I often find myself drowning in papers. My husband brings in the mail and my kids bring forms home from school and sports. I work at my dining room table and often everyone just dumps these papers there for me to deal with and it turns into a disaster by the end of the week. Today I have a solution for this problem that uses vertical space [because yelling at everyone isn't working. :)] I call it the "Family Organizing Peg Board." This was a pretty easy DIY project that my husband and I completed in a couple of days. It uses no floor space because it hangs on the wall.
My graphic above sums up the project but if you would like to know more so you can make your own then please read on. I have also created a Quilting Tools Peg Board Organizer which
you can read about in this post.
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Family Organizing Peg Board. |
Here's how I made my peg board:
My Dad gave me some old peg boards that he had in storage for years. I chose one of the larger ones and got my husband to square it up for me with his skil saw. I bought panel edge trim at the hardware store (about $40 CDN - it was just over $2.00 a foot) which my husband cut with a mitre box. (If you are local to Wainwright, AB I found this at the Co-op Hardware store.)
While you are at the hardware store pick up some peg board hooks so you can hang your calendars and organizers. (See photos below for a closer look.) I found mine at Canadian Tire but they can also be found at Walmart and Home Depot. Just about any hardware store should have them.
If you, or your spouse, are lucky enough to own a compound mitre saw that would make the job really easy. If not, you can get a mitre box fairly inexpensively or even easier... get the hardware store to cut them to your measurements (I know they do this at Home Depot.) Just make sure your measurements are very accurate! Maybe take along the peg board just to be on the safe side.
Attach your trim pieces to your peg board with a brad nailer. If you do not own one you can rent these types of tools by the hour from places like Home Depot. (Wear safety glasses!) If you are going the rental route try to have several projects lined up ready to nail to make it worthwhile renting the tool.
Fill the nail holes with poly fill or paintable caulking. Sand smooth and paint. I painted both my peg board and trim with
Country Chic Paint all-in-one decor paint. This is a clay based self priming paint that dries with a chalky finish. The peg board was painted with "Vanilla Frosting" and the trim base coat was painted with "Aurora."
To make it easier on myself I painted the trim before it was cut and nailed onto the peg board. Once the trim was attached I gave the whole peg board a second coat of "Vanilla Frosting" and let that dry for a couple of hours. Then I wet distressed the trim so the "Aurora" would show through by getting a damp rag and scrubbing the top coat of Vanilla Frosting off until I was happy with the amount of Aurora showing through.
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Trim After Wet Distressing. |
We attached 2 x 2 boards to the wall making sure to drill the screws right into the studs behind the drywall. Make sure to screw the 2 x 2 into the studs as the peg board itself has some weight and then when you add all the pegs, organizing systems and papers it will get heavier. Drywall on it's own will not be able to hold it!
Then we attached the peg board to the 2 x 2's by putting screws through some of the holes at the top and bottom of the board and drilling into the 2 x 2. This not only attaches the board securely to the wall but leaves a space behind it so you can easily get your pegs in and out.
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2 x 2 Board behind the peg board. |
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A small Martha Stewart organizing pocket for important receipts. |
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Organizing Pocket from Martha Stewart found at Staples. |
I do love Martha Stewart's organizing systems. This pocket was purchased a few years ago at Staples but I believe they're still available. It comes with the grommets on it already and they are perfect for hanging off of peg board hooks. These pockets can get quite heavy when they are full of papers so I found having them on a cork board with the push pins they come with did not work for me as they would fall down. These peg board hooks are a great solution.
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Showing the type of hook pegs I used to hang my calendar. |
I usually use the "Mom's Calendar" but couldn't find any locally for 2017. I bought this Mead calendar at Walmart for about a third of the price and decorated each month myself with Scrapbooking stickers I already had in the house. It's bigger too so not only did I save money but the calendar works better for me! (I do love those cute Mom's Calendars though! My 2016 one is in the photo below.)
I made sure to leave some space on the board so I can add more items as needed later on. Have fun if you make one! :)
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Ahhh, nice and organized! |