Simple Tool Storage Wall With French Cleats

We've been watching everyone take the time to organize their tools while they sit idle during COVID, so we decided to tackle the job as well. Using primarily scrap wood from other projects (costs of lumber have skyrocketed lately), we built individual boxes to store individual tools on a french cleat based mounting system. We started this project with an already built 3/4 inch OSB panel wall mounted behind our workbench. This surface is the base for our entire cleat based storage system.

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We used scrap wood for the entire project, 3/4 inch plywood panels, 1 x 4 inch dimensional lumber (common pine), and Spax Construction Screws

Tools: (for affordable options, we highly recommend the Ryobi brand from Home Depot)

Dewalt Table Saw (we recommend the DW7491RS based on discussions with travis.muszynski because of its ability to take a DADO blade, check out his stuff on his YouTube Page, How I Do Things DIY)

Ryobi Drill/Driver

Ryobi Miter Saw

Ryobi Combination Kits

Countersink Drill Set

Cut the cleats by using a table saw. Set the blade up at a 45 degree angle and your fence at 1 1/4 inches. This will cut the 1 x 4 in half, creating matching cleats. The cleats will pair up once one is mounted to the wall and the other to our boxes.

We pre-cut our leftover 3/4 inch plywood into appropriate sizes for our tools. The circular saw but was approximately 14 inches by 13 inches and for our drills and drivers, about 9 inches by 5 inches. Assemble the boxes by pre-drilling and countersinking the Spax construction screws.

Measure the width of each box and cut 1 to 2 support braces from the 1 x 4 lumber and the same width for the cleat.

Be sure to brace the boxes with at least one 1 x 4 brace at the bottom of the box. If the box is shorter, the cleat itself can act as the top brace, if the box is taller, a top brace is beneficial. Pre-drill and countersink those pieces using the Spax screws. Before attaching the cleat, make sure it is angled with the lower part of the cleat the furthest from the box, which will be flush with the mounting wall. Also consider where on the box you decide to mount the cleat and the height you will end up placing the main cleat on the wall.

Another way to do this system is to make mounted cleats across the backer board spaced just enough so that the cleat on the box will fit. That way the frame of the box can rest against other mounted cleats instead of bracing the box as I did with the 1 x 4 scrap. Personally, I didn't want to cut that many cleats to mount all across my storage surface and chose instead to do it this way. I can always move the mounted cleats to exactly where I want them if my storage needs change.

Decide on the height you want to hang the boxes and using a level, mount the primary cleat to the wall. Then, test fit the box to the cleat, matching the cleats up.

Mix and match the sizes of the boxes depending on the tools you need to store and then move them around as necessary. We would have made more but ran out of scrap 3/4 inch plywood, so we'll have to see what we can find later on as we do more projects.