Strategies for Effective Garage Storage Solutions

 

A garage is often a space that becomes cluttered and disorganised over time. From tools and sports equipment to gardening supplies and seasonal decorations, the garage tends to accumulate a wide array of items. However, with effective garage storage solutions, you can transform your cluttered space into an organised and functional area. 

In this article, we will explore strategies for achieving efficient garage storage solutions, including garage shelving, cabinets, overhead storage, wall-mounted systems, and storage containers.

Assessing Your Garage Storage Needs

Before diving into the various garage storage solutions available, it’s important to assess your garage storage needs. Begin by taking inventory of all the items in your garage. Categorise them into groups such as tools, sporting equipment, automotive supplies, and seasonal items. This step will help you understand the types of garage storage systems required and the amount of space you need to allocate for each category.

Garage Storage Solutions

1. Garage Shelving and Cabinets

Garage shelving and cabinets are fundamental components of garage organisation. They provide convenient storage space for a wide range of items, from small tools to larger equipment. When choosing the right shelving and cabinets, consider factors such as durability, weight capacity, and adjustability.

Types of Garage Shelving and Cabinets

There are various types of shelving and cabinets available, including freestanding units, wall-mounted systems, and modular options. Freestanding units are versatile and can be moved around the garage as needed. Wall-mounted systems maximise floor space and keep items off the ground, while modular options such as metal shelves are customisable and can hold heavier items.

Tips for Choosing the Right Shelving and Cabinets

To organise your drawers effectively, along with choosing the right garage shelving and cabinets, it is important to assess the weight and size of the items you need to store. Opt for heavy-duty materials like steel or industrial-grade plastic for durability. Adjustable shelves provide flexibility for storing items of different heights.

2. Overhead Garage Storage

Utilising overhead space is an excellent strategy for maximising storage in your garage. Overhead garage storage systems typically consist of racks or platforms suspended from the ceiling. They are ideal for storing bulky and seasonal items that are used less frequently.

Advantages of Overhead Storage and Installation Tips

One of the major advantages of overhead storage is that it keeps the floor area clear, providing more room for your cars or other activities. When installing overhead storage, ensure that the system is securely mounted to the ceiling joists or rafters. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for weight limits and proper installation.

3. Wall-Mounted Garage Storage Systems

Wall-mounted garage storage systems are an efficient way to optimise wall space and keep your garage organised. They often include a combination of hooks, racks, and specialised holders for various items. 

Types of Wall-Mounted Systems

Common types of wall-mounted systems include slat walls, pegboards, and track systems. Slat walls consist of horizontal panels with evenly spaced slots where hooks and shelves can be attached. Pegboards feature a series of evenly spaced holes that allow for the insertion of hooks or brackets. Track systems use a track mounted on the wall, allowing for the adjustment and placement of various storage accessories.

Tips for Maximising Wall Space

To maximise wall space, plan the layout of your wall-mounted storage system strategically. Place frequently used items within easy reach and organise similar items together. Use different accessories such as hooks, baskets, and tool holders to accommodate various items.

4. Storage Containers and Bins

Storage containers and bins are essential for keeping smaller items organised and protected from dust, insects, and moisture. They are particularly useful for items that are not frequently accessed, such as holiday decorations or seasonal clothing.

Choosing the Right Containers and Bins

When choosing the right containers and bins, opt for sturdy, stackable options with tight-fitting lids. Transparent containers allow contents to be visible, making it simpler to locate specific items. Labelling the containers further enhances your garage organisation and simplifies retrieval.

Organising Tips for Containers and Bins

Group similar items together and store them in labelled containers. For example, keep automotive supplies in one container, gardening tools in another, and so on. Stack the containers to save space, with the most frequently accessed items at the top.

Join Bonnie and Katherine as they engage in an insightful conversation about effective garage organisation:

ABC Radio – Garages

Transcript

Katherine:

Right now, Bonnie Black, Little Miss Organised is with you, and we’re going to be talking about Garages. Bonnie, Good day.

Bonnie:

Hi, Kat.

Katherine:

Now, I’m so glad that we are talking about how to organise garages, because it’s a huge problem at my place. We moved into our house a couple of years ago now, and one of the first things we said when we moved was, oh, the storage space is fantastic. And we promptly went about filling it up. Now, I don’t even know what’s in half of the boxes that still remain in our garage unopened from the move. And I guess that’s probably a pretty common scenario, isn’t it?

Bonnie:

Yes. You’re definitely not alone. The amount of people who move house and have all these boxes that I’ll deal with them later and later never comes, and then seven years later, you think, oh, it’s time to move again. Oh, there’s those boxes. What’s in there, again?

