What does your garage look like? Is it a comfortable, cozy place where you store your gardening items and tools, and that keeps your car safe and sound? Or is it a cluttered room where you can never find anything you put there? If your answer is the latter one, you came to the right place. This article is chock full of tips on how to organize your garage to make it more convenient to use.
Reorganize the garage, fix the damage, add storage items – and your place will never be the same. And do not worry, you do not have to spend much money on it. In fact, you can do most of the things on this list all by yourself. So what are you waiting for? Establish a plan, jump in, and in short order you will not only organize your garage but find more space than you thought you had.
Clean Your Garage in Sections
Rome wasn’t built in a day – and your unruly garage should not be cleaned in a day, either. Breaking it off into small, manageable chunks makes the process seem less daunting – and you may wind up spending more time on an area than you would otherwise.
Depending on the state of your garage, it might be a good idea to get a little help, too, whether it’s from a friend or a professional organizer. The point is to clean and declutter your garage as you go. This will help eliminate waste and aid you in getting rid of unused or unnecessary items.
Garage Mainstays
If it’s been a while since you last organized and cleaned your garage, chances it’s now chock-full of clutter. So when beginning the sorting process, set aside several piles: the trash pile, the pile of items that will be sold at a garage sale or donated to charity, the pile of items that need to be stored or kept somewhere else, and the actual pile of stuff that stays in the garage.
And while you’re throwing things away, make sure you properly dispose of hazardous materials. Everything needs to be analyzed for usability and functionality.
Add Shelves Above the Door To Store Items
Another way to store items in your garage is to hang shelves above the garage door. Moreover, you can even build a cabinet up there if you want. And if after a while you decide that you don’t want it anymore, you can easily take the shelves down.
Remember that if you want to attach something above your garage door, you need to make sure to measure the space in advance and get appropriate hooks. Otherwise, you might end up damaging your ceiling or walls by accident or purchasing shelves that are too big. This, in turn, would lead to unnecessary expenses, and it’s easy to avoid that if you are just careful enough.
On top of that, you need to make sure that your garage door is working correctly – if it’s not, it can get stuck and damage the wall and your shelves. If you discover that there are some issues with your garage door, don’t hesitate to contact professionals – look for a reputable company that specializes in garage door service & repair.
Utilize the Ceiling Space
The garage ceiling can be used to store bikes – especially since bike racks can be quite expensive.
All you need to do is purchase heavy-duty, rubber-coated hooks that you can find in any hardware store – they are pretty affordable, as they cost around $2.
Use a power drill to make holes in the ceiling so that you can twist the hooks into them. And you’re done! Now you just need to hang the bikes vertically by their wheels.
Create a Car Wash Area
A car wash area is one of the most useful garage ideas. Not only does it allow you to save money on washing your car and keeping your lawn clean, but it also is very easy to implement. Install a hose and connect it to a water faucet. Then, put an electric pump near it and connect it with the hose through a long pipe. Voilà – all done. Now it’s time to make your vehicle look nice and clean.
Organize Your Tools
It is essential to have some basic tools at home – or at least in the garage. However, even if you already have them, they are usually pretty hard to find in times of need. To avoid such a situation, it is important to organize your tools.
To do that, consider building some toolboxes and cabinets (you can paint them a bright color to make the place feel cozier). Alternatively, you can make a few tool racks and hang them on the wall – they will hold your tools in place, and it will be a lot easier to find them when you need them.
You could use magnetic storage panels – they can be found at the nearest hardware store, and they are a great addition to your garage. Not only do they save you space that you can then use to store other items, but they also allow you to display all your tools nicely and in plain sight so that you can easily see where everything is located.
Hang Baskets from the Ceiling
To give your garage a more stylish look, purchase some baskets or bins. Hang them at an angle from the ceiling to use them as shelves for storing items. This simple process will add charm to your garage while creating extra storage space at the same time.
You can attach baskets to metal hooks or hang them using a string or rope. You can also decorate them with lights. However, make sure that they are strong enough to hold heavy items.
Get Some Rolling Carts
A rolling cart is another way to store things in your garage without making any permanent changes or spending too much money. It is very convenient and mobile – if you need to move it somewhere else, you can do that without detaching any hooks. To build a rolling cart, follow the next steps:
Get four cartwheels and wooden rails for each cart. You can usually find them at any hardware store. The wheels should be strong enough to carry heavy items but small enough so that the cart doesn’t take much space. The rails should fit the wheels.
Measure your desired size of the cart (diameter x depth) and place the wheels accordingly.
Drill holes into the bottom of the rails where they will fit onto the wheels.
Connect the wheels with the rails by screwing them together.
Glue or screw some baskets or pots to your cart and fill them with tools, gloves, gardening supplies, or whatever it is that you want to store in them. All done!
A work table is another way to save space in your garage. It keeps all your tools and equipment in one place so you can find them whenever you need them.
