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Look past the pile of bikes, bins overflowing with soccer balls, and dusty moving boxes in your garage and you’ll find that the thing holding all your tools is brimming with design opportunities. That diamond in the rough is also called a pegboard. 

This handy hardware store classic where hammers and screwdrivers usually hang can work storage wonders elsewhere in your home. Don’t be stumped by its simplicity: The system of pegs and holes is a blank canvas for your creativity. Plop a shelf between two dowels and suddenly you’ve got a spot for a plant or books. Or go the extra mile with baskets, cups, mirrors, magnets, and hooks. Neat freaks have been getting inventive with how they put the tool to work, and brands are responding with colorful, ready-made boards. Among the many clever ideas our editors discovered in Paris at Maison & Objet this September, Zuiver’s modular Bundy pegboard got us in the mood for a fall do-over. Read on for a few genius ways to reimagine your own, plus the picks we’re loving to get you started.  

For the Craft Room 

You’ll have a significantly easier time tracking down glue, extra ribbon, and washi tape for your next DIY project if all your art supplies are neatly lined up on the wall where it’s easy to see them. Rachel Mae Smith of The Crafted Life gave her surface some extra oomph by painting it according to ROYGBIV. The rows of different colors aren’t just pretty to look at but make the piece easier to navigate. (You won’t forget where you last placed the glitter with a color-coded system like this.) Wire baskets can carry the weight of larger essentials such as brushes and cans. 

For the Entryway 

When a single coatrack won’t do, consider something that spans floor to ceiling. Luggage, jackets, sports gear—everything that needs to go out the door with you—has a place in this front hallway designed by Australian building firms Heartly and Ben Thomas. The supersize pegboard, painted a dramatic black, even has room for two bicycles, which can easily be hung from the same dowels that hold bags and scarves. Not keen on custom carpentry? Re-create a similar oversize setup with a pegboard folding screen.  

For the Living Room

A standard bookcase can only take your storage game so far. What if you want to suspend your plants next to your records or dangle dried florals alongside framed photographs? An open pegboard system allows you to play around with layering and shelf placement while preventing the wall from feeling overcrowded with stuff. Purview Carpentry installed a pegboard into a niche between cabinetry and the wall, while architecture firm Sabo took the same idea horizontal, leaving room to drill more holes in the future.  

These four smart options hit the nail on the head: 

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