The Pink Pegboard Project

Like Mike and I now, my grandparents had little kitchen storage space.  The pegboard they kept above their kitchen sink was the first I'd ever seen, and I was always fascinated by it as a kid.  They keep their bottle opener and spatula on their wall?!  When we're done washing and drying these big spoons, we're just going to hang them on the wall?!  Decades--and more than a few small apartments--later, I agree with Papa and Grandma that vertical storage is the way to go.  Until I finished this project Friday afternoon, Mike and I had to paw through two green bins on top of our fridge every time we needed a utensil, so this is one more step toward a happier Mike and Val--well, I care way more than he does, but how could it not make him happier!--and a more organized apartment.  This turned out exactly as I'd envisioned. 

I wish, as I often do after finishing projects like this, that I'd taken a true "before" picture.  The pegboard is a small piece of the pegboard from my parents' garage-wall, and the frame is actually a picture frame I found at Goodwill years ago that used to hold a piece of canvas artwork.  When Mike and I made the trip to my parents' house for our first anniversary last year, I dug the frame out of my former bedroom's closet and brought it back with us, figuring I could use the frame for something.  At some point, it occured to me that the "something" I needed most was more storage space, so the pegboard idea for it was born. 

I cut away the canvas artwork last winter, ripped out all the many staples with pliers some time later, and asked my dad for a piece of 19.5"-square pegboard for my birthday.  (My wish lists are usually this simple, yes.  "What do you want for Christmas?" my parents and brothers will ask me and then quickly add, "And don't say 'Postage stamps and glue!'")  My dad gave me the pegboard and a few starter-hooks when we came home for a visit in April.  I used a birthday gift card from my younger brother to buy a few more hooks.  

Soap and water, wood glue, Super Glue, hammer and nails, and who-knows-how-many coats of green and (first paler pink and then bolder) bubblegum pink acrylic paint and protective gloss varnish later, I finished getting the pegboard together on Friday. 

 And now for us, as it was for Papa and Grandma, finding what we need in our little kitchen is as easy as reaching for its spot on the wall.  "Life is too complicated not to be orderly," as Martha Stewart says, and I agree.  Every time I walk into our kitchen now, I feel a wave of contentment come over me.  ♥

All done.  Cue the relaxed "Ahhhhhhh!"  ♥