Hey hey! Happy Wednesday, my friends! Today I’m sharing a quick tutorial on how to make a modern peg rail with a shelf. It’s so easy and can be put in any room!
We’ve slowly been etching away at Landon’s nursery to get it all finalized. When we moved into our new house, we had only a couple months before his due date. I didn’t really have much energy after moving to put together a beautiful nursery, so I did what I could and called it good. A year later, we’re finally getting around to redoing a few things.
I saw a picture floating around Facebook not long ago of a cute peg rail in a living room. They had pretty framed prints hanging from string on the hooks. I thought it was so unique, I knew I wanted one in Landon’s room, too! I wanted to add a shelf above the peg rail as well so I could put a few knick knacks and plants I had displayed in his room.
So last weekend, we took a trip to Home Depot to get wood and a few supplies, and we put this together in just under two days. I sure love simple and quick DIY projects!
To make your own modern peg rail with a shelf, you’ll need:
- Two 1×4’s, cut to your desired length
- Round dowel 3/4 in (or your desired thickness)
- White paint (I used spray paint to make it a little faster)
- Wood glue
- Sandpaper
- Circular 3/4in drill bit + drill
- Paintable wood putty
- Screws & nails
- Saw
- Ruler + pencil
To start, we cut both 1×4’s to 7ft long to fit the wall and sanded the ends smooth. We then measured where we wanted to put the pegs, and marked it along one of the 1×4’s. We started about 3in. in on either side, then about 8in. apart all along the middle.
We then used our 3/4in size circular drill bit and drilled the holes for the pegs.
I decided on 4 inch pegs, so I measured and cut each one, then sanded the ends as well.
The pegs fit pretty snug into the holes, but I still dabbed a little wood glue inside each hole. We used a rubber mallet to tap them tightly into the holes so they were flush with the back of the board.
After all the pegs were in, I spray painted the whole peg rail white, as well as the wood for the shelf.
To hang the peg rail, we found where the studs were in the wall and made marks. We pre-drilled holes into the studs as well as the rail, then screwed the rail into the wall.
Attaching the shelf was a little bit weird for ours, and there’s definitely an easier way. A Kreg Jig will absolutely make life so much easier in this project, but sadly we don’t have one so we had to improvise!
We figured it’d be easier to attach the shelf to the peg rail once the peg rail was already on the wall. Unfortunately our wood was slightly warped when we bought it, so we tried to take that into account. It wasn’t easy and it dips down just ever so slightly in the middle because of it, but it still works just fine!
We dabbed a line of wood glue all across the top of the peg rail, then set the shelf on top. We used a few nails on top to secure the piece of wood down, as well as a few clamps while the glue dried. Again, this is definitely not the ideal way of getting the shelf on, but sometimes you just gotta run with what you’ve got!
After a couple hours, we removed the clamps and were done! I decorated the shelf with a few things that were already in his nursery, and added a few more items.
I love love love how it turned out, and that it gives me a few extra places to decorate and hang things, too! His room is really small and there isn’t a lot of room for extra furniture, so having more space was much needed!
The little black dresser we currently have is just too small for this wall, so I found a fabulous long mid-century dresser that I’m working on painting to put in here instead. Keep an eye out for that one!
We still a little work left to do in Landon’s nursery, but stay tuned for the reveal coming soon!
Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week!
(If you want to check out what Jade’s nursery looked like, you can find it here! It was one of my very first posts!)
It has been one year since my sweet little Landon came into this world. I can’t believe it! He’s grown and changed so much. He brings so much joy to our family, and we can’t imagine our life without him. He’s the happiest baby there ever was; at least until he’s hungry and wants food now. He recently started crawling and exploring and wanting to pull himself up on everything. His giggle is one of my favorite sounds, and his smile is infectious. My heart is bursting with love!!
Ahhh I just love those chubby legs!!
I personalized the invite with the party details, and then ordered these cute little “All Aboard!” wrap around address labels/stickers to go on each envelope. Minted also has an option to have the invitations addressed too, so I chose that option as well. It saved me so much time, and they looked much better than my handwriting!
They even had matching Thank-you notes to personalize, too! Of course I just had to get them. Thank-you notes never go out of style, friends!
Along with the invitations, I also made and printed out these little time capsule cards. I loved the idea of all of Landon’s family writing him a note for him to open when he’s 18. I think it’s so special!
On the morning on his party, I put black duct tape and made railroad tracks on our front porch leading up to the door. I also made an adorable “railroad crossing” sign too and hung it on the door. I distressed the sign to make it look worn and old. It was a great way to greet all the guests and give them a feel for the theme of the party.
