Totally Hooked: A Wood DIY Peg Rail Organizer

The landing area at the base of our staircase has become a catch-all for purses, jackets, hats, etc over the last few months. And in an effort to organize the clutter a little bit, Jeff and I made this DIY peg rail organizer to get all those typical entryway items off the floor and onto hooks.

And today I’m sharing the tutorial for this wooden wall hooks idea, alongside a handful of other DIY bloggers for a ‘Make It Challenge’.

We challenged each other to use the same crafting item (in this case, wood) to create a fun DIY that anyone could recreate – all inspired by the NBC show ‘Making It’.

Click through for my DIY and links to all the other wood ideas!

Before we get to the peg rail project, I wanted to share what the other bloggers created for this challenge.

There are some really great projects to check out, all made with wood.

I totally want to try to make that plant stand from The Beauty Dojo. Here’s the full list…

Ctrl Curate | Wood Plant Hooks
Blissmakes | Mirror Shelf
Design Fixation | Triangular Wood Wall Hooks
Spatial Dwelling | Wood Toys DIY
Paper and Stitch (that’s me) | DIY Peg Rail Organizer
Why Don’t You Make Me | Dowel Bench
Delineate Your Dwelling | Wood Cutout Frame
The Beauty Dojo | Plant Stands

Be sure to check ’em all out and let me know which projects you love most!

And here’s how to make my peg rail organizer…

Materials Needed

• 1 dowel rod (mine is one inch in diameter)
• 1 1×4 piece of wood (which will be cut down)
• power drill and spade bit the same size as your dowel rod diameter
• power saw or hand saw
• wood glue
• sandpaper or power sander
• level
• strong tape (I used painter’s tape)
• screws

How to Make a DIY Peg Rail Organizer

1. Start by cutting down your 1×4 and dowel rod to your desired dimensions, using a power saw or hand saw.

In case you want to make one just like mine, the dimensions for my peg rail are as follows: 36 inches long and 3.5 inches wide / pegs are each 3.5 inches long

I decided to make 5 pegs for my wood rail, but you can make as many as you like. 

A super long rail of pegs would be really cool in a hallway or entryway, don’t you think?

2. Once you’ve determined how many pegs you want to use, space them equal distances apart on the 1×4 that you cut down to your desired size and mark them with a pencil.

3. Then, using a spade bit that is the same size as your dowel rod diameter and a power drill, create the holes that the pegs will rest in.

Don’t drill all the way through the wood to the other side though.

Leave a little bit of backing for each hole – see photos. Sand any jagged edges if necessary.

4. Next, drill the flat board into the wall (find studs if you can so it’s extra secure), through the holes you created for the dowel rods.

We only screwed in three of the five holes because it felt super strong with just the three screws.

5. Then, use wood glue to secure the wooden dowels into the holes and then tape them up like you see in the photo until they’ve had time to cure (about 24 hours).

Taping them like this probably isn’t the most professional way of doing it, but it’s what we did and it worked.

Quick note…

Wood glue is very strong, so if you’re planning to keep the organizer hanging on the wall for a long time (i.e. you want to be able to remove it easily), you may want to use a glue that’s not quite as strong for attaching the dowel rods that have the screws through to the wall.

That way you can pop those off and unscrew the organizer really easily.

The tradeoff there though is that you won’t be able to hang things that are quite as heavy. Just something to think about.

And that’s it! Want to join in on the fun?

Add your own wood projects to this challenge by using the hashtag #makeitchallenge on Instagram. I’d love to see what you’re making!

Have you ever made a wall hook organizer like this one? Think you’d give this DIY a try?