Basement Workshop: Organizing Tools with Pegboard and Jars
Quick note: For now we have lots of rain and a few wind gusts from Hurricane Sandy. Conditions are expected to worsen later today and tomorrow, so we may be without power for a while (we’ll post remotely whenever we can). Stay safe and dry!
Pegboards have quickly become my favorite organizing solution, so of course I had to write another post about basement organization that features them. This time I focused on corralling everyday tools and sorting loose hardware like screws and nails into a system that’s both functional and attractive.
After I cleared out the basement following a yard sale, a Bagster pickup, and some work organizing yard tools, I turned my attention to the regular tools. We finally moved most of our tools to the basement — a change from the years we kept them in kitchen drawers. We still maintain duplicates of a few frequently used items (hammers, nails, caulk) in the sunroom for quick reach, but the bulk of our tools now live on a dedicated pegboard in the basement workshop. Having everything hung and stored in one spot outweighs the occasional trip downstairs.
To start, I brought drawers and a toolbox down to the basement and spread everything out on the worktable to sort and categorize. Pardon the phone photos — my partner was using the camera for another project.
Seeing all our tools in one place turned into a nostalgic trip. I found bits and pieces from past projects, like old kitchen knobs and a clothespin chandelier we once made. It was fun to rediscover those items and decide whether they belonged in storage or could be recycled into something new.
Some tools brought back memories, too — like a Boy Scout pocket knife passed down from my grandfather and the first set of screwdrivers my dad gave me in high school. I kept a small toolbox for sentimental reasons: my dad taped a photo of our family inside, so it’s traveled with me through college and beyond even when it only held a few tools.
After a trip to the hardware store for pegboard hooks, I installed pegboard panels above the workbench. The result was instantly satisfying: tools organized, visible, and ready to grab. Pegboards make it easy to see what you have and where everything belongs, which cuts down on the rummaging that used to happen in drawers.
Not everything ended up on the pegboard. Paint and craft supplies — glue gun, staple gun, and similar items — stayed upstairs in the sunroom where we use them most. I also kept a small selection of picture nails, anchors, a hammer, and caulk upstairs for quick jobs. Project-specific tools and plumbing or electrical items went into the toolbox so I know where to find them when needed.
With the pegboard done, I tackled the dreaded drawer of mixed screws, nails, and loose hardware. My approach was simple: spread everything out, group like items together, and store each group in a jar. Mason jars are perfect for this because they’re clear, stackable, and reusable.
I used a mix of pint and half-pint jars to fit the variety of sizes in my collection. Some jars were hand-me-downs that already had painted lids, and I picked up a few smaller jars to hold tiny screws and specialty bits. I kept original labels or packaging scraps in some jars temporarily so I could transfer the information to permanent labels later.
Once labeled, the jars found a home on a shelf built above the work surface by the previous owner. The spacing between shelves is wider than ideal for small jars, but rebuilding the shelving wasn’t necessary — the jars fit and keep everything visible and accessible, which was the main goal.
I used 1.5 x 1.5” square labels and wrote the contents by hand. I considered printing labels for a cleaner look, but handwritten labels are faster to maintain and change as needed.
Next steps include painting the pegboards and staining the shelf and workbench to give the area a more finished, workshop-ready look. I’m keeping plans reasonable so the space stays easy to maintain. For now I’m passing on outlining tool shapes on the pegboard, since that can become a hassle when tools are added or moved. We briefly considered chalk outlines, but decided against chalk dust near tools.
The drawers returning to the sunroom are now much less cluttered, and keeping some items upstairs while storing the majority in the workshop has made retrieval simple. The biggest remaining challenge is a wall of paint cans, spray paint, and buckets — a larger project for another day.
Are you a fan of pegboards? Planning to paint or stain your basement workspace? It helped us to think through which tools we use most often upstairs versus in the workshop — once we did, deciding where to store each item became obvious.
Psst — we finally uploaded our apple picking photos on Young House Life (spoiler: Clara loved pretending to be a caterpillar).