Easy DIY Nerf Gun Storage Solution

January 11, 2017

Easy DIY hanging Nerf gun storage solution


If you have a Nerf gun lover (young or old!), this easy Nerf gun storage idea will make life much easier! 

Lately in our house the tiny little Lego pieces have (mostly) been replaced with the Nerf bullets that we find every-freaking-where in our house. 

Our son and his buddies play with these nearly every day, and our home has also become the place where his friends keep some of their guns too. We have quite the collection!

My son has been begging me to figure out a better solution for the Nerf storage. For a couple years we've had them in a bin in the little closet under the stairs: 
Toy closet under stairs

small bookcase under stairs

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But this is only how it looked on a good day. The games and the Nerf stuff got intermingled and most days this closet was a big mess. It drove me crazy and although he did try to keep everything put away, the bin wasn't working. 

There wasn't enough room and to get one out they had to remove everything. Plus we had smaller ones and accessories in bins in another part of the room, so things were all over the place. 

We found some ideas for Nerf storage that were fun and seemed like great options -- all of them involved hanging them on a wall. At first we were going to do it in the garage, but I realized that would be a pain for the kids to run out and then take them down to the basement (where they play with them all winter). 

So I decided to move some things around and make this little closet work. And it is AWESOME! I moved the games to our storage closet:
Game shelf/storage

We have empty shelves in there because of this major declutter I did last year. 

I grabbed some small pegboards from Home Depot and because this closet is not finished, I was able to screw them right into the studs. The end result? 

GLORIOUS Nerf blaster storage: 


DIY Nerf blaster pegboard

If you have finished walls you just need to screw some 1x2 boards into studs vertically and then attach the pegboards to those. 

You can't hang pegboards right against drywall because you need some space behind for the hooks. 

These pegboards are smaller and perfect for a project like this -- the bigger ones are so large and bulky. Each one of these was $7 and are two by four feet. 

I grabbed these pegboard hooks to hang everything: 
pegboard hooks

These are the perfect hooks for the Nerf guns, since nearly all them have some kind of hook or spot you can use to hang them.  

I also ordered these pegboard hook locks that go over the hooks as well. The peg locks are great because they keep the hooks in place when items are taken on and off.  

Most of the Nerf toys have hooks but those that don't can just be hung by the handles. We hung the ones first, and then filled in spots for the small blasters:
Nerf gun pegboard hanging storage

I almost went horizontal and stacked the two long pegboards, but then a majority of the bottom board would have been at the floor, so I would have lost hanging space. Hanging them vertically makes the bottom part more usable. 

We took two of the storage bins and filled one with the smaller Nerf products and accessories and one with the ammo. You could also hang a basket or bin onto the pegboard wall for smaller items. 

Now there's no question exactly where everything goes when it's time to clean up the meeellions of Nerf darts!: 
DIY Nerf pegboard storage

Side note -- see the air hockey table there? Last year I added wheels to the end of it so it's easy to roll in and out of the closet for storage: 
Adding wheels for easy storage

One of my best moves ever, not gonna lie. ;) 

Our son is SO stinking thrilled with this closet and he's crazy proud of it. It's the first thing he shows friends when they come over. It's been a week now and everything has stayed organized...this is a record for the Nerf stuff! 

I know most don't probably have a dedicated closet for something like this, but if you are trying to find a good spot for these awkward toys, this may be a good option for a wall in any closet or the garage. 

I've also seen these done out in the open in toy rooms or family/basement spaces and it's a fun way to display and organize them. 

Every time I go vertical with storage I find it works so much better! And having these easily accessible means they are easier to put away! 

Hopefully this gives you ideas if you're dealing with the same Nerf storage problems. Have you figured out a smart way to organize awkward items like these? I'd love to hear about it! 

Here's an image to pin if you'd like to save this idea for later!:
Easy Nerf storage idea

Check out my large DIY hideaway Lego/puzzle tray for more easy storage ideas!:
sliding wood Lego tray



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Comments

  1. THANK YOU!!!! I have two boys, also Lego lovers and now Nerf gun lovers. This is the best and smartest idea!

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  2. This is genius! My son also has a ton of Nerf guns and darts and I am always trying to keep them contained. I have a small unfinished closet under my stairs too so this would work great. Thanks Sarah, love your blog as always!

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  3. Oh. My. Gosh. That is A LOT of Nerf guns! You may be the only person to ever write a blog post on Nerf gun organization/storage, and I know I will look back and appreciate this when my son is old enough to play with them. So this is a pre-thank you!

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    1. You're telling me! 😂 Some of them aren't ours but we do have a ton! You'll probably need this someday with a boy. :)

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  4. WOW, that's an impressive Nerf gun collection, haha! I LOVE the idea of adding them to pegboards and hanging them on the wall. Such a great idea!

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  5. My boys built (and I use the term loosely!) a variation on this...I came home one afternoon to an empty 2 lb bag of nails, and their bedroom walls COVERED in Nerf stuff. We have guns, rifles, pistols, vests, glasses, bullets, mags, etc etc etc. It was ALL on the walls. LOL

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  6. Can you share how the peg locks work?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, they are awesome! Usually on a pegboard when you take stuff off the hook it may lift up and come off. It's annoying. So especially with kids using this we need them. They are little plastic pieces that slide over the hook and lock it into place on the board.

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  7. I am actually doing this next week! I saw this online and his friend has a similar rack for nerf... thanks for mentioning that the pegs won't fit if you put it up against a regular wall.. I didn't think of that!

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  8. Quite the collection and awesome solution!

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  9. Oh wow that makes a huge difference for storage! Great idea!
    XO Ellen from Ask Away
    www.askawayblog.com

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  10. Just this morning I was looking at pegboard ideas! I saw a lot of Nerf guns and one idea that I want to try. Instead of those locks, which I've tried with varying degrees of success, just use a glob of hot glue. It can be peeled off if you need to rearrange (because you always have to!).

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  11. It looks like one of the secret weapon stashes on an action movie!

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  12. WOWZA! That's a lot of Nerf guns. :o

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  13. We did this years ago with my son's Nerf guns as well. It is by far the best way to store Nerf guns. You can also buy baskets that hang on the peg boards and that's what we put all of our bullets and extra Nerf gun magazines in. We bought them on Amazon.

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  14. Love it! We did this a few years ago for our son and it worked perfectly. I painted the peg board and added Minecraft Creepers and shooting targets since the peg board hung on his bedroom wall. I also find foam bullets everywhere! lol!

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  15. I did the peg board for the nerf collection in my son's room two years ago. Some how they still end up on the floor. LOL but it is a great idea and looks great!

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  16. What wonderful ideas! I had to laugh when I saw your pegboards! What an arsenal! I know your kids love that one feature! Great job!

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  17. I just want to hang pegboard everywhere. And this just put me over the edge. Is there anything it CAN'T DO? This is genius - love the way you made it work in the space you already have.

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  18. I love what you did in this closet with the nerf guns! That is quite the collection he has going. :)

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