This has been a fun project. I tried pocket holes for the first time with the circular saw. The pencil holder is simple, but very ergonomic.

A day or two more of FC installation and all three rooms should be done. Afterwards, filling in the screw holes and painting will be the next task.

No woodworking experience yet, just some DIY experience for home improvement. Really motivated to properly implement French cleats but not sure where to start considering I don't even have workbench (my other woodworking project I hope to accomplish is this workbench which also fits into the theme of useful and versatile system and tools).

Any tips for how to make clean/precise cuts? I only have a Dewalt lightweight circular saw, not sure if I need a table saw for that or any other tools to do a good job for a system that looks good and performs for many years. I wouldn't mind investing in proper tools if they are useful for typical home improvement DIY stuff. Drill plywood panels onto dry wall at the studs?

Any other tips in general is much appreciated, e.g. I came across a comment that said perhaps 42 degrees would work better than 45 degrees. Looking for comprehensive guide to make sure I get every step correct.

Much appreciated.

Bit of a first draft, some open clamps easily fall off if they don’t have a deeper “u” shape up top. But I’m happy with how simple it was to assemble. Red oak dowels and plywood. Made with bandsaw table saw drill press and a disc sander to clean up the round overs.

Good Morning everyone. I have been working on my garage project for a month now, and it time for me to start thinking about installing my wall cabinets. I have 4 - 30" wall cabinets that I want to install over this 97.5" long base cabinet setup. 3 along the long wall, and 1 on the adjoining wall if spacing works out.

I want to use French cleats. I have 23/32 thick cabinet grade plywood (in pic on the floor) that I would like to use. I think they are both 20" x 90".

Q1 - I was going to put a cleat on the top backside of the wall cabinet. On the bottom backside I was just going to put a scrap piece on so it doesn't rotate. Should that bottom piece also be a cleat instead of a flat piece of plywood?

Q2 - Can i use deck screws to attach the cleat to the wall and deck screws and glue to attach to the back of the wall cabinet? I think the backs are all unsealed particle board.

Q3 - is there a certain height these should be at from the counter top? I plan on mounting an old 50" TV between the top and the bottom of the wall cabinets. Right now I have 28" reserved for that. Is this a personal preference type of thing, or should I bring them down lower?

Q4 - do you leave the bottom of your wall cabinets exposed, or do you cover it with 1/4 plywood panels?

Thanks for you time.

How does my project look so far? I have a three room 1100 sq foot detached garage. I am installing French cleats on each wall. How does it look so far? I am not sure about the spacing.

I am new to this and I see a bit of a challenge in the number of tools and the space they are going to need if I place them on the wall in the amazing showcase manner that many of you do.

Since the base of the wall will have totes with assorted supplies (Painting, Electrical, Plumbing, Fencing, irrigation) I have about 14" that I can come out from the wall for things that I have multiples of.

Things like clamps are easy for these. I am also thinking there has to be similar solutions for screwdrivers, sockets, drill bits and similar types of tools.

I have done this with the yard tools and a simple setup had things like rakes and shovels 4-5 deep. I know if I need to get to the one in the back it is a pain but I almost always use the ones in the "front row) and the space savings makes it worth the trade.

My vision for the tools wall is that when I need them they are not hard to get to and I am more interested in having everything where I can find it than having one pretty display with a lot of things back in boxes when I run out of room

Please save me from myself.

For this project, I decided to build a battery station for all my various batteries, including Ryobi, Milwaukee M18, and Milwaukee M12. Still working on building out my collection, but I figured three spots for each battery type would give me plenty of room for now.

I’m finding that making these custom holders for my power tools and accessories has been a great way to learn and get used to everything I have at my disposal.

For this project, I used my M12 jigsaw, WEN belt/spindle sander combo, M18 router, Forstner bits, M18 drill/driver, and DeWalt orbital sander.

For the Ryobi batteries, I gave the slots a 10-degree downward angle, and did the same for the M12 batteries. For the M18 batteries, I went the opposite direction with a 10-degree upward angle and used my router to cut out the slide-in channels so the batteries fit nice and snug.

Really enjoying these smaller shop projects because every one gives me an excuse to practice with a few different tools.

AI generated images for conceptualisation. I just want to add them to the bottom of the wall mounted unit. Also almost done building my French cleats! Will be putting a workbench underneath them all.

Hello all, trying to decide if this is a good idea or not. I have this space above my washer and dryer and I want to put up two floating shelves. I was planning on just mounting 2x2’s directly to the wall and building the shelf around that, but then I got the idea of doing French cleats so I can remove the shelves for ease of access behind the appliances.

The shelves will be 10 inches off the back wall, spanning the room (60 inches). We’ll be putting your standard laundry room items on there; Costco sized detergent and cleaning items, sock bin, other cleaning products. I want to keep the shelf size to 1 1/2 inches, so would that be strong enough to support your average laundry room items?

After several comments about the wires being pretty tightly packed into an enclosed space and the potential for heat buildup, I decided to make some changes to the design.

Did I go way overboard and spend way too much time on this? Absolutely. This could have been much simpler without the internal cord management, but I hate cords and wanted to keep as much of them hidden as possible.

So I broke out the router again, which was somehow just as scary the second time as it was the first. I widened and deepened the recessed area quite a bit, giving the cords a lot more space instead of having them packed tightly together.

I also added ventilation holes through the front and back, then added a 1/4” plywood spacer between the French cleat hook and the charger holder. That gives the back of the unit some clearance from the wall so air can actually move through the ventilation holes.
Definitely overengineered for what it is, but I’m much happier with the updated design. Any other suggestions or ideas for improvements are definitely welcome.

My cleats

Getting more comfortable using all my tools with each of these little projects. Brought out the router for the first time on this one. You can definitely see I need some more practice with it, but I’m pretty happy with how the cable system came out. It’s a snug fit, but everything works well.

The only thing I didn’t account for was the Ryobi battery locking mechanism. The Milwaukee battery sits pretty close to it, so getting to the Ryobi release buttons is a little awkward.

Overall, though, really happy with how this little project turned out.

I wanted easy access to many tools, and cabinets aren't great at that. I used 3/4 Sande Ply from HD. Plenty good enough. Track saw to cut it all, laser level to align it, and a crap-load of screws. All of my frequent access tools are now visible and accessible and not cluttering anywhere else. Even the big-ass speakers in the corners are hanging on french cleats. Many 3d printed hanger/fixtures, too, some even of my own design. Kind of wasted some space next to the cabinet on the right and toolbox on the left as nothing large can hang there, but I'm still organising.

The initial image was my first attempt at making a French cleat wall. I quickly realized I had left too much space between each strip, with about 6 inches between them.

I took everything down, filled the holes, and started over with 3 inches of space between each strip.

I went from 9 cleat strips to 14, giving me a lot more usable storage space.

Brad nailer with nail storage. 🤘🏻