Garages are an extension of our homes and deserve to be organized spaces too.
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We’re back for week 2 of the $100 room challenge! Last week I introduced the space I’m tackling, our garage floor. I know that it’s not as sexy as a whole room makeover, but I wanted to explain its importance. As an added bonus I’m sharing some tips and tricks to get your garage organized so everyone knows where everything is, and where everything goes when they’re done.
How did we get here?
When I shared the “before” picture of my space, I should have prefaced it with it’s more of a “during” before picture. Truth be told, I’ve been working on getting our garage together for the past three years. It’s taken me that long because of ALL the projects we were doing. I would no sooner get it all cleaned up, we would turn around to do another project, and it turned out to be an absolute mess. Part of the reasoning, we didn’t have a great system or we weren’t using what we already had to it’s fullest potential.
Let me show you what I did.
Get Vertical
I’ve found that it’s best to get things off of the floor by utilizing the wall space and my absolute favorite is the Rubbermaid Fast Track System.
Once the Rubbermaid Fast Track is installed, you can arrange the various hooks any way that you would like. We’ve adjusted this space as our needs have changed or our tools have evolved.
Look Up
Don’t forget about the space above you, especially the space above the garage door.
This space is perfect for the decor or other storage items you need up out of the way and items you may not need as often. In this instance, bulky holiday decor that won’t fit into a storage container.
Invest in Quality Pieces
My poor work area was pieced together over the years with left over items I thought would be perfect. In all actuality they didn’t help at all and often made my workspace feel cluttered.
An old desk, drawers from a bathroom remodel, and a cabinet once used in my laundry room made up my workshop. While I felt I was being resourceful, I couldn’t help but hate working in this space.
Instead, I invested in this amazing Husky Mobile Workbench that consolidated everything I was currently using. One day I’ll show you the full reveal of what this space turned into. The best part about this piece aside from the massive amount of storage, it’s on wheels so I can easily move it around my shop.
Get creative
One of my favorite parts of organizing is coming up with new ways to use things other than their intended purpose. Remember when I showed you the awkward space in our garage?
The basket holding the lacrosse cleats is actually a garden hose holder you attach to the outside of your home. You can find something similar here.
Chemical and Paint
We try very hard not to keep a lot of unnecessary chemicals in our garage. I also try to not store paint in our garage either. Any leftover paint is poured into glass mason jars, labeled, and kept in an empty cabinet in our kitchen. You can read all about paint storage here. Thankfully we have a hazardous waste collection site close to our house we take any chemicals or paint we’re not going to use to be disposed of properly.
Just like any other room in our home, I want our garage to be a functional space for our entire family. Even though this space is primarily where I do a lot of woodwork and projects, it’s also a space for all sporting equipment, lawn equipment etc. Needless to say I felt like the garage floor needed some love to keep this space looking good and functioning wonderfully too.
Only keep what you need
Garages have a tendency to be a dumping ground. (Ask me how I know. 🙂 ) It’s important to resist the temptation just to store things for one day. After all, it’s taking up very valuable space.
Come back next week when I share all about the process of getting this floor looking its best!
As always, don’t forget to check the other amazing bloggers to see where they are in their spaces too.
XOXO,
Brooke
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We totally need to do this to our garage but nothing will be done until it’s late fall. We still have 99 degree days here and no way no how am I getting out there with the mosquito’s either. You make it look easy. Makes we actually want to clean and organize ours!
Thank you Cindy!! I got really really lucky with most of the days I worked on this project. The first day it was awful!!