Let's Make...A New Wall Organizer!

So yeah, nothing's awry with the first iteration of the DIY wall organizer. In fact, I still love it. It's great and has completely held up. But yet, here we are, let's make a new wall organizer.

Color me mildly surprised the first one hadn't broken or was nudged to break but hey, I'm proud of that project, especially being for the most part a non-carpenter-y person. I keep tryin' though.

So then, but why Becky, why did you make a new one?, you ask.

Because, well, it seems the first had mysteriously shrunk in size. Or really, it's being asked to handle too much at this point. For sure I should edit what it holds.

And because hey, I can't help myself. I do then redo. This house is my theater project. Nothing is safe. Except maybe this bathroom, and mmm maybe a couple other things.....

close up new wall organizer with pole wrap

I did keep the budget friendly but did not sacrifice style or, well, anything. Aside from a small wood purchase and a couple items, everything else was on hand and I made extra purposeful effort to use crap lying about.

Which is what happens when you DIY the sh*t out of everything, you end up with oodles of scrap wood, bits of hardware, half-used packages of whatever. It seriously piles up and gets annoying. Gotta use it.

I went at this DIY wall organizer project without a plan. Probably not the wisest approach as I lost time to figuring and designing and redesigning on the fly. And math. Lots of math. Way too much math.

All I knew was larger. Much larger. At one point I thought hey, I'll turn the entire wall section into a super giant organizer. And who knows, maybe someday I will. Keep it fresh, ya know?

So? Large. The original wall organizer is two foot square. I decided to go three feet by five feet. Yeah, freakin' huge.

What else I knew? From the local buy-nothing group, I had acquired a giant roll of cork (thinking the above whole wall idea). Ah yes, cork. I love cork. Child of the 70's, what can I say? I intended to use lots here which I tried but again, designing and redesigning on the fly, plans changed.

What else in my head? Much like the old one, keep the design clean, simple, and minimal because anything going on it is going to busy it right up visually. Simple background makes any mess atop seem a little less messy.

Right, so for my Let's Make A New Wall Organizer purchased materials list:

one piece of two foot by four foot by quarter-ish thick birch plywood*
one piece of two foot by four foot OSB
three sticks of 1x2 by eight feet furring strips*
one piece of 12x96 pole wrap
round steel electrical box cover blanks*
hat hangers*
dry erase board*

Yes I know. OSB again which I wanted to leave exposed much like the TV console thingamagig but ugh it was looking, mm, poopy shall we say. Design veer to pole wrap.

And omg, pole wrap at Home Depot* and Lowe's* is shooockingly pricey, wow. It is way less at Menards, holy cow. Waaayyy less. Don't tell Menards, please.

What else?

Of course, other sundry items such as painters tape, drill bits,* random screws, wood glue* plus some angle brackets.* Sure, it seems quite a list. Maybe that's why it took me a bit to get the project completed, I dunno.

Ok, let's make a new wall organizer! To start: the main body. First I trimmed* the OSB for a one foot by four foot length, a three foot by one foot piece, and snuggled them around the birch ply. Yes, they are different thicknesses but it wasn't bothering me. Too badly. Depth, I tell myself.

I then cut the 1x2's to size and made butt joints, laying those on the panels, gluing them to the panels and at the joints, added the angle brackets, then cross pieces of 1x2 where the OSB and plywood met.

Set brackets inside the frame so they wouldn't add further thickness when on the wall.

Upon flipping it over and rolling out the cork over the long portion of OSB, I cringed. Nope. Nope. Oh what's this on the floor? Oh the pole wrap I bought for another planned project. I'll use that.

Trimmed it (be sure to wrap the to-be-cut line with painters tape to thwart splintering and ragged edges) and stuck it down with construction adhesive. Wow, cool look, Bec, nice!, I danced.

Threw down a strip of cork over the rest of the exposed OSB using spray mount* to fuse it on.

Whew, ok, now onto the organizing part!

Exactly as the original, I fashioned a wee shelf with cup hooks to hold keys. This was my most critical must-have. I used the tape trick, stretching tape over the length of the shelf, drilled pilot holes in the shelf and transferred that to the panel, drilled holes through (not nerve-wracking at all, ahem), and screwed the shelf on from behind.

