apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

shaker peg rail, brilliant.

I saw that once in an issue of Martha Stewart Baby as an good organizing idea for a baby's room. It worked brilliantly for hanging towels, clothes, baskets, etc. and all that other baby stuff and looked good with nothing on it. It also serves to keep things out of baby's reach when you get to that point.

The photo of the brooms made me giggle...it's like a parking lot for witches...no offense to any Shakers out there...

PS: These are instructions for a crib canopy, but you can see the shaker peg rail in the photo: http://snipurl.com/shakerpeg

i never would have thought i'd be so inspired by all these shaker posts, but i really am.

who knew i was such a traditionalist?

this is a BRILLIANT solution to several problems i've been having. originally i was just going to hang 3 or 4 really hardcore heavy duty hooks, but i love the way this looks.

It's a spiffy look, but I think it can only look good with most of the pegs unused. If I put pegs up all around my room, they'd eventually get weighted down with every piece of junk imaginable.

I do have a small wall near the closet that had a row of six pegs for holding various book bags and purses. It looked good at first, but it's totally out of hand.

Le sigh.

yeah, this look is all about the art of the possible.

which isn't to say it's just for show, it's just NOT made for glopping a bunch of crud onto.

it would be just the thing, though, to hang re-wearable not-quite-dirty clothes on in my bedroom, for pots and such in the kitchen, etc. it would also make a great picture-rail.

i think it's important to establish the difference between visible storage and 'packed away' storage. i can dump all manner of things in total disorder into bins in my closet, or behind the doors of a cupboard. but anything on a hook or a shelf is a totally different story.

It would be difficult to offend a shaker. They did not believe in men and women touching each other, so they sort of went extinct.

Their design sense was amazing though!

This is so thrilling to see on an otherwise dreary Tuesday. One key thing no one mentioned is that pegboard...even the really nice stuff...is pretty cheap. So a wonderful way to make an incredibly beautiful and dramatic room on a very small salary (my situation).

What also really inspires here is the stunning way these spare rooms incorporate the tones and shadows of the light. Brings to mind my favorite movie title of all time (for a movie by Ingmar Bergman I haven't actually seen,) "Winter Light."

The fact that these pictures were taken in the summer, but still have that "winter light" effect makes it all the better.

ha, brad! i'm glad you brought that up! i was going to put it far less delicately

there's some lovely shaker furniture at the Met if anyone needs more inspiration

and if you need even MORE, my mom works at the original shaker settlement at Watervliet up near albany (tending the herb garden)
they give wonderful tours, have a great shop full of shaker reproductions and do craft fairs a few times a year highlighting these craft plus lots more
here's a link with even info
http://www.shakerheritage.org/about.htm
i'll try to remember to email maxwell/sara-kate the next time they do one in case anyone's interested

i love these but i have picture rails in my apt. i think having these as well would be kind of crazy -- though it would certainly be easy to mop the floor if you could hang all your dining room chairs up! www.shakerworkshops.com has them as well as other shaker stuff.

the shaker home office. hilarious!

especially the ladder-back chair with casters. plastic casters.

working a broom over here.
"pay no attention to the detail behind the" curtain/uncurtain/uncertain?

I think the problem is that we see these shaker houses when they are not lived-in - I imagine that when that dining room was full of people every single peg hook was used with cloaks and coats and hats etc hung up everywhere

The aesthetic we see from the Shakers is bare rooms and minimalism and I don't believe it was like that when they were actually living in those rooms

Thus the peg rail idea is great as long as you only hang one thing on it - otherwise you totally lose the look that inspired you - its a decorative idea rather than a practical one

I recently saw a modern interpretation of this v. functional design at the Porches Inn in the Berkshires (right across from Mass MoCA). Their version was in the bathroom & used metal pegs. I thought it was brilliant--but never knew that it had such a pedigree.

i don't necessarily know that that's true, violetsrose.

the shakers were, during their existence, committed to the idea of simplicity, functionality, hard work, and strong ethics. they very much were against the decorative and in favor of the spare and useful. and even while the shaker communities were still alive, outsiders recognized their functional but elegant aesthetic -- one of the major sources of income for the shakers was the sale of handcrafted furniture and items for the home, especially as their numbers dwindled (right around the advent of modernist design, interestingly enough).

