My son is a pack rat.  He saves everything from bits of broken pencil lead to rubber bands to dried flower blossoms.  Recently, we moved him into his own room, and in the process, we purged a large portion of his collection.  By we, I mean I, while he whined and gave me lots of reasons why that broken plastic fork needed to be moved to his new room.

While I wanted to throw away all the bent nails while he was sleeping, being a parent is all about compromise, so I thought about what I could do to make both of us happy.  I wanted a neat, tidy room with a spot for everything.  He wanted to keep all of his treasures.

One day, as I was walking through the garage, I spotted a solution.  My husband had a leftover piece of pegboard from a workbench project.  It was the perfect way for him to display some of his favorite “treasures” without leaving them all over the top of his dresser in one giant heap.

 

One of the edges was damaged, so my husband cut it down for me.  I painted it with some heavy-duty grey porch paint we had on hand.  Painting it was a necessity–it gave the board a finished, almost artistic look which is great because it’s now the focal point of the wall. I would love to make an interesting display out of it, but then my son wouldn’t have any place for his stuff and we’d be back to square one.  But if anyone ever wants to make a giant Battleship headboard, this would be the way to go!

While the paint dried, the boy and I ran to the hardware store and purchased a bunch of hooks, baskets, and other accessories for his board.  I wanted a magnetic strip for the top and bottom, but couldn’t find one so I bought two metal rulers and hot glued them to the painted pegboard.  A couple of magnets, some with clips, allow him to hang up art or other keepsakes.  My husband donated a magnetic knife holder so Jonathan can hang up his pocket knives, but it’s a little too heavy so I’m going to keep looking for a simple strip.  We need to add a few more hooks and some magnetic spice jars for things like nails, but for now, it’s done.  What do you think?