I’ve been holding out on you. Since this Fall, I have learned the way of the Shaker peg. It is finally a gospel I’m ready to preach. Because they are organizationally life-changing.

You may have noticed a line of them in my entryway back in December. (I’d take new fresh photos of our entryway sans Christmas decorations, but… those decorations are still up.)

Bean has a row of them beyond the bench, at her height. They also line a wall of our bathroom, and along our bathtub. If there was a spot in our kitchen with open space, I’d have put them there too.

Note how they’re inserted just at the top of the molding, painted to match. Totally unobtrusive until you need them. This is their beauty and usefulness.

In the entryway, the pegs have become a middle ground between stacked on the bench and tucked in the closet. Since there are dozens of them lined up, empty for the holding, there is always somewhere to hang a jacket or scarf, keys and sunglasses. Or even bags. Nothing gets heaped on the bench or floor or table anymore.  At night, or after I know I’m home for the day, I’ll go back and transfer everything to the closet.

When guests come over, there is a full line of hooks waiting for them to hang jackets, scarves, and bags.

The pegs are a clutter-reducing miracle, at once ensuring that nobody piles things on the floor or bench but also so unobtrusive that you can insert dozens of them (so you’ll always have a free hook) and the pegs won’t clutter the visual space.

The pegs in the bathroom hold towels, pajamas waiting to get put on or clothes you’ve just taken off. Close to the bathtub, they hold a variety of wash clothes and bath supplies.

I could also see these lining a wall of a bedroom or large closet, holding robes or pajamas or clothes on their way to a hamper. Pegs would almost completely eliminate the dreaded pile of clothes on a chair in the bedroom.

In the kitchen, they could do heavy duty, holding footstools and pans. Or brooms and dustpans. To say nothing of aprons, kitchen towels, drying herbs or utensils and cutting boards.

You can even use Shaker pegs to hang up pictures, or a basket for incoming mail. Or your preschooler’s climbing robot.

I have two kinds of Shaker pegs. Amazon sells Shaker pegs with a screw attachment, for incredibly easy installation on any molding. Alternately, if you don’t already have molding to drill into, you can build a Shaker peg rail with some wooden plaques from Michael’s, a 1/2 screw bit, these Shaker pegs (I bought mine at Lowe’s), and some glue. It was about a half hour project.

I inserted mine at about 6 inches apart, which turned out to be a comfortable distance, and definitely painted to match the wall color.

Are you hooked yet?