now, of course when that dining room was full, there were hats and coats hung on each peg. these pegboards were made to be used, not to be looked at. but what's wrong with coats and hats hung on pegs, as a useful and attractive storage feature? again, we have to remember the difference between visible and hidden storage. but if done right, there's no reason the use of a shaker pegboard would have to be cluttered at all. certainly better than the unsightly pile of not-quite-dirty jeans on my bedroom floor.

though i would agree that in photos like these, there is a spareness that is exacerbated by the emptiness of the rooms, the sense of a space left behind -- not unlike the way that a similar feeling of desertion accentuated the elegance of classical forms for during the neoclassical period. in 5th century B.C. Athens, the Parthenon was painted in gaudy colors and thronged with crowds of people who probably smelled terrible. doesn't make the architecture any less fantastic, though.

I agree totally opoponax

What I was trying to say was that people love the look of the Shaker rooms as they are NOW (i.e. empty) then they go home and fit peg rails and hang loads of stuff off them and wonder why it doesn't look like the photos they've based it on

I was trying to indicate that if you like the Shaker look as above you need to use the peg rails as a DESIGN feature and only hang a couple of gorgeous things off them

To use them as a PRACTICAL feature (as I believe the Shakers would have done) won't give you the images above - they will give you a room with tons of "stuff" everywhere which is probably not the look you're going for (even though I believe it is more like the Shaker rooms would have looked when in use).

as with any storage solution or home decor choice, whether something will be attractive and useful is a matter of personality. i happen to think this is the best idea for my needs that i've seen so far, and as soon as i have some quality time with the power drill, i mean to whip one of these up. those people who call filled bookshelves 'clutter' should probably avoid it. as should any entrant to the Most Cluttered Closet contest

in the new Shaker post, there are photos of the peg board put to use. sometimes decoratively and sometimes pragmatically. i think it looks as good there as it does here.

I have peg rails throughout my house. It would be hard to live without them now. Two rooms in my home have them all the way around the room. I got mine from The Period House, www.theperiodhouse.com.

Please stop making posts with "Look!". It is completely unnecessary.

You can buy custom-cut peg rails from Shaker Workshops. I've bought stuff from them on line, and it's good quality.

www.shakerworkshops.com/

FYI - Shaker isn't necessarily "traditional." The Whitney had a Shaker exhibit about 20 years ago, showing it as the predecessor to modern design. It would work very well in a modern interior.

nothing says home like a room full of brooms. nj countertops by replacementcounters.com

I think someone would have to decide if they were using this idea as a design element or as an actual storage alternative. As others have suggested, I doubt the two looks would have the same sort of appeal. Sometimes there is a reason why things go out of fashion....or are replaced by closets.

Still, the Shaker look always feels so serene and peaceful.

Hello Everyone! We at Paul Thomas Designs www.paulthomasdesigns.com have been making Shaker Peg Rails for many many years. I began making them based on original rails as found throughout various Shaker communities. I needed a place for my, at the time, young daughters to hang their backpacks.

Those wonderful people who unfortunately had one too many rules gave to all of us simple beauty. But in their eyes, it was functional utility.

Whether it be a broom, a quilt, or a pegrail, the reason for it's being was to serve a purpose. In light of this, the Shakers did use adornment. This can be seen in furniture made after 1850.

Today, in our giant fast paced world, we find peace in the notion that less is better. And the Shakers created just that. Simple, clean, unadorned functional wares.

While there are many ways to hang a cap, coat, backpack, whatever, the Shaker Pegrail is a darn good choice. It hugs the wall, it blends well with existing styles, it is available in matching wood, or paint colors, it can be made to fit, and it can stow many different types of things. And last but not least, it's simplicity is it's beauty.

Another notion: if it works, don't fix it. Pegrails have been in use for more than a hundred years. Our pegrail sales are very strong thus supporting the idea that Shaker pegrails are both useful, and decorative.

So, just how popular is the Shaker Pegrail? I have dealers across the country and in Canada who sell my peg rails. A couple of stores sell them online.

For the Shakers, whatever they did had to be right in God's eyes. Utility came next. Our interpretation of intrinsic beauty follows.

Questions, comments, please let me know.
Paul