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  • Hi, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

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Office Progress: A Little Pegboard Installation Party

September 21, 2011

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.

Little cheapo spray gun and me.

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.

Pegboard Painting, Take 1. And stop there.

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.

Pegboard, take 2: Venetian Gold saves the day.

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.

Fancy sawhorse. Spotty, from the pegboard spray downs. 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):

Pegboard in gold, looking much better in the bright room. The top of the frame has been anchored already in this shot too.

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.

Leveling the vertical strips for the pegboard frame.

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).

Pegboard framing in place. 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.

Silver wood screws mount the pegboard to the frame (along each edge, every 12 inches)

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).

Office pegboard installed!

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.

Messy. Yowza. 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.

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DIY  / Office Space

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. I've been a freelancer writer for 10+ years and you can find my work on popular home and garden sites, like HGTV.com. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note.

15 Comments


Cait @ Hernando House
September 21, 2011 at 9:40 am
Reply

Looks great!

They’re not specifically designed for peg board, but I bet Ikea’s Asker containers would be fun.



    Emily
    September 21, 2011 at 9:52 am

    I considered the ASKER set!

    Cait @ Hernando House
    September 21, 2011 at 10:40 am

    I think it would work well! You could combine it with some more traditional peg board accessories (and maybe paint those too). Also, I’m not sure if they have anything for pegboards, but I hear good things about See Jane Work. A bit pricey, but good for ideas at least.

    Emily
    September 21, 2011 at 10:44 am

    Oi, I like their stuff. Pegboard accessories do appear to be pricy, so I’m glad the materials and installation itself were <$15 total. I'm prepared to drop a little more change on the necessary baskets and clips that will bring it to life. I've found a few "sets" of pins for $75 or so, I'd just like a pick and choose a little more finely so I can be sure I'm buying ones that will actually be most useful (you know, because I'm probably not going to be hanging my shovel on the wall… maybe a hammer though).

    Cait @ Hernando House
    September 21, 2011 at 10:58 am

    Haha totally understand. I think picking up individual things from a hardware store may be the way to go, and you could always to it over time. I’ve seen shelves, baskets, and even rope/elastic used to hold things on pegboards. Maybe you even have a few things lying around that would work.

    Cait @ Hernando House
    September 21, 2011 at 11:06 am

    Also, I’m sure you’ve checked Pinterest, but there are a LOT of pegboard ideas on there!

    Emily
    September 21, 2011 at 3:01 pm

    There sure are; I’m most obsessed with the kitchen applications.

    Cait @ Hernando House
    September 21, 2011 at 3:15 pm

    Yeah, those are cool! Have you seen pictures of Julia Child’s kitchen? (Or the movie Julie & Julia?)

    Emily
    September 21, 2011 at 4:10 pm

    I haven’t, but I gathered from Pinterest labels that she was quite the inspiration.

    Cait @ Hernando House
    September 22, 2011 at 8:53 am

    Yeah, I think her husband drew an outline around all her pots & pans to label exactly where each one went on the pegboard. It’s a short scene in the movie, but I guess it’s one of those details that actually happened because I think I’ve seen pictures of her kitchen that show it like that.

    Emily
    September 22, 2011 at 9:01 am

    Cute. It’s a subtlety that I really do like. Maybe someday when we have a nice cooking set.

Jami Graham
September 21, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Reply

It’s looking great! I’m not too sure if it’s planned or even part of your design esthetic but I think it’d look really cute with a big chunky frame around it. Obviously if you want to use the whole space that’d be a bad idea though!



    Emily
    September 21, 2011 at 1:03 pm

    That’s a good idea Jamie – I had liked how it still looks semi-industrial in functionality (kind of like how I would mount it in my basement) but framing it off for finishing would be a nice touch.

    Emily

Colleen @ Mommy Panda
September 25, 2011 at 11:32 pm
Reply

I bought a peg board kit at Walmart. I think it was around $10. I don’t know what you want to hang, and the kit is meant for tool use, but it might hold stuff that you want.



    Emily
    September 26, 2011 at 11:32 am

    I found one at Home Depot for <$8 with 48 pieces! How many were in yours out of curiousity (and looking for a good deal)?

    I'll share some pictures soon when I get it organized. It's definitely an innovative process, trying to figure out how this tool hanger can be repurposed as a office utility piece… but I think it's going OK :)

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