pretty painted pegboards!

I'd been in need of yet more space or a smarter way to store craft supplies, but the last thing I wanted was more wooden units. What I needed was an organisation unit that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg, wouldn't take up valuable floor space and would be easy on the eye.
My answer?

A pegboard!

But they are so industrial and ugly, right? Not necessarily.

In a few simple steps and for not much money (I had most of the supplies at home) it's easy to turn a drab pegboard into a pretty and functional piece of modern art. O.K., modern art may be a stretch but you know what I mean.

Here's a list of the supplies I used.

1. a peg board: sold in large sheets (2.4m x 1.2m x .006m [8' x 4' x .25"]) for about £20. Available from your local timber merchant who should cut it to your specified size (at a cost of £1 or £2), most will also deliver. nb: the holes are typically spaced either 1" or ¾" apart, very important to know when buying hooks for your pegboard! 
2. dust sheet: these will protect your floor when painting and can be found in any hardware store. Old bedsheets and cut up black bags will work as long as they are large enough to surround the pegboard on all sides. 
3. paint : the number of colours required will depend on your chosen design. I chose two contrasting colours (a sampler pot costs about £2 and covers up to 4m²). 
4. paint brush or mini roller set: how else are you gonna get the paint on?
5. masking tape: pay attention to how long it can be left on! (hours vs. days)
6. scissors: to cut strips of masking tape 
7. quilting ruler or tape measure + pencil: to measure and mark out areas to be masked.
8. foil paper + cling film: to eliminate cleaning the roller set.
9. pegboard hooks: choose the right hook for your board! As there are many different sizes and styles of hook, it is worth planning out what you want to hang before buying the most suitable hook(s) for it. Or you can do what I did and just order a mix of sizes and styles. See here and here for hooks. 

nb: I am not vouching for the quality or prices of products listed above nor have I been paid in any way by any of the companies I linked to (unfortunately). I support my local family-run hardware store but linking to that wouldn't be of any use to the majority of my blog readers hence links to a nationwide chain.

On to what I did. I began with a plain pegboard

I placed this on a dust sheet (to protect my floor), and then painted the pegboard in my base colour (white)

Once that dried, I masked off my pattern using a quilting ruler as a spacer.

For "clean" lines, I recommend running your fingers along the edges of the masking tape to form a firm seal against paint. 

Here are both pegboards masked off and ready to be painted. 

I was always going to decorate them differently, but in hindsight I would have made those vertical stripes horizontal or something. Was I an artist, there is no end to the possibilities; but I'm not, so vertical stripes it was.

Because I don't like to clean painting tools and avoid doing this wherever and however possible, I covered the paint tray with foil paper and cling film as below

This makes cleaning up a doddle (scrunch and chuck!).

With this done, I painted my contrast colour all over the boards (masking tape and all) and left both pegboards to dry before carefully peeling off the masking tape to reveal 

two perfectly pretty painted pegboards!

On Saturday S affixed these to my craft room wall. 

I've since added my quilting rulers, rotary cutters, embroidery and quilting hoops, a magnetic board, pen cups, a post box (from Norway, because I saw them everywhere and thought they were soooo cute!) and other bits and pieces like lavender from my garden! 

Most of the items on my pegboards were likely to get damaged with my previous "storage methods" e.g. leaning against a wall where the markings on my rulers were slowly being rubbed off, or under my craft table where items were often kicked by unsuspecting feet.

This has got to be one of the top advantages of having a room of one's own in one's home. Now, I don't simply dream of the perfect storage solutions for me; I create them.