If you have an old workbench, you can turn it into a work table by attaching shelves and cupboards to it. If there’s no workbench in your garage, consider building one yourself. And if you already have some shelving units, just attach a small table on top of them.
If your garage is very small, but you would like to have a workbench to, for example, work on woodworking projects, you can always install a foldable one. You can either buy one in a hardware store, or you can make it yourself.
Use Floor Tile as a Wall Covering
A very nice way to refresh your garage and give it a new look is to change the walls – or rather the decoration on it. In most cases, people simply paint their garage walls, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, it is a safe option.
However, there are plenty of nice materials you can put on your walls – we, personally, prefer to use tiles. There are a few reasons for that – they are very easy to install, and you can find them very cheap in almost every hardware store. This is also a perfect solution if you’ve recently renovated your home, as you might have some tiles laying around – instead of throwing them away, you can reuse them as a wall covering.
In terms of installation, you install them the same way you would regular wall tiles. If you have basic DIY skills, this is a project you can handle!
Paint the Stairs
Just because it’s a garage, it doesn’t mean that it has to look like one. Don’t hesitate to add a little bit of color – it is your space, so do whatever you want with it.
If you have stairs that lead to the main house, you can paint them a bright color – either using only one shade, or the whole rainbow. This is especially nice if you have kids – you can give them a brush and paint and tell them to write (if they know how to write) or draw something.
Use the Garage Walls for Storage
If you want to create garage space, there’s no need for you to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on a storage system – you can make one yourself! And the best part? You can customize it, so that it suits your needs perfectly.
For instance, you can add shelves, and use them to store various items. This way, the floor can be utilized for bigger items, such as sports equipment, bikes, lawnmower, and so on. You can also add some nails to the side of one of the shelves, and drill holes into the handles of your tools – you’ll create a storage solution for long-handled tools, like shovels or rakes.
Just remember the ground is never a good place to store anything because the floor can become damp. Off the ground storage is optimal when possible.
Add Jars Under the Shelves
If you use your garage for DIY projects, or simply have some small items lying around, such as nails or screws, then you probably know how hard it is to find them when you need them the most – it’s like they disappear the moment you need them. The perfect solution is to add shelves that will speed up your efforts to organize your garage.
Once you have created your wall storage system, you can put the bottom of the shelves to use by attaching the lids of small jars to it. Just fill the jars up with the small items you want to keep organized, and screw them onto the lids. Not only will you be able to find them whenever you need them, but you will also save some space on the shelves that you can use for other things.
Consider a Garage Addition
When you desperately need to have more space in your garage, but every inch of it is already occupied, building an add-on can be a lifesaver. While it is probably the most challenging DIY project out of all the ones we have mentioned in this article, it is also the one that will make the biggest difference.
The most important part of this project is making sure that everything is done in accordance with building codes. Garage additions usually require you to obtain a permit, so before you start building, get in touch with your local building department to find out how you should go about it. Also, keep in mind that if you don’t feel comfortable doing a part of the project by yourself, don’t hesitate to ask a professional for help.
There are plenty of instructions on how to build an add-on online, all of which might require different quantities of materials, depending on how big the addition should be. Here’s one that we believe to be quite helpful.
Stain the Concrete Floor
If you use your garage for parking the car, it might be hard to do anything with the floor – after all, plenty of materials are not suitable for it, as they might simply break under the car’s weight. However, we found a nice and rather affordable solution.
If you have a concrete floor, you can stain it! There are plenty of shades available, so you can choose the one you believe suits the rest of your garage the best. Staining is very easy to do (even though you might need to do a few layers), and the stains can be found at every hardware store in an affordable price range.
Final Tips for Organizing Your Garage
Your garage may be the most cluttered space on Earth, but do not worry, that is not something a little DIYing can’t fix. All you need is a desire to change and some materials – and maybe our instructions. Not all of the DIY ideas listed in this article are equally easy to finish, but there is a high chance that one of your neighbors knows quite a bit about such projects and is willing to help – it certainly doesn’t hurt to ask. You can also use the Internet to find easy to follow examples on how to organize your garage if you are stuck for ideas.
Still, most of the examples should not be too challenging, even for people without too much experience with similar projects. Sure, you will certainly need to put in some effort, but think of the convenience provided by rolling carts, an organized storage space, or a work table. If your tools are hard to find, put them in a handmade toolbox, and if you lack coziness, consider hanging some baskets from the ceiling. Whatever you decide to do, we hope that our article was helpful. Good luck!
If you found these tips on how to organize your garage helpful, please share the article so more consumers can benefit from the sage advice.
Park City Homes For SaleFebruary 13, 2012 at 6:12 pm
Very well written article Kevin. Garage space is typically where everyone throws the junk, but should be kept up nicely, especially when trying to sell your home.
3 Response Comments
We have good intentions but it’s often easier to keep something in the garage instead of going ahead and getting rid of it.
Very well written article Kevin. Garage space is typically where everyone throws the junk, but should be kept up nicely, especially when trying to sell your home.
So very true PC. Thanks for the comments. 😉