Katherine:

If you’ve got a question for Bonnie, by the way, if you’d like some help getting organised, please give her a call. Give me a call. We’re here to take your call. 1300-222-612. That’s 1300-222 -612. Tell me about the state of your garage. Is it a mess? What would you like help with? And if you’ve actually figured out a neat way of neatening up your car space, well, let us know. You can text us as well 0467-922-612. Or you can use our social media. Check us out on Facebook, ABC Brisbane, or via the Twitter handle @ABC Brisbane. So, Bonnie, let’s begin the garage. It’s a disaster. Where do I begin? 

Bonnie:

So, for most people, when their house is a little bit messy and disorganised, they always seem to start with the garage, which is like, the worst project you could possibly start with.

Katherine:

Okay, and why is that? Because it’s so big?

Bonnie:

Yes, because it’s huge. And it’s not a space that we use everything in it every day. Like a kitchen, for example, you’re cooking in it 3, 4, 5, 6 times a day. So, you need that space to be organised. And when it is organised, it makes your whole day go more smoothly. Whereas a garage, if you can’t even fit your car in there, you might only be using it for storage, so it doesn’t really impact you on a daily basis as much. And it is such a mammoth task to do the garage. I mean, people just start pulling everything out, and they lay it all out over the lawn, and then they think, oh, my goodness, I can’t be bothered doing this, and they just shove it all back in, and it just gets even worse.

So, you’ve got to have a real plan of attack for the garage and make sure that you’re well hydrated. You’ve had a good night’s sleep that you start early in the morning. There’s no distractions that you’ve got someone to help you if possible. Because there’s a lot of heavy stuff that we keep in our garages, so you really have to not just do it on a whim. A garage needs a plan of attack.

Katherine:

Okay, so you’ve done your garage audit, you’ve taken a survey of stuff that you can see at least in that garage, and you’ve phoned a friend to come and help out. How do you go about though deciding? Because as you said, a lot of the stuff in there isn’t stuff you use all the time, but you keep because just maybe. 

Bonnie:

Yeah. One day. 

Katherine:

How do you decide whether you ditch it or you keep it?

Bonnie:

That can be a really tough question. It really comes down to what your goals and your ideals are for your life and your family’s life. So, if you used to water ski, but you haven’t done that for five years and you’ve got an injury that’s preventing you from doing it again, maybe it’s time that the water skis go, that kind of thing. So, if it’s stuff that you’re not using anymore and you’re not seeing yourself being able to use it within the next twelve months, two years, often that stuff can really go.

We tend to keep a lot of toys for our kids from their younger years as well because we remember them fondly playing with it. No, they might want to pick it up again. And people really need to distinguish the difference between what’s a five minute toy that’s only going to be played with for five minutes and what’s something that’s truly valuable that the kids will get a lot of enjoyment out. So there’s some of the things that we tend to keep. If you’ve been a renovator, we’re renovating at the moment, and our garage is actually being renovated, turned into a garage from a carport.

Katherine:

Okay.

Bonnie:

So, I am living this as we speak. And the stuff that you keep from renovation projects is just insane. The paintbrushes and the paint. All the stuff that comes with any sort of Renault project that you just might need again one day. Like my husband was doing our plastering and we’ve still got all the plastering tools and I promise you he will not be plastering again. That was a nightmare.

Katherine:

Yeah. My husband has a lot of bits and pieces, odds and ends, tools and things. I swear they’re like doubled up in there because as opposed to checking what we’ve already got, we are probably both guilty of just buying something brand new and then you just throw it in the heap in the garage and create an even bigger problem for yourself. 1300-222-612, if you’ve got a question for Bonnie Black, Little Miss Organised, if you are trying to organise your garage and you’re coming up against all sorts of strife, or if you’ve got an awesome garage cleaning strategy you’d like to share? 1300-222-612.

So, then, Bonnie, we’ve figured out that we’ve got to get rid of some of the stuff we’ve got duplicates of or what we’re never going to use again. We still need to store things in our garage, though, don’t we? Like our garage is only supposed to be for your cars. Really?

Bonnie:

Look, I think because the culture has changed, the way we use our spaces has changed. So, originally, a lot of Queensland houses just had open carports or they just parked out in the open air, and then the carports became garages. And then all of a sudden garages became about more than just cars. It was a place to store the tools and the gardening and all that kind of thing. So, that sort of stuff’s fine, and it’s all very useful. It’s when we start storing ten boxes of Christmas decorations, when we only need two, and lots of camping gear when we only need a couple of things out of it, all those kinds of things that, oh, we’ve got the space in the garage, we’ll just store it.

But, eventually what we end up doing is putting so much storage stuff into the garage that our cars don’t fit. And two out of three homes in Australia will not actually be able to fit both their cars. A double garage will not fit both their cars because there’s so much storage stuff in there. So this is kind of becoming a bit of a problem when our cars that might be worth 20,000, 30,000 plus are being parked outside.

