Office Progress: A Little Pegboard Installation Party

The pegboard painting project moved right along once I mastered the art of the spray gun. I couldn’t have been happier to get started on the project late last week, and by the weekend, it was ready to paint.

Little Paint Gun, you’re my new DIY BFF.

When it came down to color for our shared office pegboard, we voted. Well, I gave Pete two options, both of which I pre-approved, and he voted. :)

While I considered buying a fresh quart of paint with a high-quality-and-durability quotient, the uber-frugality in me won out and I/we selected colors from our leftover stash in the basement; the eggplant purple of the front door, and the Venetian Gold that had been used in the stairwell were two that that made the cut.

For the 2’x8′ pegboard monstrosity that would be mounted in the office above the desk for utility, I wanted something that paced with my plan of keeping the space a bright, light, and airy one. From the original idea boards I developed, I also knew that I wanted to intertwine pops of bright color and textures, so it made sense to me that I try and anchor a few key pieces, like the pegboard, with a friendly pop o’ color.

Our #1 pick was eggplant for two reasons: The exterior paint I had chosen for the front door was a higher-quality paint+primer-in-one from Behr; it was thick, coated well, and ultimately, I/we thought any unevenness in the painting of the holes would be disguised by the darker color. One coat in, I was happy.

It did still need a second coat, but before I did that I brought the board upstairs to see how it would look in the room and above the desk. No pictures of this part, but I wasn’t loving the purple in the room and that unhappiness knocked me out of the mindset of photo-documentation. It was too dark, too heavy. And because so much of the wall is visible as you reach the top of the stairs and peer left, it really felt like it made the hallway darker, as less light reflected from the all-white room onto the upstairs landing. Paint me bummed.

At least I had a plan B lined up; I sanded the purple with a medium-grit sandpaper to create a slightly roughened surface, and began to spray over it with Venetian Gold. Even though this gold paint was just a basic interior satin finish, but still managed to cover the purple really well. I gave it three coats to be sure the coverage was appropriate (and to make it more durable, although more coats = more durability might be something I just made up). And if you’re wondering what that purple object is, read this.

Sidenote: Yes, those saw horses took a beating between the primer and the purple and the gold. Kinda femme now though, which I like, but I can’t speak for the man they belong to.

Upstairs in the room, the gold worked tremendously. Brighter than the dark purple, it didn’t seem to immediately darken the space as much as liven it up. Oh, how I love this color. And that is why my entire house radiates it.

The frame that the pegboard needed to be installed on began to go up quickly also (I used some old yearbooks to evenly hoist the pegboard and determine just how high to mount it, hence the desk messiness):

The frame I’m talking about, made from 3 8-foot long 1″x2″ furring strips (total cost: $3.50) was centered on the wall between the opened door and the window – there is literally 9″ of wiggle room on either end of the frame, and the desk will sit centered in the middle. As shown in that previous photo, I mounted the first 8′ board horizontally and into studs using 3″ drywall screws (because that’s what was handy).

To reinforce the naturally-wants-to-be-bendy-pegboard subtly from behind, I cut a single 8-foot furring strip into four 21-1/8″ sections (so that the total combined height of the frame was 24″) and attached each one vertically to the studs to give a reasonably even support to the back of the board. Not shown here, but each exposed part of the furring strip frame also received a coat of paint that matches the walls to minimize visibility through the pegboard holes. Powdered Snow by Behr, used heavily in this post, if you’re curious.

The bottom piece of frame was lined up with the top piece, and attached into those same studs solidly. Yes, my messy room is inching it’s way into my shots. I spy… a miscellaneous wool mitten. And something that appears to be a CD holder (haven’t listened to CDs in 5 years).

Using 3/4″ wood screws, I attached the pegboard directly to the wooden framework, which was already level and ready to accept the 2’x8′ board. I spaced the screws across the top and bottom boards every 12″ end to end. They’re silver and shiny, so I wasn’t opposed to how they looked left exposed.

Overall, so far, I’m really happy how it turned out, although it looks pretty strange without the metal filing cabinets that I’d like to add to either side of the desk (hence the massive overhang).

And of course my mess is devouring every photo now. I won’t crop it out, partially to show you that redesigning a room does for some reason force every piece of storage to regurgitate itself on the floor. And partially for comparison for when you see the after shots.

Dramatic change to come.

Does anyone have a great resource for pegboard accessories? I’ve found a few sites online and obviously could gather materials at hardware stores, but (as always) wonder if anyone knows of a little hole in the wall exclusive-pegboard-manufacturer that will knock my socks off.