DIY- Nerf Gun Wall
Since we are stuck at home due to the Coronavirus, we figured it was time to tackle some of those projects around the house that we have been putting off. First up- Nerf Gun Wall!
I’ve seen several of these online. In theory it seemed pretty easy- and for the most part it was. There was only a little bit of cussing on my husbands part. It took us about an hour-start to finish.
The pre-cut peg board we found at Home Depot was about $20. It measured 8 feet by 4 feet. We planned to hang it horizontally, but we worried about electrical lines running just above the light switch…..
Jason of course responded with the usual “Found him!” when I asked if he needed the stud finder. The stud finder indicated that there might be electrical there, so we opted to hang it vertically, which I think worked out for the best.
We used anchors, long screws, a thick nut, and a small washer. These materials we had already. You need to leave space behind the pegboard so you can fit in the holders. Now the fun started.
We figured out where we wanted it- I held it in place while Jason marked the holes with a pencil. We lowered it and he put in the anchors. Then I attempted to hold it up while he placed the screw in place. This is where it all went south.
The challenge is that you need to place the large nut behind the board while attempting to balance the board in place. When he would bend the board forward to get the materials in place, the entire board would shift, making it really hard to hold still. After a few attempts, and glares, and choice words, we decided we needed to tackle this in another way.
I wanted to simply stack some books under the base of the peg board to make it easier to hold the weight….. but Jason found a better way (though it required a lot more effort). He cut the heads off of 3 nails, and placed nails in the anchors so we could temporarily hang the board while we put each screw in. It worked really well. I hate when he’s right.
After one was in, it was easy from there. We did 3 across the top, 2 on the sides, and 2 at the bottom. I think 1 in the center of the board would be good, but we ran out of supplies at that point. When we can venture out again, I’ll buy some.
I got 2 different styles of hooks to hold the guns, and both worked really well. The straight forward pegs are great for higher up. My son can easily hook the gun over head by the trigger or handle. The cradle style is great for the ones in easier reach. I also bought a basket to hold his ammo. I put this low where he would sit and load up the nerf guns.
The best part of the entire project was watching my husband go up and down the step-stool with his amazing sock tan. He really needs some barefoot time outside.
Total cost was $47. We had our own nuts, and screws etc… so a few more bucks for those supplies and it’s still a pretty cheap project.
The struggle will now be making sure our son puts the guns in their holding spot daily. My guess is the easy part is done and now the parenting part, the hard part, begins.
