How to Hang a Pegboard

Like many people, the new year brought out the urge to get more organized.

One area of our house that needs some organizing attention is our garage.
More specifically: our tool storage system.

This is what it looked like during our holiday decorating spree in December:

If you overlook the messy explosion that was our garage, you can see that some things were somewhat organized & labeled in bins.  However, it wasn't very functional - we had to constantly pull out bins & dig around to find certain tools or supplies.  It wasn't a terrible system - just simply not the best solution for us.

We felt the best way to organize all of our tools & supplies would be by installing a pegboard onto our garage wall.  We don't know if there is necessarily a right or wrong way to hang a pegboard,
but here's how we did it...

First up, we made a stop @ Home Depot & picked up some pegboard.  We bought three 2'x4' white panels which were $8.45 each.  We also purchased an assortment of pegboard hooks & brackets.

Once we got home, the first thing we did was draw a level outline of the boards onto the wall - Nader held the boards up while Mel traced them.  Our total pegboard size would be 4'x6':

Next, we had to decide on a way to hang the pegboard panels.  Pegboard can obvioulsy not be hung directly onto the wall because there needs to be space behind the boards so that the hooks can be attached. 

So first, we had to attach some sort of frame to the wall.  Through some online browsing, we saw that there are many ways to hang pegboard.  Some people built an entire frame for the board, but we 

A) didn't think that was necessary & B) didn't have enough scrap wood for that anyways.  

We did, however, have some leftover scrap wood from our laundry room & creativity closet makeovers.  During those shelving projects, we had to trim down several white melamine shelves & were subsequently left with a bunch of  2"x12" scraps.  Turns out the shelves were the perfect thickness too - about 5/8".  This meant our pegboard would be raised off the wall enough to attach the hooks, but it wouldn't jut out super far (like it would have if we had used 2'x4's for example).

Using drywall screws, we attached 12 of these scraps onto the perimeter of the outline.  Some scraps screwed into actual studs - but not all of them (there won't be a lot of weight on our pegboard so we didn't think it was necessary).  We also attached 4 smaller scraps in the middle to support the area where the boards would meet.  We made sure to center those four pieces so each pegboard would have room to attach on either side of the frame piece:

Once we had all the frame pieces in place, we hung the first pegboard onto the left side.
You can see how there is still room on the frame pieces for the second board to attach to:

 *Tip*: make sure your screw heads are larger than the pegboard holes OR use a washer when you attach the pegboard.

Here it is all finished:

It was a fairly quick & easy project, but we think it will make a world of difference for us.

Now that the pegboard is hung, it's time for Mel to organize all of our tools.

Until then, check out Mel's Pinterest Garage Page for some finished garage organization inspiration!

Mel & Nader