True story – I would have to get out of the car before Andrew pulled into his side of the garage because the space was so tight you couldn’t open the car door.
When we first moved into our house the garage was the last thing we thought about. We just threw things up on the walls to get them off the ground – didn’t really space plan or really even put ANY thought into it. It wasn’t until this spring when I had to hop out of his car on a very cold day that I realized how stupid we were being with the space (probably how stupid I looked to our neighbors, too) and that it could definitely (and easily be improved).
Originally we had all of our bikes, garden tools, and extras hanging on the right side of the garage and in front of our cars were two big steel wall cabinets from the previous owners – AKA – the junk drawers of the garage. I think everything that we didn’t want in the house landed in those two cabinets. Once we cleaned those out (and I mean CLEANED those out, throwing away a lot of Andrew’s things that he was still hoarding from college that he never moved into the house for some reason) we realized that pretty much everything that we saved could probably fit on the back wall.
I looked at various garage systems to hang from the big box stores, but really wanted to do something different. I’ve seen giant peg boards on Instagram and Pinterest and thought – could we make one big enough to hold everything?! After talking to my contractor (not really, just Andrew) he thought that was something that we, the non-DIYers, could do pretty easily do.
We first measured the back wall and all the studs and then I laid it out in InDesign to get the full vision and all the intersections for each of the holes. After A LOT, A LOT of math and a lot of back a forth in my design program, I had the measurements of exactly every hole that we needed to drill, every stud to avoid and where exactly the 4 x 8 boards would land for us.
We started this project the first week in July. It threw some challenges at us – like we didn’t think about having to build the peg wall out eight inches from the back wall, because it wasn’t flush from one end to the next. Or the fact that the whoever built the garage did not hang the ceiling straight, so as we hung the boards we noticed an ever growing gap at the top (NOT fun to mud at all). Or that without thinking I bought quarter inch boards for the peg wall when I really should have bought at least half inch – but such is life with renos and projects.
The most time consuming part was laying all the boards out side-by-side in the driveway and measuring, chalking and drilling the 1.25″ holes. It wasn’t difficult, it just took a good deal of time and having two sets of hands definitely helped!
By the end of the week we finished the peg wall, but then had to wait to drywall because the new window we ordered didn’t arrive in time. I love being able to open a window to let heat out rather than leaving the door slightly cracked so that Chip and Dale can sneak in to build a nest in your garage. Yes, this has happened – many times.
end of week one.
Once the window was installed and all we had to do was hang drywall, mud and paint. It’s definitely not a perfect job, but I kept just saying ‘it’s the garage, how perfect do we need it?’ I didn’t think having a finished garage was something that we needed, but now that it’s done I really love pulling into a pretty garage. Plus the giant peg board is just fun and offers flexible storage. We can move the pegs and adjust the items stored as needed. AND now we can easily fit both cars into the garage AND walk around them while they are parked. Win. Win. Win.
Below are a few photos of the completed project and a quick q & a.
Quick Q & A
How much did the total project cost?
Total cost with supplies, materials and paint was about $700 ($1400 with the new window).
What are the paint colors you used?
- Peg Board Wall Color: SW Tricorn Black in Duration Satin
- Side Walls Color: SW Pearly White in Resilience Satin
- Azek Trim Color: SW Extra White in Resilience Satin
What did you use to make the holes for the peg board?
We used this corded drill (you will want one that plugs into an outlet, because relying on a battery operated one would take you days to drill the amount of holes and power needed for a full wall) and this drill bit.
Where did you find pegs long enough?
We made them! I bought these six foot dowels and cut them to size. I then added these dowel screws to one end so that we can hand screw them into the back wall for more support and to ensure that they hung straight. See below for an example.
Is there anything you would change or would do differently?
Yup. I would have paid better attention to the thickness of the wood sheets for the wall. I bought quarter inch and half inch would have been MUCH better and I would have made the wall a little more flush because it bows in a couple areas.
Like idiots, we hung the Azek trim in the middle of the project rather than saving it for one of the last things. We got so much black paint on it when we were spraying that I ended up having to paint it all in the end.
Oh, and I would not have rushed the mudding process. We (more so, me) became impatient and just wanted to get the project done, so the walls are not perfect. We will probably fix them come spring. Definitely just wanted to finish the project before it got too cold. I’m a wuss when it comes to the cold.
