You know when you’re working, and you get thrown off because something is not in its place? You have to find it. You waste some time. Then suddenly, your mood is ruined, and you don’t want to do anything anymore.
Well, guess what? There’s one thing that will help tidy things up while keeping everything all in one place: a French Cleat wall organizer!
How Does a Wooden French Cleat Wall Organizer Work?
For those who are not familiar, a French Cleat wall organizer is a storage system that helps tidy up things, making them available all in one place.
It’s similar to a pegboard wall but with stronger holding power. Basically, you cover your wall with wooden French cleats and mount the whole thing up on the wall.
What’s awesome about this DIY project is that all the dirty work is only done in the beginning. Once you finish installing and assembling everything, you can then move things around with ease.
You can change layouts, switch organizers, and add more stuff gradually in the long run. Aside from that, you’ll know where everything goes — which makes cleaning up faster and easier.
Now, the question is, how can you make one?
Photo from Addicted 2 DIY
How to Build a French Cleat Wall Organizer
We're not going to lie, building a French Cleat wall organizer is quite a tedious process, but the result is rewarding. A lot of folks even switch to this system for their garage, workstations, supply room, or any area that needs a little tidying up.
We’ve created a thorough step-by-step process on how to do it. Let’s begin!
Prepare Materials and Tools
First up, you have to prepare the materials and tools you need. A lot of these things can be found at home, so sort out what you can find lying around and which ones you need to run to the hardware store for.
Once these are ready, let’s move on to the exciting part: planning.
Plan and Design
Before we get our hands dirty, let's take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Here's a bunch of things to do in the planning stage:
- Map out the position of your cleat wall.
- Mark where the studs are.
- Take some measurements.
- Know what you'll be organizing.
- Examples could be building tools, gardening tools, cleaning supplies, art materials, toiletries, and workout essentials.
- Customize designs for organizers.
- Customizing your organizers will be a lot easier if you know what you're organizing. Check out the three videos we linked in this article for creative ideas!
- Get an idea of how much weight the wall needs to hold.
- Cleats have a wide weight range supporting up to 200 lbs, making it an ideal storage and hanging system. With this in mind, you can hang a lot of things with confidence.
Take note of all these details, and you'll be good to go. Now, let's make the cleat wall organizer!
Build the Cleat Wall Organizer
There are different ways you can design one. Some folks prefer a floor-to-ceiling cleat wall but in this article, let’s focus on something smaller. This style of cleat organizer covers just a part of a wall and is used for other areas in the house like a workstation, bathroom, or workout area.
- Cut the plywood backing.
- Nail the French Cleats to the plywood.
- Attach a frame to the organizer.
- Build the organizers.
- Paint or stain the wall organizer.
How to Mount the Cleat Organizer on The Wall
You finally finished your French cleat wall organizer. Now, you might be wondering, how do we hang the whole thing up? There are two kinds of picture hangers you can choose from:
Aluminum French Cleats
- Attach one or two cleats to the back of the cleat organizer. Using two will give extra security.
- Install the other cleat(s) on the wall. Pre-drill holes and insert anchors if necessary. Secure the cleat with screws using a screwdriver.
- Hang the organizer on the wall.
Strap Hanger
Another way to mount a cleat organizer is by using heavy-duty Strap Hangers (also known as D-Rings) just like Katie did. D-Rings are just as strong as Aluminum French Cleats and can also support heavy weight.
We recommend using the Mega Strap Hanger which can support 200 lbs.
- Install the Strap Hangers on the sides of the back of the cleat organizer, ⅓ of the way down. Measure from the top rail down to the bottom rail, then divide by three. Mark the spot with a pencil and repeat on the other side.
- Attach D-Rings using a screwdriver. Make sure they’re aligned with the Strap Hanger on the opposite side.
Final Thoughts
French Cleats continue to be one of our top-performing products, and there’s no doubt why. They’re some of the most robust and most versatile picture hanging hardware in store. So, it only makes sense to use them as part of a huge storage and organization system like this one.
What other DIY projects do you want to talk about next? Let us know in the comments!
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