Meet my new favorite room in the house: our gear room! Formerly known as ‘the purple room,’ this room is now dedicated to all of our camping, climbing, hiking, skiing, etc gear and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. The organization alone makes me really really happy. Not to mention how easily accessed everything is when we prep for adventures. It’s just so good. I wanted to take some time to break down all of the components of the space and how I designed it to be as functional as possible.
Meet Our Gear Room + Organization Tips for Outdoor Gear
Before photos
The previous owners used this room as a kids room for two girls, hence the purple I guess. I’m definitely not a fan of purple, so I’m really glad it’s gone. Plus, just like the rest of the cabin, as we paint the smell in the room gets better and better. Since we don’t have kids and probably won’t, this room gives us the opportunity to play!
This room is actually the largest in the entire house, but it’s upstairs without a bathroom so we didn’t make it our main bedroom. Instead, we’ve decided to dedicate the back half of the room to our outdoor gear.
Eventually I will finish the other half of the room and turn it into a den for us. We are also going to put a mattress on the loft for additional space for guests to stay as needed (basically as overflow if our guest room is in use). I’m burnt out on painting for now, but eventually we’ll get the second half of the room finished. Stay tuned for that!
The Makeover Reveal
A fresh coat of paint
Visually, the major transformation in our gear room is the wall color. We chose a color called Made of Steel gifted from Dunn Edwards. I love how rich and saturated the hue is, while still being subtle. It’s such a gorgeous, grown up color. And the coverage was AMAZING so we didn’t have to prime the purple walls!
The Climbing Gear Pegboard Wall
Our pegboard wall of climbing gear is my favorite element of this whole project! If you’re a climber, you know just how much gear comes with the sport. And how easily it all gets tangled together. I’ve always wanted to organize our gear with pegboard panels and I’m thrilled that we finally have the opportunity to do just that!
While laying out the gear wall, I did my best to organize like with like. For example, all of the cams are together and near the nuts and quick draws. Things we don’t use as frequently, like the ice axes, are higher on the wall. But the main things we use consistently are group on the center pegboard.
Climbing Rope Storage
We have a LOT of ropes, so I got a few industrial wall hooks to keep the organized on the wall. We actually have more than what’s pictured here, but these are the ones we use the most often. I cannot tell you enough how happy it makes me to see the ropes out like this! It’s nerdy, but true.
Outdoor Clothing and Other Gear Storage
We also needed storage for additional gear like shoes, tents, etc. So I got two of these metal cabinets plus some metal storage bins. The cabinet closest to the gear wall is dedicated to climbing. And the other one is dedicated to camping and includes our backpacking gear, too.
I also used baskets to tidy up oddly shaped gear like snowshoes, trekking poles, sleeping pads, etc. And for climbing shoes, I used a rolling cart since they need to air out. The rest of our shoes are lined up along the floor of the closet. One day I will probably get a shoe rack for them, but for now this works.
As for our outdoor clothing, Sean and I decided to combine our wardrobes instead of separating into his and hers. I have a visual memory, so I organized it all by color in a semblance of rainbow order. That works for our main closet and should work here as well.
Sleeping Bag Storage
Did you know sleeping bags shouldn’t be stored bundled together in their stuff sacks?? It’s true, especially if you have a down sleeping bag. The best way to store a sleeping bag is open so that it can stay lofty and aired out. Because this room has 2 closets, I dedicated the other side to be sleeping bag storage. Each sleeping bag is draped on a sturdy metal hanger.
I also used hangers to tidy up our backpacks. The larger expedition bags are stacked below the sleeping bags.
Shop the post:
- Made of Steel from Dunn Edwards
- pegboard wall panels
- assorted pegboard hooks
- Novogratz Cache 2 Door Metal Locker Cabinet
- Stamped Steel & Wire Basket, large
- Stamped Steel & Wire Basket, medium
- heavy duty steel utility hooks
- wall mounted wooden hooks
- Novogratz Wall Sconce
- gold hangers
- rolling utility cart
- Koepel brass and glass lamp
- Creative Co-Op Bright Stripes Handwoven Abaca Baskets
So what do you think of our gear room?? I know it’s a very specific type of space and not really applicable to most of my blog readers, but it makes me SO HAPPY. And I hope that it inspires you to organize things in your home, even if you’re not a rock climber.
