When Nick and I first started getting into our
office makeover, I knew I wanted a pegboard to keep our space clean, pretty, and organized. If you looked at the before photos of our office, then you know it was pretty much a disaster. None of my supplies had a designated home, so there were many times where I couldn't find what I needed, or I would make an even bigger mess trying to look for it. I knew having a pegboard would clean up this problem since every item has an assigned spot.
Here's how we went from awful to awesome and gave our office a little pegboard chic.
Basics
Our pegboard is actually two 2x4' pegboards side by side. The pegboards were less money than I expected, at under $10 apiece from Home Depot. I knew I wanted white pegboard, and luckily for us, these were already white on one side so no painting was necessary.
When hanging pegboard, you want to make sure that the board is sitting 1/3" or so away from your wall so that the hooks, pegs, etc. can fit behind the board without damaging your wall. To do so, we put 7 washers on our screws to keep the board from the wall. You can also purchase little plastic spacers to go on your screws, but washers were a pretty cheap alternative.
We also made sure to use wall anchors when hanging our pegboard, just to be safe and ensure that it can support the weight of supplies on it. Once you're ready to hang a pegboard, we recommend having a partner to help. It can be tricky holding the pegboard level while simultaneously not dropping 7 washers, etc., so have a friend nearby!
Storage
Pegboard storage can be super versatile to fit the needs of your board. When we purchased our pegboard, I wasn't exactly sure what kind of hooks, baskets, etc. I would need, so I decided to buy this
43-piece pegboard organizer kit and a
set of three wire baskets. We used almost every single item in the organizer kit, so it was 100% a worthwhile purchase. We're using all three wire baskets too, but the spacing of the pegs on the baskets were kind of wonky and didn't fit our board, so we had to bend and cut them to make them work. Not exactly user friendly.
The organizer kit came with basic pegs and hooks that we're using to hold ribbon, twine, glue gun, tape, artwork, etc. They're super multifunctional. The kit also came with various other hooks for things like screwdrivers, pliers, etc. that we instead used for scissors and storing my knitting needles.
Nick and I also wanted to add some of our own storage, so we punched a hole in 4 paint-dipped tin cans to hold pencils, markers, and paintbrushes. We also made our own mini shelves out of a pallet board. These ended up being perfect for our various glues and Mod Podges.
Overall, if you took everything from our pegboard and gave it a different home elsewhere in our office, it would never be as organized or as easily accessible. Because everything on our board has a designated space, I think it helps to keep me even more organized and put items back where they belong so it doesn't look incomplete.
Style
Okay, let me go back to the beginning for a second, because we haven't even talked
about the "HELLO!" yet! At 5'4" tall, I can barely reach the top shelf of my
kitchen cabinets, let alone grab scissors or something from the top of a
pegboard hung above a table. It wasn't practical for me to utilize the
top of the pegboard, but I didn't want it to be empty either. The
pegboard is the first thing that catches your eye when walking into the
office, so a happy, colorful, "HELLO!" was the perfect greeting. We made the "HELLO!" using leftover yarn in a cross stitch pattern and installed the pegboard on the wall once it was complete.
I also wanted the pegboard to be full of punches of color. Our office can look so drab (as evidenced by those before photos), so pretty colors would really bring a lot of happiness to the room. We, of course, added the homemade rainbow wheel clock, but we also made sure the pegboard was home to our most colorful craft supplies, like yarn, paint, and thread.
As I mentioned above, I didn't want the pegboard to look incomplete, so that was one of my main
goals when styling it. I wanted the space to look full, but not
overcrowded. I think there's just enough clean, white, negative space
without the board looking empty in any areas. The best thing about pegboard is that you can move things around and restyle it as much as you want. I can't guarantee that I'll always want the same supplies on the board, so having the ability to change it around is definitely a selling point.
Art
Though the main purpose of the pegboard is to be functional, a little art can't hurt, right? I really wanted to use some space on the pegboard to showcase different art prints. The two on the board came in my
A Beautiful Mess Happy Mail subscription. In addition to all of the cards you saw hanging in the office makeover post, Happy Mail also includes fun other items like notepads, stickers, pencils, and the art prints seen here!
That stitchable map is my favorite. It's a fun little reminder of all the places Nick and I have been together and the many, many more to see. I really love the "Adventure is Right Here" print too. The dip dyed look is so pretty, and I think it's a pretty good message too. Most of the time spent working in the office is quite an adventure (sometimes a disaster, but those moments are adventurous too). I also added a little cork square on the pegboard for things like stickers, stamps, and photos.
Well, that's just about it! Have I convinced you that a pegboard is basically everything you could ever want? (The correct answer is yes.) Are you using a pegboard anywhere in your home? Now that we have one, I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of having one in the kitchen... (we'll see if Nick lets me get away with it.)
Have an awesome week!
Sarah & Nick
