Saturday, February 09, 2008

I've Got It Pegged!

Lately, I've been acquiring lots of larger spools of thread. And my scissors are never where I can find them. So... Nick went with me to our local Home Depot store. Our shopping list:

1. spray paint primer
2. lilac spray paint (which turned out to be on sale - an added bonus
3. pegboard
4. those metal 'things' I've seen in garages on which people hang tools onto the pegboard (after seeing how many of these I would have to buy, and how much the cost would have added up...after all I had paid an average of $2 for each spool of thread), I found some long oak dowels, 1/4 inch in diameter. These would work great instead, and were a heck of a lot cheaper.

First step - paint the pegboard. Nick did this for me. Prime on night one, paint on night two. I made sure he didn't paint too heavily, so as not to decrease the diameter of the holes on the pegboard. After the paint dried, I brought it upstairs along with a hammer and a cutter for the dowels.

Second step - figure out where I would put the board. I have a place over my coverstitch machine, next to the fitting mirror that was perfect!

Third step - inventory the things I wanted to put on the board. Then, arrange to see how I wanted those things configured.

Fourth step - cut the dowels into lengths that would be serviceable. Longer dowels for the huge thread spools, smaller ones for the regular spools. Very small lengths for the cutting tools.

Fifth step - use a hammer to pound the dowels into the board. Sometimes the dowels were a bit too big in diameter, so I shaved them down at the ends with an electric pencil sharpener before placing and pounding.

Sixth step - find the studs in the wall, pound support nails (we used finishing nails -- nice and small but strong) into the wall (Nick helped here).

Seventh and final step - hang, load, and admire!

This project cost in total less than $25. I love my new pegboard!
My finished pegboard - matches my walls and there's even room to acquire and store more thread!

11 comments:

NancyDaQ said...

Nice project, and I love the color.

Nancy Winningham said...

I love the look of your pegboard. Are the pegs straight out or at an angle? It looks like they are straight. Do the spools tend to slide off?

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

See this is when I wish I was handier with a hammer and nail...Your pegboard is amazing! And I'm sure that you are feeling very accomplished getting it done so quickly!

Barbara at Cat Fur Studio said...

Thanks!

Nancy, the pegs are set perpendicular to the board. And because of that, the dowels had to be about 1 inch longer than the thread spools to ensure the thread spools don't slide off the dowels. Thanks for pointing out that crucial detail!

kasizzle said...

Very clever!

Leslie in Austin said...

Oo! That looks great, Barbara! Very clever way to store your cone thread (she says eyeing her own pegboard....). Wish I had caught you pre-paint; I would have suggested adding a subcoat (or 4) of magnetic primer so that you can use magnets on it, too! That's my favorite feature of my own pegboard.

a little sewing said...

I love your new pegboard, too! How clever. It looks really nice.

Marji said...

I love it! Great idea.

Linda L said...

Can I borrow him? Great job and so pratical.

Salinda said...

Don't you love your new storage? My husband hung a peg board for me several months ago. I have short hooks and long pegs and even baskets (one over my serger with snips and fraycheck and my serger manual and two over my machine with embr supplies and my manuals. Now, I can always find my scissors--and everything else.

Karen Wheeler said...

Thanks so much for the photos and description, as I was about to make one today, and the 1/4 inch dowels make great holders for the cone threads (King Tut and So Fine!). We cut them 5" long and used wood glue to angle the dowels upward a bit, then husband also added a strip of wood behind the pegboard to give a bit of upward angle. I bought the pre-prepped pegboard 2 ft x 4 ft in white that has strips of particle board behind them. Ready to use, no need to paint. Thought that would get done sooner around here, where we have little time for projects. One is finished and hanging and another one is nearly done... Thanks so much! It saved me lots of money over buying the metal hangers.

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