Craft Room DIY - Ruler Storage

In my previous post, I talked about my quilting history.  Although I haven't quilted in the past twenty years, I have quilting supplies -- rulers, rotary cutters, mat, etc.  Because.... a few years ago, I had intended on doing a quilt.  I was given a book and some rulers to do said quilt.  You know how it goes.  Never enough time.  I guess, I also was having subconscious flashbacks to the queen-size quilt. LoL  Anywho, I digress...

Most of my rulers are hung on the side of my filing cabinet with Command hooks.  The hooks work great, btw!

Note above, I said "most" of my rulers are hung.  The square ones are too big to hang there plus now I have too many to fit on the hook.  I researched various ways people stored their rulers (Thank you, Google!), but really couldn't find anything I liked.  I turned to my second best option and looked on Amazon.  Did you know you can find almost everything on Amazon?!

I found something I really liked, but was concerned when the "ad" said "used".  Lo and behold in this case "used" meant damaged box.  I didn't know this until the product arrived on my doorstep late one evening.  Of course, it was the only one available and I couldn't find anything similar with a reasonable price.

Veesun File Sorter

It can be mounted on the wall.  It is big enough to hold a 20" square ruler easily and it has several sections to hold other smaller rulers.  The mesh will allow me to add a hook to the bottom in order to hang longer supplies/rulers.  There is only one problem with the sorter.  What is it, you ask?

The color!  I want it to match my craft room.  What's a girl to do?  (I'm sure you know, if you're a long time reader.)  Drum roll please.... a DIY project.... paint it!

I set to work and primered it white before painting it the color I really wanted it.

After several coats of white from all angles, out came the Lagoon spray paint.  You may remember it from my DIY Filing Cabinet makeover (which is my highest viewed post) and the Pegboard I made.

Doesn't it look great?  I really like that it's only a little over 4" deep.  It sure is nice to get my rulers off my dining room table, that's for sure.

Until next time....

Pegboard Organization Glory

In my previous post (HERE), I detailed out how I created my pegboard.  Well, it looked at me mournfully for a month while I mulled around in my mind how I was going to be able to hang it with me, myself, and I.

Eureka! Finally, it came to me. Using 3 1/2" all purpose drywall screws, I attached a short length of 1x2 to the wall to function as a ledge to hold the pegboard while I screwed IT into the wall.  I made sure it was level!  Since the trim covered the "ledge", I left it there.  No one would know unless they were on the floor looking up -- and why would they be doing that anyway?! 

I recommend having two people install something this large and put wall anchors in.  Since I was using very long screws and a LOT of them, I bypassed the anchors.  I did pre-drill each hole, though.  It saves the plaster from being overly damaged and makes the entire process go a lot smoother.

I pre-drilled holes in each corner as well as every third or fourth hole across the top and bottom. After I pre-drilled each hole, I installed the screw.  Remember the bracing I put across the middle? When hanging the pegboard, the bracket is horizontal (not vertical like shown in the photo of previous blog post).  I pre-drilled holes in a zig-zag fashion so that both pieces of pegboard had screws.  I used black screws but primered them white -- One would never guess unless they were up close and personal, scrutinizing... Ahem, like my Dad. (May he be resting in peace and looking down with pride... I'm my Dad's girl... He was very handy!)

So here's what it ended up looking like after I attached it to the wall and covered it with my junk crafty stuff.

Okay... a little about some of the things I bought for the pegboard.  I bought a couple of Everbilt pegboard accessory kits from Home Depot. I bought pegboard baskets, too, but those are going back since they don't fit very well.  With the shelf brackets that came in the kit, I made the top shelf.  The 6" wood shelf came from the scrap bin at Menards.

If you ever need a small piece of lumber, check out this area!

The ribbon I already had in embroidery floss bags attached to rings.  I hung them on the utility brackets that came in the accessory set.

The black strips on each side of the pegboard are tool magnets from Harbor Freight. I think they're $4.95 a piece and 18" long.  They are a LOT less expensive and wider than ones I've found in other places. There are holes on each end, so I just attached a hook to the pegboard and hung the magnet.  It's overkill for embroidery scissors but would work for holding anything metal.  Plus, it's a nice way to display scissor collections.

The chalkboard and chalk came from Target. Can't beat the price at $3 and $1, respectively.  At some point, I will probably paint the trim on the chalkboard to match the trim of the pegboard. The gold doesn't look too bad, does it?

The smaller shelf on the right is made of a leftover piece of plywood cut down to size.  It's about 4" deep.  There weren't any more shelf brackets in the kit, so I used two of the longer hangers to set the wood on.  Perfect for my glues and Modge Podge.  The paint pallet is sitting on a bracket used to hold tools by sliding down into the center opening.

The larger white buckets on the left also came from Target.  They were leftover 2017 graduation décor.  At $1 each, who could pass that up?

The wood crate that holds my label maker came from a thrift store years ago.  I think is was 99cents?  I drilled holes in the back so I could hang it with hooks.  It has removable dividers... by removing one,  the label maker fit perfectly on one side... and on the other side, I put the power cord and instruction book.

The blue buckets on the right came from a thrift store. Originally, they had candles in them.  I melted the wax enough to pull the candle out and viola... more storage buckets! 

Incidentally, I saw the cutest buckets at The Dollar Tree. They're taller and thinner with star cutouts.  They come in red or blue.  I don't need any, but I just thought I'd throw that out there! 

For my glue guns, I used a double bracket hanger. They're kinda bulky, but fit nicely.

While organizing my pegboard, I found I used the bracket accessories and j-hooks (both large and small) more than anything else in the kits.  It's always good to have variety, though.  You just never know how things will turn out if you rearrange your pegboard.

So there you have it... How I organized my pegboard.  Hope you enjoyed the tour.  Remember to think outside the box when trying to organize!

Until next time....