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DIY Pegboard Pantry Organizer

Pegboard Pantry Organizer Before and After

When my baby boy started eating baby food I was so excited–I went to pick a bunch up for him to eat and pulled out all the spoons and bibs and other feeding gear we had for our older son. I finally had everything gathered in the kitchen and went to put it all in the drawers, cabinets, and pantry when I realized something. My pantry, the drawers, and the cabinets were full! I started thinking about it and realized that we had the same issue with our first and my mom had the same issue with my sister. I realized that a lot of people struggle with this same dilemma. 

The bibs were being kept upstairs in my baby’s dresser; this was fine until he needed them and I continuously would forget to put a bib on him resulting in messy clothes or having to run upstairs to get a bib, hungry baby crying and everyone else’s food getting cold. I managed to find places to hide away all the baby utensils but it was pretty sloppy. All the baby food just sat in a bag on the pantry floor. I did not want to get rid of our regular food items or make things messy to have room for the baby food jars as we only need space for them for a short period of time, but I also felt uncomfortable leaving the jars on the cold, dingy floor in a plastic grocery bag. I decided to make a space just to store baby feeding items!

My husband was using some pegboard for a project he was working on a while back. He purchased extra in case he needed it, which he didn’t, so I came up with the idea to hang the pegboard with shelves and hooks in the pantry to create more usable storage space! You can use this system for things other than baby food as well–spices, baking mixes, serving spoons, vinegar and oils, hot pads, and more!

What You Need

  • Perforated hardboard (AKA pegboard–we used the 1/4″ size)
  • 2-4 qty. 3/8 x .171 x 1/2 nylon spacers
  • Coping Saw
  • 4 #8-10 x 1 1/4″ anchors for hanging
  • 4 #8 x 1 1/4″ screws
  • Power drill
  • 1/4″ drill bit
  • 15/32″ drill bit
  • Pegboard Organizers

What to Do

1. Find a piece of pegboard that will fit in the space you have available. If you cannot find the right size, cut it down to the proper dimensions. You can find pegboard at hardware stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot and it is fairly inexpensive. Don’t forget, if you are in the military you can get a discount!

2. Decide where you want to hang the pegboard and mark out where you will be putting the screws to attach it to the wall. Mark out these spots with a pencil and make sure the board and markings are level. You don’t want a crooked pegboard!

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3. Drill holes for the anchors, a little smaller than the size of the anchors. We used the 1/4″ drill bit.

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4. Using a hammer, lightly tap the anchors into the holes you just drilled. 

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5. To hang any organizers from the board, it cannot be flush against the wall so you will need to add nylon spacers. If you chose to use two spacers, cut them each in half using a coping saw (and something to grip each firmly, i.e. a vice grip) to make four smaller spacers. If you want the pegboard further from the wall, you can use four spacers without cutting or cut off less. The center hole needs to be widened, so grab something to safely tightly grip each spacer and widen the center using the 15/32″ drill bit. Test each spacer on a screw to verify a proper fit; spacers should have a slightly loose fit on the screw.

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6. Get ready to hang the pegboard! Insert a screw into the pegboard hole, starting at one of the top corners. Slip one of the nylon spacers onto the screw on the back of the pegboard then insert into the anchor and carefully drill into the wall. Continue this pattern on the opposite top corner and each of the bottom corners until the pegboard is secure.

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7. Now it’s time to hang your pegboard organizers! Use a variety of baskets, hooks, buckets, shelves. You can see below what I used to store the baby items but you can get creative! I purchased the Blue Hawk Pegboard Organizer Kit, baskets, and hooks from Lowe’s. I found the set of three mesh baskets at Walmart for only $10 and Walmart also carries other hooks and organizers. 

