Garage Organization

Garages have such great potential to be the most fun space at your house to organize. I think so, anyway! Regardless of the size of your garage or the amount of things contained in the area, you have so many options to maximize the space in this area.

Tools and miscellaneous items that are cluttering the floor, workbenches or surfaces need to find a home. One thing to consider with tools is that they need to be easily accessible. It drives me crazy when I have to go digging through a tool box or drawer to find the screwdriver I am looking for, so remember to maximize accessibility as well as space. The options for creating an organized tool area are never ending: purchase a tool box; purchase a stackable tool drawer cabinet, such as a Craftsman 10-drawer combo; utilize current drawer space in the garage; use nails or hooks in the wall to mount your tools and hang your tool belt from; build shelves to display tools and get them out of the way; use a magnetic wall panel to hang your tools from; buy or build a set of cupboards; mount baskets from exposed beams or the wall itself; obtain a small drawer storage kit for smaller parts, a larger drawer storage container for larger items or tools, or a storage cubbie for larger tools like saws or drills. The organizational "tools" are endless. Visit your local hardware store to shop for these items. Please note that you can build many of these items! Organizing your space does NOT mean you have to spend a fortune.



If your garage is small or if you are looking to maximize your space in an effective way, consider buying or building shelves or another surface table, elevated platforms or hanging a piece of plywood from the rafters. These options allow you to use the vertical space of the garage, as opposed to storing everything on the floor. A unit of large drawers can be very effective for storing numerous things, such as bird seed, your children's hats and mittens, tools, car washing cleaners and other cleaning supplies, or your children's smaller outdoor toys. Other alternatives to drawers are stackable bins, buckets or plastic tubs.



Kids toys can be quite cumbersome, especially if they don't belong in a specific spot. Consider mounting hooks on the wall or from the ceiling to hang your family's bicycles, sleds or jump ropes. Utilize shelving units, stackable bins, buckets or plastic tubs for easy access to the kids' outdoor toys and games. Target and the Container Store sell countless storage containers that will perfectly suit your needs and maximize your space in the garage.

Creating zones in your garage can be helpful as well. If you have a space that is full of random items, I would suggest zoning off the garage. Have a kids zone, a tool zone, a car zone and a storage zone. This way, you can focus on maximizing the space of the entire garage, but narrow in the focus to target the specifics of each zone to better suit your needs.