After admiring Julie’s wooden pegboard from Germany (as seen in Remodelista: The Organized Home), I hinted to my husband, Chad, that it would make a lovely Christmas present. He, being a woodworking hobbyist, decided it would be easier to make one himself.

Not quite.

Without directions or guidelines, designing and executing a pegboard so that everything lines up cleanly takes a lot of thought. Fortunately, my husband has done the work for you. Chad now has three such boards under his belt. Total time to make one? About four or five hours. Not easy, but definitely doable in one day.

Here’s Chad’s how-to.

Supplies

Wood and hardware

• ¾-inch thick birch plywood (approximately 24 by 48 inches) for pegboard or base
• ½-inch thick birch plywood (approximately 24 by 48 inches) for shelves
• 4-to-6¾-inch thick oak wood dowels (approximately 36 inches long) for pegs
• 1-inch wood screws for shelves
• Four long (1¾ inch) wood screws to screw the backboard into the wall studs

Tools

• table saw
• chop saw
• drill
• countersink drill bit (No. 6)
• bench vise
• drum sander
• hand sander
• belt sander

For a more manual approach, you could use a circular saw and hand saw, but these tools would make it hard to achieve even edges.

Step 1: Sand base board.

To create a smooth surface, lightly sand the edges of ¾-inch plywood base.

Step 2: Create template.