Many of us have the best intentions for keeping common spaces in our homes, like our garage, clean and organized. However, busy schedules throughout the year sometimes keep us from staying on top of that goal. Organizing your garage isn’t a one-size-fits-all project, so here are some of the best garage storage ideas. Check out these tips to find ways to make your garage more organized and better to use.
Get Prepared
“One of the biggest mistakes people make, and one that can be prevented with planning, is not having the right storage items,” said Jule Eller, Director of Trend and Style at Lowe’s. “It’s easy to throw unlike items into a large bin just to get the mess out of the way, but that ends up being frustrating later when you are searching for a specific item. Arrange your boxes, baskets and trash bags beforehand and come up with a system to put like items together.”
When garage cleanup day has arrived, make sure you have enough:
- Trash bags and cans
- Basic cleaning supplies
- Empty boxes for collecting items for donation
- Plastic containers in a variety of sizes for storage
Establish a Storage System
Plastic storage bins are one of the great garage storage systems to separate and organize your equipment by sport or season. Unfortunately, they usually get stacked against a wall somewhere, which makes getting to the bottom bins difficult, especially for your household’s littlest teammates. Luckily, a permanent DIY garage solution is only a weekend away with easy-to-build storage towers that are an attractive and ingenious way to make organizing your garage so much easier. Consider different color bins for each sport or type of tool to make finding what you need a breeze, and utilize the sides of the wooden frame for wall-mounted accessory items such as fishing rod holders or utility hooks for lightweight equipment.
Outdoor Gear & Sports Equipment
Speaking of fishing rods, we all get sick and tired of our fishing rods getting tangled, so we came up with this easy fishing rod organizer. All you need is a length of 3-in.-diameter PVC pipe and a foam swimming pool noodle for this DIY garage storage system. Drill 1-in. holes spaced every 4 in. in the PVC pipe. Use a utility knife to cut slits in the foam noodle, spacing them 4 in. apart. Line up the pool noodle on the wall so that at least two of the slits sit over studs. Pull those slits apart, slide in a fender washer, and screw the noodle to the wall with 2-in. screws. Then screw the PVC pipe to the wall beneath it at a comfortable height and insert your fishing rods. Look Ma, no more tangles!
Shelving
Who couldn’t use a few more shelves in the garage? You probably already have shelves in the obvious spots, but what about in the corners? This nifty corner shelf unit takes advantage of existing studs, and it’s fast, easy and cheap. And it’s great for can storage ideas. Use scrap plywood or oriented strand board to make shelves that fit snugly between the corner studs and support them with 1×1 cleats. These corner shelves are perfect for storing smaller items such as glues, oils, waxes and polishes, which get lost on larger shelves.
