15 Tips and Tricks for Organizing Your Garage
Even though the typical garage is spacious, a majority of homeowners take that space for granted. Consequently, you might have allowed stacks of boxes to accumulate in your garage over time. However, there are many ways to store more in your garage and also create more space in which to move around.
Where to Start: 10 Tips for Organizing Your Garage
The following tips for organizing garage space more efficiently range from simple filing methods to creative uses of overhead space. Also included are tips for cleaning garage floors and painting or decorating the walls to make the space more attractive.
Whether your garage is large or small, you can maximize that space with one or more of the following cool organization tricks for garage areas.
1. Sort the Items
Organize the items in your garage by category. Chances are good there are some items that you pull from your garage periodically and other items that you no longer use but still wish to keep. You probably have a number of items that could either be donated or discarded, too. In terms of purpose and necessity, the items in your garage could be sorted as follows:
- Regular: Tools, sporting equipment
- Seasonal: Christmas decorations, fans, wine coolers
- Sentimental: Old photo albums, memorabilia, family heirlooms
- Outdated: Outgrown clothing, old appliances
Once you determine which category each item in your garage falls into, make shelves or reserve cabinets for items in the first three categories. Set aside the outdated items and donate them to the nearest Salvation Army drop-off location.
2. Paint the Garage Walls
Do something to make the interior walls of your garage more visually appealing. If you paint the walls a striking color or adorn them with an eye-fetching wallpaper, you will be less inclined to allow items to pile up going forward. At the same time, you will be more likely to notice the walls each time you enter the garage and this will make any future pileups seem like more of an aberration.
For example, a pink or silver garage wall would be hard to ignore. The stark contrast of stacked boxes against such a wall would likely impel you to keep items picked up on a more proactive basis. A wall bedecked with checker-print wallpaper could have a similar positive effect.
In essence, the space inside a garage is unlikely to be treated as an afterthought when the space itself holds its own allure.
3. Add and Optimize Storage Options
Once you divide items by categories of need, place each grouping closest to where the items in question need to be at the time that you use them. For example, outdoor items such as your hose, rake and lawnmower should be located near the garage door. Holiday decorations, on the other hand, should be boxed together on a shelf or in a cabinet near the interior door to your living quarters.
Granted, you do not want to line your garage walls with too many shelves or cabinets, as doing so would limit space for vehicles. Ultimately, the best way to maintain a tidy garage is to organize the things that you do need into specific storage spaces and let go of items you no longer need.
4. Get Combination Storage
One of the easier ways to organize the items you store in your garage is to buy a multi-purpose storage unit with horizontal as well as vertical storage options. A storage unit equipped with sliding doors could help you optimize space even in a one-car garage.
In the horizontal half, you could store tool boxes on the bottom shelf, memorabilia boxes on the second shelf and seasonal decorations on the top shelf. Meanwhile, the vertical half could be used to store standing equipment like skis, golf clubs, a rake and a shovel.
5. Optimize Overhead Space
In garages as well as living quarters, an often-overlooked space-saving option is the space above your head. If your garage has a high ceiling, there is plenty of storage potential that could be harnessed with the addition of overhead storage units.
Along the wall, you could stack a tall column of shelves or cabinets and keep a ladder close by for when you need to access the top shelves. On the upper back wall of your garage, you could even attach a set of cabinets along the space between the interior door and ceiling.
6. Use Sporting Items as Wall Hangings
Some of the items stored in your garage could likely be used to liven up the walls. For example, sporting items can serve as visual props and reminders of your favorite sport. Surfboards are a classic example of a sporting item that has visual as well as functional appeal. On the days and months when you’re not out surfing, store the boards vertically with fasteners against the wall for all to see.
7. Turn Discarded Furnishings Into Storage
If you have an old, long-disused drawer set under those boxes of old magazines and trophies in your garage, those drawers could perhaps be used to empty out those boxes. Instead of having boxes of old miscellanea stacked up on one another, each box could be unloaded into a separate drawer. On top of the drawers, you could place a set of shelves to organize the items you use more regularly, such as tools and bicycle helmets.
8. Liven Up the Garage Floor
There are many ways to optimize the storage space and revitalize the walls in your garage, but have you considered the garage floor? Truth be told, most people pay little mind to the garage floor, and understandably so. Most garage floors are made of grey concrete and are often tracked with dirt and stained with drops of oil. The thing is, a garage floor does not have to be so bland.
There are several things you can do to make a garage floor more aesthetically pleasing. The two most popular options are tiles and polymer coating, which make garages livelier and dirt less noticeable. The presence of tiles or a shiny coat of polymer also serve as reminders to take the mop out for a stroll on your garage floor from time to time.
9. Choose Fancy Cabinets
The cabinets that you place in your garage for storage purposes do not need to be bland-looking and strictly functional. Storage cabinets can actually be classy and visually striking. Instead of generic particleboard cabinets, go for something made from a nice finished wood. For added safety, have the cabinets treated with a fire-resistant polymer
10. Make Better Use of Space
Whether or not you opt to use overhead space for storage, the organization of your garage could be a whole lot neater with off-ground storage units. Attach a set of cabinets to your garage wall with a foot or two of clearance space underneath. This will make the task of floor cleaning a whole lot easier and also leave space clear for items that must be stored separately, such as oil cans and gas tanks.
