Our newly tidy and organized laundry room/tool station may not look like much to you but for us it’s a revelation. Last night, as we shut down the house for another day, I said “Goodnight” to Mike and told him I was going down to sleep in the tool room; I just wanted to bask in the perfection of it.
I’ve never used pegboard before but I honestly cannot believe the difference $20 and a couple of hours can make. The actual pegboard only cost a tenner and the pegs were another $10. And now, instead of pawing through a mess of bags and rags and rooting through two over-stuffed tool boxes, I can instantly find what I seek. Click through to see the shameful “before” shot and some useful organizing tips . . .
Once I got started on the sorting, I quickly discovered our two principle sins: 1) We’d been storing useless clutter like gift bags and large plastic bags and 2) we had duplicates of all kinds of stuff, tools in particular. I don’t know if Goodwill is going to want a chest of perfectly good used tools but that’s where they’re headed.
A few of the better bags I saved, now neatly tucked into a vertical slot instead of spreading out and taking up a whole shelf. I gathered all our metal polishes and rags into a single tote and re-purposed a cutlery organizer with miscellaneous drill bits, etc. To keep the bungy cords from becoming unruly I lightly stretched them between the shelves of our Metro storage rack, below right.
Some people take a couple of days off work to relax. Me? I organized our tools and caulked the bathtub. Not fun, exactly, but oh what a relief it is!
April 16th, 2009 at 7:05 am
I’d be basking in it’s perfection too!
Who doesn’t love that feeling of uncluttered lightness?
Clean and fresh and good to go!
April 16th, 2009 at 7:17 am
Wow, what a ride this week, from the heights of Barrymore’s to the depths of your basement. THIS I can afford though! My dad had a pegboard to organize his stuff, so today’s post took me back. It’s great to see such a simple formula continues to work. Congrats on the re-org! You’ve inspired me to tackle my own basement this week!
April 16th, 2009 at 9:54 am
This is a marked improvement — many people don’t think about painting pegboard, but you can paint it out to match the wall colour for a seamless look, or paint it another colour to make it a feature wall.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Hogtownmike, that’s a fantastic idea! Thanks.
April 16th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I am impressed Chris although my current basement makes your before shot very attractive to me. My father too had a peg board and he had my 3 sisters and I help him put it up and organise by tracing outlines of the various tools so we would always know where they go afterward. Good on ya!
April 16th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Dear Chris,
Now you’re speaking my language! An organizer’s favourite trick is to use the vertical in any space and you’ve done just that! Took guts to show the before pictures for sure. Congratulations.
Painting out the pegboard is a good idea, as can be painting outlines of your key tools … ‘saving their spot’ on the board, as it were. Makes putting things back effortless!
Next is to start saving similar glass jars to hold screws and such – and screwing the lids of the jars to a piece of wood :)
Christie
In Good Order
July 12th, 2011 at 1:56 pm
Chris,
I know this is from a few years ago but where did you pick up your pegboard? (You are Toronto-based, correct?)
I can’t seem to find it anywhere, or it’s the steel pegboard which is expensive and more difficult to paint.
Thanks!
September 12th, 2011 at 11:57 am
Susan, try Wanderosa http://www.wanderosa.com/ or ACME Shelving 416-661-2442 http://www.acmeshelving.com/html/.