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**Look under the pictures below for a fun bonus tip!**

pegboard pantry organizerAlso pictured: Nuby Travel Fork & Spoon Set

Pegboard Pantry Organizer Labelled 2 Pegboard Pantry Organizer Labelled 3 Pegboard Pantry Organizer labelled

Tip: Want to hang bagged items? Punch a hole in the top with a hole puncher! Make sure you are not punching anywhere that will break the airtight seal. If there is nowhere like this on the product you’d like to hang, you can purchase special tabs that stick to the products for hanging or simply make a tab with a piece of tape and punch a hole in the center. 

hanging bags for pegboard

*Want your Pegboard Pantry Organizer to look sleek? You can paint it! Just make sure you do not fill the holes with paint. You can also try using patterned wallpaper and cut out slots where the holes are so you can still insert hooks and baskets. We opted to leave the organizer as is for now.

Know someone who could use this? Hit the “share” buttons below! Be sure to follow Arts & Crackers on social media (buttons at the top right of the page.)

-Are you going to try this? Share your pictures on my Facebook wall! Check out my other pantry organizer idea HERE.

35 Comments

  1. cynthiamurdoch

    What a great idea! I like the hole punch idea it keeps everything so tidy.

    • Thank you! I actually used to work at a drug store and we had to stick the tabs with the holes on some products but I didn’t want to pay for those so I figured tape was the next best thing!

  2. I love this!!! 🙂 We have a pantry in our new house we just bought and I’m looking for ways to add more storage. Thanks for the great idea!

    • No problem! We just moved and I was hoping to have more pantry space but it’s the same as before (we’re on a military base) and wasn’t big enough. This has opened up a lot of room and you can fit a lot more shelves than I opted to add!

  3. This is SO cool. I’m in the process or re-organizing and getting rid of a lot of things so I really love this. #SITSgirls

    • Perfect! I love re-organizing and purging! I am doing that a lot right now to keep our new house as tidy as possible.

  4. Stopping by from the SITS link up! I love this idea! I have been wanting to do this in my sewing room!

  5. I love this idea! I’m going to try something similar for my 4 month old who will be trying food for the first time soon.

    • Awesome! My baby boy is almost 7 months now and we just recently started him on solid foods (we waited until we moved) and when we started buying all of it I realized there was really no space. This has been a huge help already, especially as I forget to keep bibs downstairs otherwise haha.

  6. I have seen peg boards before but yours is really well done..GREAT JOB! Now I need to get organizing!

  7. I’m so doing this in my garage! I want storage for extra stuff that will be safe in the garage!

  8. Awesome idea! I love it, the OCD in me REALLY loves it!!!

    • Haha I’m OCD too. In fact, it really bothered me after the fact that my best picture had one of the baby food jars not facing forward 😉 Definitely helpful though for giving everything a space!

  9. totally going to do this!! or can you come over and do my pantry?

    • Haha I would if I could! If you do this in your pantry, be sure to share a picture on my Facebook timeline!!

  10. This is a great idea! I am so disorganized…I really think if I got it together my life would be less stressful

    • Thanks! I feel the same way! The more things I get organized in my house, the less stress I have and the cleaner I can keep things.

  11. bellavidaletty

    What a fantastic project not only does everything have it’s proper space but it looks really nice and neat too.

  12. This is a fantastic idea! I wish our pantry had doors like this, I would certainly do this! Our doors are sliding doors, so doing this would be impossible. My daughter and son in law went and purchased a pantry to store all their baby’s stuff in because they have no room and they didn’t think of how to organize and save $$

    • We don’t have too much storage space either, compared to what I was used to growing up at least, so I really had to get creative. This would work in other places than just the pantry too–linen closets, bathrooms, laundry rooms…you can get creative and paint it too to make it look all pretty 🙂

  13. i wish i could get someone to build one for me… 😀

    • It’s relatively easy to make; hopefully you can find someone who can do it or just try to hang it yourself! 🙂 No cutting necessarily needed, just drilling and screwing in place.

  14. This looks like a pretty easy way to give order to the pantry. will have to keep this in mind after we leave the rental.

    • It is! Ours is a rental technically, but fortunately we are able to hang things. This has helped a great deal.

  15. Wow what a great idea. I really love this. Now I am trying to figure out where I could place a peg board in my house. I am thinking my sons playroom may be a good place for it to go.

    • Yes! A playroom sounds like a great place to put one of these! You could even have him paint the pegboard (make sure the holes are cleared.) It also would work great in a bathroom, linen closet, and laundry room!

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