Create Your Dream Garage: 5 Tricks for an Organized Garage
Your garage does not have to serve as a simple storage area for occasional-use belongings and your vehicles. On the contrary: a garage could serve as an additional part of your living quarters. After all, when you need to park your vehicle, there’s always the driveway.
Before we continue with some ideas about how to turn your garage into a comfortable and capable part of your larger home, it’s worth noting that insulated garage doors are definitely your friend if you want the best room-upgrade experience possible. When compared with retrofitted DIY-insulation solutions or drafty old doors that probably needed maintenance a decade ago, new insulated garage doors deliver truly outstanding energy savings and aesthetic appeal. New doors can upgrade your garage space to make this the most welcoming room possible.
With that in mind, the following five ideas represent just a fraction of how your garage could be transformed into a dream space.
1. Home Office
A garage could provide optimal space in which to get your work done — and the work in question is not limited to the kind you perform on your car. With your driveway as the new designated parking space, the garage could become your home office.
If you work from home, the garage could provide just enough indoor amenities for a work space but without the distracting comforts of your living room. With a tiled or polymer-coated floor and painted, subtly decorated walls, a desk and a set of cabinets, your garage could have the atmosphere of an office space — one that you can arrive at within seconds of your morning coffee.
Homeowners generally see the garage as separate from a living space, which can be one of the greatest psychological advantages of using your garage as a home office. Effectively, the work day begins and ends the moment you pass through that door between your garage and living quarters. After all, it’s not as if you would be inclined to slack off inside your garage for eight straight hours.
2. Music Room
A garage could provide ample space to conduct band rehearsals or musical recordings. Perhaps you head a local rock or jazz combo? Or perhaps you have a teenage son or daughter who plays electrified musical instruments? The garage can serve as the perfect setting for such activities. The space can even be sound-insulated to stop noise from traveling to your living quarters or to neighboring households.
One of the most effective ways to keep the noise of amplified instruments contained to a rehearsal space is to build a “room within a room.” In your garage, this would entail the construction of an inner four-wall structure.
3. Art Studio
If painting has long been your hobby, a larger workspace could allow you to take the pastime more seriously. The garage could offer ample space for canvases, painting supplies, a chair and an easel. Furthermore, the walls in your garage could be used to showcase your finished works.
To make this transformation, paint the garage walls a neutral color, tile the floor and organize your supplies in a neat filing cabinet. Once you feel confident enough in your body of work, you could invite local art enthusiasts to see the work exhibited in your garage-turned-art studio.
4. Party Room
If you host parties at your residence, the garage is a good place to keep the attendees entertained. You could set up a cocktail booth in one corner, a set of DJ turntables in another corner and bedeck the walls and ceiling with party lights. Best of all, any mess your guests make will be confined to the garage area. No more dirty glasses or strewn confetti throughout your living room after you host the next big event!
5. Children’s Playroom
If properly transformed, the garage area could be the perfect space for children to play. Of course, you would need the area clear of tools, flammable materials or any supplies typically stored in a garage — all should be replaced with building blocks, stuffed animals and other toys and props for children.
The floors should be covered over with a soft material such as foam mats or thick carpets. The walls should be painted in bright colors, perhaps with cartoon characters or depictions of Disney-like castles, fairies and giant mushrooms. The main attraction could be a mini playground set.
Redesign and Create Living Space in Your Garage With EXL Garage Doors
There are many ways you can organize a garage and maximize its space capacity. You could even transform a garage at the expense of its function as a storage space for your vehicles.
Something that has become popular in the Middle TN area is turning garages into a luxury space for car maintenance, as well as still having the garage as parking space. This is done using an elevation setup that can lift your vehicle whenever you have it parked in the garage. Known in luxury home circles as the “tricked-out garage,” the concept has spread throughout Middle TN, and surrounding communities courtesy of EXL Garage Doors.
Basically, whenever you pull into your driveway, you press a remote button to open the garage door as usual. Once you’ve parked and engage the lift, your garage becomes any car fanatic’s dream.
The tricked-out garage has become popular among luxury homeowners in Nashville, Franklin and Gallatin thanks to EXL Garage Doors. Founded in 2017 by 23-year garage-door industry veteran Eugene Crumpton, EXL has brought tricked-out garage designs and other innovations to Tennessee homeowners.
As you can imagine, the construction of a tricked-out garage is not a DIY undertaking. It takes a dedicated team of trained professionals to plot out the installation of the car lift in your garage.
Trust EXL Garage Doors With Your Next Project
With three decades of experience, Eugene Crumpton has long specialized in large projects — the kind that most home-garage companies would never attempt. With the services of EXL, you could have a radically transformed garage space in which your vehicles can easily move when not in use. As part of the remodel, you can also have a fancy new Clopay® garage door installed.
The appeal of Clopay® doors is their function and design: many options are available. Clopay® envisions, designs and manufactures a wide variety of garage doors to suit classical architecture and even the most modern new construction alike. Your door can become a timeless-looking aspect of your home’s curb appeal, or give you a utilitarian edginess should you desire it. The sense of cohesiveness and style these doors can bring to your home can also tie your organization efforts together — and make your garage space feel like an extended, useful part of your home.
As a homeowner, you deserve to get the most from your garage space. To learn more about how an organized garage could transform your property and to find out more garage tricks, contact EXL Garage Doors today.