The colors were mint and navy blue, which was perfect because mint is one of Jade’s colors in her room as well and we had a few of her items that we got to use. I wrote Landon’s little “1st birthday” sign on the chalkboard, and set it on an old explosives crate that was my grandpa’s. I thought it was quite fitting for the theme!
We used my blanket ladder as train track behind the chalkboard, which was all my hubby’s idea. I was quite impressed! 😉
I set up a little basket for the time capsule notes that people wrote. It was so fun getting to see the special memories people wrote for him!
I printed out each monthly photo I took of Landon his first year and hung that up over the fireplace. Everyone loved being able to see how much he grew in a year!
I was so happy with how the food table turned out. We served brunch at the party, so we had bagels, meat and cheese, fruit, tater tot casserole, and chile rellano (thanks to my mother-in-law for the last two!). Everything was perfect!
The kids have a wooden train set in our playroom, so we used it and made a little track around the food with some trains. It was the perfect touch to the theme!
I printed out the letters for the “All Aboard” banner on kraft paper and glued them onto navy blue cardstock.
The best part of the table of course were the delicious cupcakes. My mother-in-law made those as well, and they were amazing!
There were chocolate and lemon for the guests to choose from. My sister-in-law made the adorable little cupcake flags to match.
I covered tin cans with some paper and twine to dress them up for utensil holders and vases.
Outside, we had bubbles and chalk for the kids. We also made this cute cardboard train for photo opps!
We had to get a family photo in it earlier in the day too, of course! Those are two of the cutest train engineers I’ve ever seen.
I decorated the adorable vintage highchair my siblings and I used as kids for Landon’s cake smash. I made a fabric scrap banner in the party colors to hang from the highchair tray.
I also added a little “one” banner above the chair on the wall.
I’m all about the “healthy” cake for my little one, so I made him a banana cake with a cream cheese frosting sweetened with dates. It was actually really good!
That gorgeous 
As the kids headed out the door, they grabbed a little thank-you favor from the baggage claim.
A friend of mine had this gorgeous vintage suitcase that also happened to be minty colored. It was meant to be!
Inside each little baggy was an engineer hat, a train whistle, and gold chocolate coins. The kids could wear their hats for their train photo opp. outside, too!
It was the most perfect first birthday we could have given Landon. He was surrounded by people who love him dearly, and have watched him grow these past 12 months. Even though he has no idea what was actually going on, these pictures will be such a fun reminder when he’s older of the special day he had.
I then went back over the penciled lines with my Sharpie and a ruler. I used the pencil to mark my lines first so I could erase if I made a mistake.
Next, I cut apart my numbers 1-6. I turned them over and used my pencil to rub or color over the number firmly, making sure that the whole number was covered.
I put the number one 6 inches up from the bottom of the board, that way I could hang the growth chart 6 inches up from the ground and it would equal a foot. Using my pencil, I firmly pressed and traced the number.
I was left with a faint penciled number “1” that I could then easily fill in with my Sharpie.
I continued with the rest of the numbers, making sure I placed them exactly 12 inches apart before tracing (because knowing me, I’d count wrong and mess it up!).
I can’t wait to measure him on his birthday and make that first little mark! I love seeing how much they grow each year.
Hope you have a great rest of the week!
My hubby’s family has a ranch and acreage not far from where we live. When his uncle saw that I was asking around online for any barnwood, he mentioned he had a ton out at the ranch.
Originally they were used in a barn that was built out there, and I loved knowing they were from our family’s ranch. I had already made plans for what I was going to do with them, and making planters for our dining room walls was just one of my ideas.
I first measured where the exact middle of the wood was, then measured about 6 inches down from the top and up from the bottom and made a mark with my pencil. I also measured and made a mark exactly halfway between those two marks, where the middle pot would be. I did the same on the second half piece of wood.
Once all the hose clamps were secured, I put in small 3 terra cotta pots. I aged and distressed the pots using my tutorial 
I think I’ll eventually get bigger pots, these almost look to small for the large piece of wood. They work great for now, though!
Here’s what you’ll need to make your own:
First, I just tucked one end of the garland under some of the branches of the grapevine wreath. The best part of this easy wreath (in my opinion) is there is no hot glue gun needed (except for the ribbon!)!
I then just started twisting floral wire around the branches of the wreath and the garland, fastening them together so they’d stay put. I would wire them together every 6 inches or so, as I went around. When I got back to where I began, I used my wire cutters and just snipped off the remainder of the garland. Some of the greenery was a little wiry and sticking out in weird spots, so I just tucked a few of the faux leaves under the branches of the wreath.
Next I cut all the flowers off of the bunches using my wire cutters, leaving about 3 inches of the stem attached. I then started sticking the stems into the wreath sideways so they’d sit snug and not fall out. I kept placing flowers until about 1/3 of the wreath was covered.
