It's garage season! What does that mean exactly? Early fall is a great time to clear out your garage space and reset and refresh it before winter hits. You can bring in your summer outdoor furniture and games and rotate in your winter coats and gear. To inspire you, we're sharing a before and after of a garage, we did for a client. The changes were small but significant - you won't believe the transformation!
Transforming a 1-Car Garage
While this garage had more storage in other spaces, we're going to focus on this 1-car garage side first. As you can see in the before photo, they had some good organization going on with boxes on the shelves, but it still needed to be updated.
We wanted to take items off the floor to free up space for a car or outdoor vehicle and tidy up the storage shelves.
BEFORE
Here's What We Did
First, we cleared everything out of the garage and edited it with the client. You won't believe how many items we were able to either toss or donate.
Next, we moved any bulky items like ladders over to the other area of the garage so they could be hung and out of the way (more on that below).
Then, we categorized like items together. We also removed tools from their bulky packaging like toolboxes and chests and took advantage of the peg wall in this space to hang tools.
For the shelves, we used these gray sturdy bins of varying sizes. Of course, we put highly used items closer to arm's reach, with memorabilia and seasonal items up high. We used a great stand to hold golf clubs and golf shoes.
AFTER
Here is a closer look at the tool space. Down below the tools, we used multipurpose bins to group like items together such as extension cords, tape, gardening supplies, and cleaning supplies. We of course labeled every bin so the client could keep track of systems. Bulkier tools and vacuums were placed down below. The client was so happy to have this counter space clear to start working on more projects!
AFTER
Organizing Garage Shelves
Built-in garage shelves can easily get disorganized and chaotic. With a large amount of space, it feels like you can just throw things on shelves and never run out of space. But, it can be messy and stressful, and difficult to find things. Let's look at this transformation.
BEFORE
Like the one-car garage space, we cleared this space out and edited items with the client. We were able to donate or get rid of a lot of things and then categorize the rest. Like the other shelves, we used gray Sterlite bins in all sizes and labeled them with my favorite labeler. The bikes stayed off the ground with this in-wall bike hook stand which freed up room on the garage floor. We placed bulkier items like water jugs, sleds, and camping tarps in groups together and grouped them nicely on the shelves.
AFTER
On the opposite wall, we moved bulky yard items like weed whackers and snow shovels to a hanging rack.
Best Idea Ever
In this particular client's garage, we implemented a genius system that I hope to someday replicate (if room permits). We labeled empty bins that were designated for hiding presents throughout the year. If kids had a birthday coming up, or when our client started shopping for the holidays in August (I'm sure she's not the only one), she now has a place to put gifts as they accrue. They are hidden but still organized. This is such a better solution than shoving future gifts under beds or on the tops of closets and then sometimes forgetting about them...or is that just me?
Are you feeling inspired to reset your garage before fall kicks into gear? I promise if you do it now, you'll be so much happier when the weather really changes.
If resetting a garage seems daunting to you, we can help! Our team of trained professionals can transform your garage into an organized space to carry you throughout all the seasons. Just book a free consultation call with one of our organizers to get started.
Jen is the founder of Reset Your Nest, a Professional Home Organizing business in Utah (Salt Lake City, Park City, Ogden, Logan, Utah County, and St. George), California (Bay Area, Los Gatos, Hillsborough, Atherton, San Jose), Denver, CO, and Phoenix, AZ. She loves creating order and systems out of chaos. Her specialty is finding a way to continue the aesthetic of any home to every cupboard and drawer. She shares her tips and tricks on Instagram @reset_your_nest.
