How to Hang a Pegboard

Nick and I were ridiculously productive this weekend. I tell you we were on fire, knocking out project after project by day and vegging out to How I Met Your Mother on Netflix by night. I don’t know what I said Friday night/Saturday morning to motivate him, but Nick was so helpful and cooperative and not at all resentful of my ambitions the entire time. I think it helped that I kept giving him lots of praise, telling him he was my hero and winner of the husband of the year award and all that jazz. After a massive shopping trip to Lowe’s to gather materials for all those projects, the first thing we tackled was a dream I’ve had for some time now: a pegboard above my desk.

Before Nick and I bought our house we lived in a pretty run-down rental house around the corner. The kitchen was huge, but poorly laid out and with a dearth of usable cabinets and drawers. I took a cue from Julie Child and asked my dad to install a pegboard on an empty expanse of wall conveniently located between the sink and stove. It was awesome. I loved that pegboard, and in fact when we moved into a house with a much nicer and more efficient (but smaller) kitchen was sad to see it go. The more I thought about a storage solution for the office, the more I liked the idea of rekindling my love for pegboard. Not only could I hang shelves on it, but I could use accessories to hang rolls of wrapping paper, jars and bins for smaller items, etc. As an added bonus, I can change the configuration easily if my needs change. What’s not to love? So pegboard it was, and this time I was determined to hang it ourselves instead of bribing my poor dad to drive up (although I did call him to verify that my plan for mounting it was structurally sound).

Nick and I went to Lowe’s and picked up a 4′x8′ sheet of pegboard for about $16. I knew that my desk was just shy of six feet wide, so I had the guys in the lumber department cut it down to 4′x5′ for me (we’ve got some ideas about how to use the remaining 3′x4′ piece and I can’t wait to share when we get around to that project). We also got three 1″x2″x4′ wood strips for I think about $2 each.

Before heading to Lowe’s I used a studfinder to mark the location of studs on the wall (they were 24″ apart). Once we got home, I had Nick predrill each board with three holes (top, middle, and bottom), then secure them to the studs with 3″ screws. Seems easy enough, but if you’ve been reading for a while you know that this sort of thing never comes easy to us  (here’s a prime example). There was plenty of profanity and frustration and break-taking, and that was just on the first board. We couldn’t agree on how to use the level and our drill bit was too short, but we eventually figured it all out and once we got that first board hung it was pretty much smooth sailing from there.

After that, hanging the pegboard was a breeze. We counted those little holes until we found the center (which fell between two holes, actually), marked it, and drilled two-inch screws through the holes and into our wood supports. I knew that I could adjust the desk a few inches to the right or left to be centered under the pegboard so we made things easy on ourselves by just centering the pegboard on the studs. On the center support we used two screws each at the top and middle points, but on the bottom and along both sides we used just one screw each. There was no particular logic to this, we were just kind of short on screws in that size and it seemed to be doing the trick.

It was getting dark out by the time we had ‘er hung, hence the lack of natural light in the photo below.

I bought wood boards to use as shelves, but in a real forehead-slapping moment forgot to buy shelf supports (or any other pegboard accessories, for that matter) at Lowe’s. I gotta go back sometime this week. In the meantime I might as well get those boards painted and ready to hang. I originally thought I’d slap two coats of white semi-gloss on them and call it a day, but I got a little crazy last night and started thinking about painting them a color. After all, it wouldn’t be hard to paint over if I hated it. I was thinking maybe a pale blue? The white pegboard provides a clean background so I’ve got a little more freedom than if the shelves were going directly against the gray-green wall. I’m still undecided, though. What do you think?

Tweet

10 Responses to “How to Hang a Pegboard”

  1. erin @ oliveourhouse February 6, 2012 at 10:05 am #

    this was actually on my to-do list this weekend! except in the laundry room. instead, i watched about 27 movies while battling the worst sinus headache ever. we have a peg board in our shed and i love it!

    i say paint the shelves a color. it’s easy to re-paint them white if you aren’t in love with it.

    • Charlotte | livingwellonthecheap February 6, 2012 at 9:19 pm #

      Oh no, I hope you feel better! And thanks for your vote for color. I’m definitely leaning in that direction.

  2. Reuben February 6, 2012 at 10:16 am #

    Pegboard looks great, but where are the pegs? Keep up the good work.

    • Charlotte | livingwellonthecheap February 6, 2012 at 9:20 pm #

      Hahaha, I forgot to get them when I was at the store! I gotta go back after work one day this week.

  3. Janet (Country Mouse February 6, 2012 at 3:40 pm #

    The pegboard looks great!! I love pegboards. We have them on the inside wall of our closet…very handy.

    • Charlotte | livingwellonthecheap February 6, 2012 at 9:21 pm #

      Thanks, Janet! Pegboard in a closet, how handy!

  4. Kindra Taylor February 8, 2012 at 8:42 am #

    I just saw this picture on Pinterest and immediately thought of you and your pegboard! I think you should paint the pegboard and leave the shelves and everything else white. Your room needs some more bold, warm colors to help tie the peacock in to everything, so I vote painting it emerald green or a bright dark blue, like a peacock’s neck. :)
    http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/decorating/pegboards-for-every-room-10000001642766/index.html

    • Charlotte | livingwellonthecheap February 8, 2012 at 9:27 am #

      Ummm, I LOVE IT! Thanks so much for sharing! I am seriously considering it!

Trackbacks/Pingbacks:

  1. I Thought I’d Never See This Day | Living Well on the Cheap - February 7, 2012

    [...] Living Well on the Cheap maximum luxury, minimal moolah Skip to content HomeAboutHouse TourHow-To ← How to Hang a Pegboard [...]

  2. A Thing of Beauty | Living Well on the Cheap - March 6, 2012

    [...] from the beginning, take a look back at my previous posts to read all about painting the room, hanging the pegboard (oy), painting the pegboard a deep peacock green, debating about the slight slope to the shelves, [...]

Leave a Reply:

Gravatar Image