unscrewed them from the wall and brought them upstairs to my master bedroom closet!

One afternoon of a big mess, one hour of hell trying to find the studs in the wall, one wonderful husband who helped me with it all and we finally have this...

I hope some of the tips will be helpful for you too…



Here is the finished wall of the 2 pieces of peg board. I didn't take any "during" pictures, because to be honest, I was sweating and aggravated. Lol

I have a two tips for this whole process…

• you MUST find the studs in the wall (if you have sheet rock or plaster) and
• it is definitely a 2 person job

Peg board is about $15-$20 for a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet. The hardware store will cut it to size for you too.

To mount peg board to any surface, you must have spacers on the back of the board. The spacers allow room for the hooks to go into the holes in the pegboard and not hit your wall. You can either use plastic spacers or furring strips (explained below)

So the process is…

FURRING STRIPS

• find your studs and mark the rows on the wall with an "X". They usually run every 16 inches on center, but every house is different.
• if using furring strips, mount the strips on the outer edges of the wall where the studs are. Make sure you are within the confines of the borders of your peg board. 
• Once the furring strips are mounted, one person holds the peg board while the other screws it in place. Make sure you use screws, not nails, so you can unscrew it and take it down when needed.

PLASTIC SPACERS…see picture below

• find your studs and mark the rows on the wall with an "X". They usually run every 16 inches on center, but every house is different.
• while one person holds the peg board where you want to mount it, the other will mark the rows on the front of the peg board that line up with the "X" for the studs.
• once you have the rows for the suds marked on the front of the peg board, place and hold one spacer "behind" the board and slip the screw into the hole from the front then into the spacer on the back. Screw securely into the stud.
• Do this along the top and all sides to secure. Probably 4 screws on the long sides and 3 for the short sides.You will need something in the center of the board to keep it from moving, so either use a small piece of furring strip or 2 spacers in the center row.

These little plastic devils are the spacers that come with the packages of hooks and what nots in the peg boards section. Every other time I have mounted peg boards in years past, I have used furring strips, but this time I thought I would give the plastic spacers a try.

They are great for the corners and along the edges, but not so much for the center of the board where you need them too. We ended up taping them to the back to hold them in place then carefully held the board in place to screw them in. Your arm can't reach up the back to hold it in place while you screw, so either tape it or add a dab of hot glue on the outer edge to keep it in place.

You may have to cut out areas for light switches or outlets. I thought a little hack saw would work great, because I was lazy and didn't want to go in the basement to get my hand held electric jig saw.

Here's the after...

Here's the hacked up before. Lol

The top section is my art work with a hand saw. The bottom part of the switch is the electric jig saw. Much better.

Either way, washi tape will fix anything!!

Thankfully, it's only my closet.

So, the peg board is up and loaded with all my stuff. It's on the long wall of the closet on the right when you walk in. There wasn't a closet pole on that wall. I just had some organizing shelves there, but having things hanging up is so much easier to see and use.

Most all of these things were in drawers and cabinets. Now I can see everything at a glance and I love it!!

Purses hang from long hooks way up high and out of the way.

Tank tops and scarves on long hooks too.

So easy to slip them on and off the hooks.

I hung wire baskets to hold socks and other unmentionables. Lol So easy to grab and great when putting laundry away too.

I just hung the baskets from big "U" shaped hooks.

I love all my jackets and sweatshirts hanging where I can see them.

I use the loop tag on the shirt to hang them.

The ones that don't have a loop tag, I use my old tennis ball trick, so the hook doesn't poke through the shirt.

Poke a hole in a tennis ball, then put it over the pointy end of the hook. Click HERE to see that tennis ball post.

Now just hang your jackets on the ball.

Big hooks will hold all your belts right where you can see them.

It's great for all your costume jewelry too.

Remember my old post for using a cookie cooling rack for hook earrings? Well, just hang it on your peg board.

Click HERE for that post.

The wired earrings hang on each row of the cooling rack.

Individual hooks will hold your hoop earrings too.

The peg board tool that holds screwdrivers is great for all your necklaces.

Hang chains from each holder.

Short hooks can hold all your bracelets.

and the longer hooks organizes all your rings.

For items that can be hung up, I mounted a small basket.

Don't forget to add these little plastic strips. They keep the single hooks from sliding around and falling off when you removing something from the hook.

Just place it over the hook and pop each end into a hole on the peg board.

Well, worth it. I still have to add more to mine. They usually come with the assortment kit of hooks.

Another tip is for your ironing board and iron.

I hung a power strip on the peg board. I just plug the iron into it…it's easy to click the iron on and off with the power strip, rather than plugging it in every time or turning that tiny little dial on the iron.

Since I removed the cabinets that were holding all my things, it freed up some space under the closet. Now it's a better spot for the laundry baskets.

I use name badge holders to mark each basket.

Laundry is already separated when I bring it down stairs…one less step to do.

I hope this post was helpful. Adding any size peg board is great to keep you organized in just about any room in your home.

Thanks so much for stopping by,
~Karen~