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There is no hiding that shelves are my favorite organizing piece of furniture. They are just so dang flexible to whatever you want to put on them! And I’m falling almost equally in love with pegboards for their versatility with small tools. I used my first pegboard at MY house in my studio last year and I’ve been chomping at the bit to put up more.
My Pegboard Hack
For my garage, I decided to combine two of my organizing loves and put my pegboard right into my shelf. Often times you see pegboards above tool work-tables or work-benches. That might be the right move for craftsmen in a shop who are making things often, but my tools are just stored here, and are taken ALL OVER my house and yard to be used. I don’t need the space in my garage open and ready to use them, just to access them.
We simply slipped the shelf and brackets out of our adjustable shelving (it is stored under the shelf), and trimmed the pegboard down to fit the space inside.
If you’ve never installed pegboard before, it is so easy! You can buy it at most hardware stores. Once you have it sized just right for your space (maybe inside your shelf!), use strips of wood at the top and bottom to screw the pegboard into the studs in the wall. We use a stud finder to figure out where our studs are (you know … the wood-framing pieces behind the dry wall). I used 1″x2″ pieces of wood, like in the picture below. Make sure your screws are about 1 3/4″ – 2″, because it has to go through the pegboard, board, drywall, and then into the stud!
This little pegboard hack has greatly improved the usability of the tools! Now instead of fumbling around for the tool I want, all the most common tools are visible and accessible. This has already become my husband’s favorite part of the garage, but we both use it!
I like a mix of hooks and baskets for pegboards so that I can keep things together that make sense, even if they don’t hook up well. I wish I could tell you there was an exact method to hanging things on pegboards, but it is pretty much – play with it until it all fits!
On the same shelf as the pegboard are the other tools, including a crate with our power tools. Normally screws would go in the toolbox, but the box in here is for the garden box project we’re working on. We will be grabbing this crate and taking it right to the back porch to work on the garden beds. You can see the red sawdust from the beautiful cedar wood we’ve been cutting lately in the garden. It is going to be amazing!
When we took the shelf brackets down in the front and back for the pegboard to go in, we left the side pieces in. I knew I’d want to use it for things like storing our clamps.
And our power tool battery hangs conveniently near the tool shelf. Proximity is important when you’re organizing!
I love timers. I keep them all over my house. This one comes in handy for so many reasons. “5 more minutes outside, kids!” <— That is just one of them.
I love this little hack of mine, adding the pegboard into the shelf – from any view it just makes me happy!
Organizing Garage Shelves
Before you organize your garage shelves, stop and think about how you really use them.
Do you just want to store things? Then you just need to find containers that maximize the shelf space for optimal efficient storage usage. Measure the shelf opening and take the tape measure to the store!
Will you be getting things in and out often? Create easy drop containers. That’s what I’ve got going on in this picture of my garage shelf below. All of the blue containers are open because they are things my kids play with every time they’re in the garage, so they are in and out constantly. If you can’t find partially open containers that you like, try crates (see the other shelf) or a regular container and store the lid elsewhere. That way the container can be pulled out and the contents easily accessed.
Do you have a mix of storage and things you’ll be getting in and out often? Use the hard to reach shelves (top or bottom depending on your height) to place your storage items, then use the most easily accessible shelves to store the things you’ll want to access frequently. In this picture below, the things on the top shelf are rarely used. Also the chemicals in the orange bucket are rarely accessed.
The beauty of these shelves is that not only do they look good for this picture, but they easily stay looking good! That is because they aren’t too cluttered and they are easily self maintaining. Also, when it is obvious where something belongs, it is easier to put it back in the right place, so things don’t just get crammed onto the shelf … they get put away properly.
Do you have a pegboard in your garage? How about shelves?
Whether you combine the two or not, I want you to have a garage that you love. You deserve that! If you haven’t already, read Let’s Organize The Garage: Tips & Strategies!
Be sure to check out all the other Garage Organizing Posts!
Garage Organizing Posts
Let’s Organize The Garage {Tips & Strategies} – An overview of the best strategies for approaching organizing your garage, with useful tips to make it go better.
Pegboard Hack & Organizing Garage Shelves – Ideas for organizing shelves and pegboards. Shelves are flexible to organizing lots of things, and pegboards are specifically excellent at organizing tools.
Garage Organizing: How To Hang Bikes, Scooters, Ripsticks, Balls & More – Use the vertical space in your garage and get all the pesky sports equipment off the floor and on the wall!
How To Organize A Stand-Up Freezer – Many people keep freezers in their garage. Let’s get those organized too!
My Re-Organized Garage REVEAL – I finally made the changed to make my garage a happy place for me! See all the nooks and crannies!
How To KEEP Your Garage Organized – You’ve worked hard to organize your Garage! Now it’s time to learn how to keep it that way!
Diagnose Your Garage & Cure The Clutter – This is an oldie, but goodie! Find out the different reasons people accumulate junk in their garage and diagnose YOUR REASON for a garage mess – then you’ll know how to clear the clutter.
From my home to yours,
Mary
I have sent this to my husband. He is always cleaning, straightening, or organizing the garage and I still can’t find anything in there! Maybe together we can make it great. Thanks, Mary.
Yes, together! That sounds like a great plan!
Looks great! Never thought of combining the shelves and pegboard-you are an organizing genius, Mary!!
Thank you, Anne!!
I would like to do this with my husband for Father’s Day. Where did you get your shelving and black tote baskets?
The big shelves were from Sam’s Club about 6 years ago, but I’ve seen similar ones still there and at other Hardware type stores too. The black crates are from Target. 🙂
I have found the industrial shelving at Lowe’s…don’t know if they are not as tall as yours but they only have five shelves instead of six 🙁
I wonder if there are more options on a website or if you could find them at Home Depot, Sam’s Club, or Costco? I’ve seen good looking industrial shelves in all those places. Best of luck! I know how you really want all those shelves to make use of the vertical space. 🙂
I can’t find a link to the open blue bins. Where are they from?
Unfortunately I don’t have a link. I got them from Walmart sooo many years ago.
I don’t see the practicality, unless you simply have no other wall space. I wouldn’t want to have to reach through the shelf to get to the pegboard, especially if other items will be stored on that shelf.
You should definitely consider how you’d use your pegboard, but for us, this worked beautifully. I didn’t use the shelf like a workstation, it was a storage location, which I think makes a difference in this working.
What are those blue bins called? I can’t find anything online.
I’m sorry. This post is very old and I bought those blue bins in a Walmart years ago (probably at least 10 at this point) … not sure where they’d be now.