I filled in any empty gaps I saw in the greenery using the extra piece I cut off from the garland. I glued a little bow and a ribbon for hanging around the top.
I love having spring on my door, if nowhere else! I also love how lush the wreath looks and the pretty little flowers, too.
Do you have your spring wreath out on your day yet? Hope your weather is warmer than it has been here!
On a total side note – isn’t that little stool just the cutest? I don’t even know where it came from, but it’s the perfect plant stand!
Hope your week’s going great, friends!
Hey, friends!
Boom. A pallet! Not only would that be free, but it would be the perfect size for the wall and we could add some wood on top to make it a more functional “desk.”
For the top “desk” part, I got a 1×10 and we cut it down to fit evenly over the top of the pallet. I then stained it with a dark walnut stain. Once dry, I sanded the edges and corners down to make sure there was no sharp edges. My daughter is slightly accident prone (she comes by it honestly!) and we could foresee her running right into a sharp corner on the desk. We took preemptive measures to cut down that possibility! 
We were then ready to assemble the pallet desk. My husband drilled holes through the top piece of wood on the back of the pallet, and then used a couple of very long screws to secure it to the wall. That bad boy isn’t going anywhere!
Voila! A low-profile and functional standing pallet desk that is the perfect size to house my laptop, some pens, and a pretty plant. It’s all I need!
If I feel like sitting, I just snag a barstool from the breakfast bar and plop down to do some work. Side note, isn’t that barstool cute? I love them! I 
If I decide to just used it as a pretty table, I can do that too by removing my computer and adding some pretty decor pieces. It’s so versatile!
I don’t know about you, but I’m always looking for more storage in my house. You can never have enough! What I really wanted was a vintage card catalog, but I couldn’t find any locally. When I posted my search in a local Facebook buy/swap site, a woman sent me a message with a picture of this vintage mailbox cluster. Bingo! Not only was it unique looking, but it was storage! I knew I could somehow repurpose it into something fabulous. I bought it for $75, which was a steal!
It even came with all 30 keys to each box. The back is completely open, which does make it easier to get things in and out so I don’t have to dig for the right key every time I want to get into a box.
I then stained all wood pieces a dark walnut color. It’s my favorite!
After everything was dry, my hubby drilled a bunch of holes through the wood and the metal sides of the mailbox. There were a couple of holes already in the metal, so he also used those in addition. We used nuts and bolts to secure the side wood pieces onto the mailbox cluster instead of dealing with any messy glue or adhesive. Unfortunately that means some of the boxes have a bolt and nut inside leaving less storage space, but it’s totally worth it!
We used used nails and hammered them right into the tops of the wood sides to attach the top pieces.
They’re my favorite part of this repurpose! So sleek and sexy.
While the little mailboxes are small and won’t be able to store much, it’ll be perfect for little craft supplies like stickers, paints, brushes, etc.
And since I have all the keys, it will keep little toddler fingers away from anything I put in there. Baby proof!
This was such a fun repurpose project! I’ll be honest, I had my doubts. But once we got the wood on, I was in love. The 
First thing’s first; my baby! His name is Landon, and he was born on April 30th 2016, fashionably late by a week. He was much bigger than his big sister weighing in at 8lbs 2oz and 21″ long. This little guy is absolutely perfect and we love him to the moon and back!
Jade was so excited to have a little brother, and she is the best and most caring big sister. Well, most of the time. But I absolutely love watching them together. I think someday (very far off…) they’ll be best friends!
I love how our living room and kitchen are open, yet there is still some separation. And I also love hardwood floors. It’s much easier to clean than carpet with two cats and two kiddos!
The T.V and the giant space underneath is not my favorite setup, so there will be some sort of DIY something happening up there eventually to cover up the ugly wires. We don’t spend a ton of time in this room since all the kid’s toys are upstairs, but it’s nice having a separate space to entertain an relax in the evenings when the kids go to bed.
We finally have a kitchen that we aren’t tripping over each other in! Jade loves running back and forth from the living room to the kitchen, and now that we have more space, I don’t even mind.
We also had this little random spot next to the back door, so we created it into a little coffee bar area using 
In our old house, our living, dining room, and kitchen were all one huge room. I liked the open concept, but it was too open. Now we have a dining room right off the kitchen, and it’s the perfect space to eat our meals as a family!
Now on to upstairs!
It’s not usually this clean. Like, ever. But Jade likes to sit and color (3 guesses on her current obsession??), and draw on her chalkboard. She even painted the “create” letters all by herself! I also hung up the words “read,” and “play” in other parts of the room too, all painted by Jade. It’s so fun when kids can be involved!
And last is our master bedroom. I also have plans for this room, but for now its our relaxing retreat at the end of each crazy busy day.