Home: Garage Reorganization

This past weekend I continued my quest for an organized home. When we moved in about a year and a half ago, I think we just jammed everything in wherever we could. The result is that we've lived in semi-chaos since then. We have trouble knowing where to put certain things, or we have similar things in more than one place. I decided that we needed to fix that this year.

I also wanted to start with projects I knew I could finish in a few days so I'd feel like I'd accomplished something (I love nothing more than crossing something off one of my many lists). After my success with the laundry room, I decided that the garage would be next. Behold, the photo above: an organized garage at last. Let me just say that I'm so glad the garage was painted white before we moved in, because I would have wanted to paint it white. I think it makes it much more of a "room" and it doesn't feel gloomy at all.

I forgot to take a real "before" photo. This one is more "during". All this stuff had lived in the garage and adjoining utility room. Some of it we kept, some went to Goodwill and the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and some went on the curb. Most of which disappeared within 24 hours.

We had several things leaning up against the wall, or hanging precariously on random nails in the wall. I had the idea to take some pegboard that was left here and use it to store tools on the wall. John greatly improved that idea by getting a garage rack system called Gladiator. You install the track on the wall, then add various hooks. Above, we have two lengths of track, with the option of adding more if we want. I totally love getting this stuff up off the floor and in one space.

Here's a closeup of the hooks. They are awesome. It's a much cleaner look than pegboard and also much stronger.

We used to have recycling and items to be donated in two different areas. So I set up a dedicated recycling station. We recycle so much stuff every week that the city gave us an extra bin a few years back (I get a lot of cardboard boxes shipped to me and we cut those down to recycle). John splits up the plastic and paper/cardboard each week. The boxes on top are for future Goodwill donations. Just below them are trays for old ink cartridges and other items that need special recycling.  The doors to the left are the utility room, which will be getting its own makeover down the road. We were able to clear out several things that don't belong in there, though.

Sadly, we moved the left-behind refrigerator that was in the utility room (it was plugged in via an extension cord and we wanted it closer to the outlet) and inadvertently did something to it that caused it to stop cooling. RIP, beer fridge. We will look for a replacement soon. Once you have that second fridge, it's hard to not have it anymore.

On to the next area. We had these racks on the right in the garage already, but I didn't like the way they were organized. We also had some of the kids' outdoor stuff in the utility room, in such a way that they couldn't get to it. So all their stuff is now on these shelves. Please note the bottom two shelves on the right: my painting supplies. It's my favorite part.

I also love the part to the right of the main door. We had no real place to put jackets, umbrellas, the dog's leash, sports shoes and baseball caps. Now we do. I had John add two sets of coat hooks on the wall. I also set up the tall shelving unit (last seen in the laundry room) with blue and green fabric bins to hold scarves, gloves, hats, etc. Now we have a place to grab a jacket--or leave one--that doesn't take up room in the house. This is major. I used to hang my coat on a closet doorknob. The girls' coats wound up in a different place every day, which does not make for smooth school mornings. We have a small coat closet but it's not close to the garage. It's a good place to store coats, but not the ones we are currently using. Now we know where the coats are supposed to live.

One more thing: the dresser on the right was mine when I was a kid. We don't have a spot for it in the house right now, but I think someday it will be Audrey's (it has a matching full-size bed). I have visions of painting it a funky color. That thud you just heard was my mother dropping over in horror from that last sentence.
 

Our favorite part of the whole effort is the work bench we created. These old metal cabinets were in the utility room. I thought they would make a great place to store tools, and to serve as a work surface for the projects I dream up. So I painted them white. I truly think they were the original kitchen cabinets (there's another in the laundry room that I also painted). The girls were just horrified to imagine that these were in the kitchen at one time.

Originally we had talked about different options: buying a work bench, looking for a set of old kitchen cabinets, building something. Ultimately, I'm thrilled we could use what we already had. 

I bolted them together and used oil-based primer first (after spending quite a bit of time scrubbing them clean). Then I painted them Swiss Coffee. One of the handles was broken and I've ordered some new ones. Nothing fancy, of course. It is still a garage. The cabinets had a thick piece of plywood on top of them, which we've decided to keep (we talked about getting a piece of counter cut, similar to what is in the laundry room). Although it needs to be trimmed down and sanded. I'll get to that soon. Still looking for a best friend with serious woodworking tools.

John added a set of shelves above the bench and clipped a work light on them. We haven't really used it yet, but we both love it. We also love how easy it is to walk through the garage now. It's a big room, but now it feels big. And I know where everything is.

We spent a bit more on this area than I thought we would ($20 for coat hooks, $28 for blue and green fabric bins, $60 for track and hooks, $35 for shelving materials and $15 for cabinet handles for a total of $158). I already had the paint for the cabinets and used various containers that I already had.

I know that if I had done this early on, I probably would have tossed those cabinets and bought something new. Now I'm glad I waited and thought things through. I love my garage!