These days, your garage is more than just a place to park your car. A garage can also be a home gym, a crafting station, a DIY workshop, a game room, a playroom, and of course, storage shed. Garages often house tools, garden equipment, sports gear, holiday decorations, paint cans, pool supplies, camping gear, pet supplies, bicycles, tricycles, kayaks, and Power Wheels, in addition to your car – if there’s room for it.
Instead of being a functional, multi-purpose extension of your home, the garage often ends up a disorganized mess – which results in unnecessary stress. That is not how you want to feel every time you pull into your garage. So, we’ve gathered our expert garage organizations tips n to help you organize your space.
Stress-Free Garage Organization Tips for Every Garage Owner
Decide How You Want to Use Your Garage
Before you can start organizing your garage, you have to decide how you want to use your garage. Parking your car? That’s a no-brainer. Think about what other functions you want your garage to serve. Do you need storage space? A work area? A place for your kids to play?
Once you’ve determined how you want to use your garage, you can then decide how you want the space to be divided up. If you would like to talk about your ideas and explore garage organization options, Garage Designs of St. Louis is happy to provide a free in-home estimate.
Designate a Place for Everything in Your Garage, and Put Everything in Its Place
Organize your garage into designated sections for each purpose you want it to serve. If you do a lot of DIY work in your garage, install a workbench and store all your tools in overhead cabinets. An avid gardener? Set up a potting table with your gardening tools hung nearby. If your garage is the primary way you enter your home, create a mudroom area near your front door to hang coats, collect shoes, and keep often-used items like umbrellas easily accessible.
For garage storage, make sure to group similar items together, so they’re easier to find. For instance, store all your sporting equipment in a set of customized lockers or cabinets labeled by sport or by a family member; hang your lawn care essentials together on heavy-duty hooks near the garage entrance; store kids toys off the floor in easily accessible, kid-friendly bins.
Childrens’ Toy Tip: If your young kids have Power Wheels, tricycles, or Cozy Coupes that they like to ride often, give them their own designated parking spaces in the garage. You can draw parking lines using sidewalk chalk or place kid car–sized rubber mats on the garage floor. That way they can park their vehicles themselves just like mom and dad.
Make Use of Your Garage’s Vertical Storage Space
When organizing your garage, your storage options are not limited to just the floor area. When you make good use of your garage’s vertical space, you can double or even triple your storage space.
Your garage walls are a great place to hang:
- Bicycles
- Rakes, hoes, and shovels
- Ladders
- Lawn chairs
- Golf bags
- Power tools
Installing a slatted wall panel is an easy garage organization trick that will help you maximize the vertical space in your garage. Slatted wall panels give you the flexibility of mounting racks, hooks, and baskets that can be easily repositioned whenever you need to reorganize your space.
Have You Explored Our Premium Storage Solutions Yet?
At Garage Designs, we offer a premier wall-mounted storage system, StoreWALL. Transform your space using this solid-core, tongue and groove panel system to keep your garage in top shape.
Store Little-Used and Seasonal Items Overhead
When organizing a garage, most people overlook one of the most useful storage areas – the ceiling. Overhead garage storage systems provide quick and easy access to those large objects that are only used occasionally or seasonally. For example:
- Artificial Christmas trees
- Snow blowers
- Outdoor holiday decorations
- Kayaks and canoes
- Camping gear
- Go-Karts
You can even install a retractable system that will mechanically lower your stored items from the garage ceiling when needed.
Properly Store Potentially Toxic Materials
If you have kids, grandkids, or pets, it is especially important to take precautions when storing potentially toxic materials. Many people keep paints, pesticides, fertilizer, cleaning supplies, and antifreeze in their garage. These items can be harmful to children or pets if ingested. Make sure to store potentially toxic items and chemicals in their original containers out of reach of children or pets. The best way to organize and store any potentially toxic materials is in a locked cabinet.
When Organizing Your Garage, Opt for a Clean, Uniform Look
Get rid of those random cardboard boxes and ugly plastic storage tubs. Even if you have everything perfectly organized inside them, these mismatched containers will still make your garage look disorganized. Opt for storage solutions with a clean, uniform look. The visual appeal of matching cabinets and neat, tidy walls is an instant stress reducer.
Garage Organization Tips to Improve Your Space
Think of your garage as an extension of your home. The rest of your house is organized, so your garage should be too. Just imagine how great you’ll feel driving into a nice, clean, organized garage.
If you’re ready to tackle that garage organization project but don’t have time to DIY, contact our professional experts at Garage Designs for a free in-home estimate. We’ll evaluate your space, discuss your needs, and create a beautiful, organized garage that you’ll love coming home to.