Overall, the tape trick worked in other spots but I found it easier to map out a shelf, drill through the front then drill from behind into a shelf, and screw it on that way. Yes, I am very big on not seeing fasteners.

Which is what I did here.

Anyway....

Next critical storage must was my bundle of sunglasses which in all honesty is what prompted this whole new wall organizer project. After an excessive amount of hemming and hawing and testing, I went with 3/4" square dowel cut into 1" pieces, drilled holes, and crammed in dollar store dowels, screwed the contraption on from behind.

The ol' tape trick to get a sunglasses holder placed.

Worked the heck out darn perfectly. Love it. Yes, now I was butt wiggle dancing.

I tossed together some wood boxes same as I had done on the original. Found some other scrap wood for more shelves then arranged, rearranged, rearranged again, and again. And again for good measure. Those went on with Gorilla glue* since that worked so well prior.

Ah. My dad's square. Sigh. It felt comforting to use it.

Oh the dry erase board! Not a necessity but thought it could be amusing since I live with Mr. Entertainer himself. It had this sad, ugly plastic frame which I ripped off to discover the board surface was adhered to cardboard. Ripped that off too.

To stick it on the panel, I encountered a helpful site, This to That which advised contact adhesive.* Using leftovers from the closet cork wall, taping out the area on the panel to prevent over-goo-ing it, it worked like a charm.

Clockwise starting at top left: very blurry shot of plastic frame being ripped off; laying out where the adhesive went with painters tape; adhesive on the board; adhesive on the organizer panel.

For little hanging knobs, I clipped some round clothes pins, did itty pilot holes in the center-ish, and screwed in from behind. Sturdy, handy, fun, and free-to-me all in one shot.

Lastly? The edge viewed most in passing by. Here I used the cutoff from the pole wrap, sliced it with a utility knife* to trim two pieces off, and hot glued* them on.

Yeah no I know. Hot glue. Lame. But it works fast and I didn't have to wrestle with slippery construction adhesive and gravity. Blasphemy but bam, done.

No, I did not seal this whole thing at all but you most certainly can.

Whoo this was heavier to haul upstairs! To hang it on the wall I went with keyhole brackets and ugh way more math along with the tape trick to double ensure I had the right spots. Dipped a small pilot hole in the wall, punched the anchor in a smidge, and zip, off to the races.

Here's where I screwed up: I failed to make a video of me hanging it as that would have been highly entertaining for you.

Somehow managed to get this puppy up and on, backed away slowly and lo, ahhhhh, wiggled my a** more.

Totally loving that slatted doorway there into the kitchen!

Once it was on the wall, I stuck on those hat hangers for well, hats, but also a bag or two to have handy as I'm stepping out.

Ugh. Last time I took a photo from this back stair angle of the previous wall organizer Finn was standing there. Man. My heart.

Though the dry erase board is magnetic, I also affixed two steel electrical box covers because hey, why the heck not have more magnetic surface. Sprayed some random, flatter screws white with spray paint to match.

Still have a bee from Jupiter Ascending!

And holy heck, voilá, we've made a new wall organizer! And holy heck, this thing is freakin' huge! haha With room to spare for more attachments if need be.

Now, time to load it back up with all the junk from the other one.

There we have it, Let's Make a New Wall Organizer and I think it's hot diggity damn gigantically awesome!

Where's the old one going? Yeah no, I dunno! Maybe my office?

*The 1x2 furring strips, construction adhesive, pole wrap, angle brackets, drill bits, Gorilla glue, and contact adhesives are Home Depot affiliate links. The round steel electrical box cover blanks, birch plywood, pole wrap, wood glue, and utility knives are Lowe's affiliate links. The Rockwell compact circular saw, dry erase board, cup hooks, felt pin board strips, cork, hat hangers, round wood clothes pins, keyhole hangers, hot glue, and metal screw-in wall anchors are Amazon affiliate links. The spray mount is a Michaels affiliate link. Mwah, thanks! Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.