Katherine:

For the sake of the blinking Christmas deco.

Bonnie:

Exactly.

Katherine:

Yeah. Okay, I see where you’re coming from. 1300-222-612 is the number to call if you’ve got a question for Little Miss Organised, Bonnie Black. G’day Gay from 9 Mile Creek. How are you going?

Gay:

I’m well. How are you this lovely afternoon?

Katherine:

Yeah, not too shabby, thanks. I’ll be a lot better once I can figure out how to get my garage organised. What’s your story, Gay?

Gay:

Well, my husband’s super organised in his garage, and he’s actually put a mezzanine in over his workbench work area. So, all the bits of wood and all the stuff that you don’t use a lot, that gets in the way, he just puts up in his mezzanine.

Bonnie:

That’s a great idea.

Katherine:

That’s really smart. And so with that mezzanine, then, Gay, have you got what’s up there? The wood and boxes and tools and that kind of thing?

Gay:

Yeah, wood boxes, tools like winter clothes that we don’t use in summer, go in plastic boxes, bring them down when we need them.

Katherine:

Oh, smart. And see, you say plastic boxes. That’s the other thing about getting organised, to be able to see the contents of the blocks.

Gay:

And he’s actually made it so he can get up in the middle of it as well. In the middle, so he can see right around it. It’s excellent.

Katherine:

You got yourself one handy husband there.

Gay:

I have.

Katherine:

I’m just curious, how did he actually go about making it? Is he a builder? Did he have a kit? How did he figure it out?

Gay:

No, he’s just one of those people that can actually turn a hand and build stuff and do anything like that. He’s just taught himself over the years.

Katherine:

He’s a keeper, as they say.

Gay:

Very much so.

Katherine:

Good on you, Gay from 9 Mile Creek. Thanks for your call. 1300-222-612. If you’ve got a smart space saving strategy like Gay’s Husband from 9 Mile Creek, if you’re looking at creating more space for your cars in your garage, Bonnie just coming back to other strategies for storage in the garage. Gay’s husband’s made a mezzanine level. What do you suggest? Shelves? Bookcases? What are some other handy ways we can go about maximising the space in our garage?

Bonnie:

A lot of people tend to put their old pine furniture into the garage, which is perfectly fine as long as it’s usable and it’s practical. What tends to clutter up garages most, though, is when we just put all the excess furniture that we’re no longer using in the house in there, and we just kind of use that as our storage. So, one of the best investments you can make for your garage and for your property is to actually invest in some proper heavy duty shelving.

So, whether that’s through a company who will come in and put in all the shelving for you and do all the hooks in the places that you want, or whether that’s through going to your local garden store and actually finding some heavy duty shelving there, but uniform shelving in any space is going to be the most effective way of maximising the space, because it’s going to look the best. It’s all going to be level. You’re going to have the most flexibility in what you do with that kind of shelving.

Cupboards are great for hiding things, but in a garage you often need more open access. If you have cupboards and need to move cars to open the doors, this impedes the practicality. Open shelving is probably a better preference for garage storage since it allows easy access without having to shuffle vehicles around.

And then clear boxes, as you say, so that you can see what’s in them, make sure that they’re labelled, make sure that there’s no cracks in the lids or in the tubs themselves, because then you get cockroaches and things getting into the contents. Cardboard boxes tend to degrade after a few years, the tape seems to fall away and little creepy crawlies seem to get into things a lot more easily. So, cardboard boxes are definitely a no, no.

Katherine:

Okay, noted. Excellent. Well, Bonnie Black, thank you so much for helping us organise our garages. One final tip?

Bonnie:

Final tip is if you are going to get your garage organised, do it a section at a time. So, one wall at a time, lay it all out on the floor, go through and make your decisions. Put it all back, and then move on to the next section.

Katherine:

Okay, well, I’m going to give it a crack. Maybe not this weekend, maybe some other time, but sometime soon. Bonnie Black at littlemissorganised.com.au. Thank you so much.

Bonnie:

Thanks, Kat.

Conclusion

Effective garage storage solutions are important for creating an organised and functional space. By assessing your storage needs and implementing organisation ideas such as garage shelving, cabinets, overhead storage, wall-mounted systems, and storage containers, you can transform your cluttered garage into a well-organised space. 

Remember to choose storage options that meet your requirements and optimise the available space. With these strategies in place, you’ll enjoy the benefits of a neat and easily accessible garage, suitable for parking your cars and retrieving valuable items.

If you need help getting your garage organised, contact Little Miss Organised. Our team of experts can provide professional cleaning and organisation services to declutter your space and implement customised storage solutions. With Little Miss Organised, you can achieve the garage of your dreams – tidy, efficient and optimised for easy access. Contact them today to get started on your garage makeover.

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