Revamp Your Garage: 20 Effortless DIY Garage Organization Tips
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A recent survey by the National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals (NAPO) found that 50% of homeowners identify their garage as the most disorganized room in their home. A well-organized garage is a homeowner’s secret weapon, turning chaos into a streamlined space that makes your home more valuable and functional.
Using the right organization solutions, your garage can become so much more than a storage area. It can become a workshop, a place for hobbies, or just somewhere where everything has its place. Read on for 20 effective tips to help you reclaim your garage space and enhance its functionality.
Install Pegboards
Pegboards offer one of the most versatile storage solutions for garages, letting you make use of vertical space to keep tools neatly displayed and easily accessible. According to Popular Mechanics, pegboards are both affordable and highly adaptable.
You can easily configure the hooks and bins to hold everything from hammers and wrenches to gardening shears. This kind of visual organization eliminates the frustration of rummaging through drawers or toolboxes to find what you need.
Plus, pegboards can be easily customized to fit any garage size, making them an excellent choice for both small and large spaces.
Use Wall-Mounted Shelves
The beauty of adding wall-mounted shelves is that it can add as much as 30% to your storage capacity, according to Consumer Reports. These shelves supersede using the floor to stack boxes or tools; instead, they allow you to use wall space.
Wall-mounted shelves are ideal for holding bulky items like paint cans, car supplies, or power tools, keeping them off the ground and safely out of the way. When combined with bins and boxes, wall-mounted shelves can also be used to store seasonal decorations or lesser-used items. This keeps everything visible and within reach, reducing the likelihood of clutter building up again.
Label Everything
Labeling is a key factor in keeping your garage organized over time. As organization expert Marie Kondo suggests, “Labeling prevents you from rummaging through every box to find what you need.” Clear labels not only save time but also keep everything consistently organized.
Invest in a quality label maker or use sticky notes and markers to create easily readable tags for all your storage containers. Labeling clear bins on the front and sides can help you see what’s inside, no matter how they are stacked.
Create Overhead Storage
Ceiling-mounted racks offer an often overlooked storage solution. According to Family Handyman, these racks are the best for holding winter decorations, camping gear, or anything else you want to drive out of your storage space.
With the ability to free up as much as 25% of your garage’s floor space, overhead storage can make a significant difference, especially in smaller garages.
The key is to ensure that the items stored above are lightweight and not used regularly. Installing a sturdy rack that supports totes or bins will allow you to safely store items without worrying about cluttering the floor.
Magnetic Tool Holder
Magnetic strips are not just a clever way to store small metal tools like wrenches, screwdrivers, or drill bits—they’re also a highly effective method to keep your most-used tools within easy reach.
According to Better Homes & Gardens, magnetic tool holders eliminate the need for a traditional toolbox, reducing clutter and allowing you to work more efficiently. You can even use magnetic strips to hold smaller hardware, such as nails and screws, so they’re always readily accessible during a project.
Tote Storage System
Large plastic totes are perfect for items that do not frequently need to be accessed. Other totes can be stored using shelving units or ceiling-mounted racks, maximizing vertical space use.
This system is perfect for seasonal items like holiday decorations or camping equipment. Better Homes & Gardens noted that stacking totes on sturdy shelves helps avoid clutter while keeping your garage floor clear for more frequently used items like tools or sporting equipment.
Recycle Old Cabinets
Instead of purchasing new cabinets for your garage storage needs, you can repurpose old kitchen cabinets with reasonable economy and the added benefits of being eco-friendly. Rather than getting rid of these sturdy storage solutions, mount them in the garage for more concealed storage.
For potentially unsightly things, such as paint cans and cleaning supplies, the cabinets give you an excellent place to put them out of sight with the doors closed. This keeps the space looking amazing, even with something out of place, and also means that everything has its home.
Moreover, using recycled materials means having a unique, personalized touch on your garage.
Utilize a Rolling Tool Cart
Garage workshops must have a rolling tool cart so you can easily keep your tools mobile and handy during close quarters of a project. There are all sorts of sizes, and many tool carts also have additional drawers or compartments in which to stash everything running from nails and screws to power tools.
The advantage of a mobile storage solution is that you don’t have to run back and forth to get the tools of the trade; you wheel your tools to where you’re working.
Create a Sports Gear Station
If you have an active family that plays sports, a space for sports equipment is necessary. There are various ways to categorize sports equipment according to balls, helmets, rackets, and other accessories. Large bins, shelves, and wall hooks are one way to go.
According to Good Housekeeping, setting up a designated space for sports gear helps prevent chaos from taking over. Labeling bins or creating zones for different sports makes it easy for family members to put things back where they belong after use, promoting long-term organization.
PVC Pipe Storage for Tools
Long-handled tools like rakes, brooms, and shovels can be stored inexpensively and effectively in PVC pipes. Simply cut PVC pipes into sections and mount them on the garage wall. You can then create custom slots for each tool.
The nice thing about this simple system is that it keeps your tools upright and prevents them from toppling over, which is great for garages that don’t have much space on the floor.
DIY experts at The Spruce say PVC storage solutions are simple to install and accommodate many different tools. They keep your garage nice and orderly and ensure your tools are always easy to access.
Organize Small Hardware in Jars
An eco-friendly way to store small hardware such as screws, nails, bolts, and washers is by reusing old glass jars. Secure the lids of the jars under shelves or on the underside of cabinets, and you’ll have a stylish storage option that is organized and visible.
Better Homes & Gardens recommends this method as it reduces clutter and makes it easy to locate specific hardware when needed. Plus, it’s a great way to repurpose materials that would otherwise be discarded, adding a touch of sustainability to your garage setup.
DIY Workbench with Storage
Any well-organized garage needs a sturdy workbench. Using built-in storage, like shelves or drawers, in your workbench means all your most used tools and materials are never more than an arm’s length away.
This design also enables you to customize the workbench according to your specific needs, including carpentry, car repair, or DIY projects.
According to This Old House, a custom workbench with ample storage can significantly enhance the functionality of your garage by providing a dedicated workspace that’s both practical and organized.
Create a Folding Workbench
However, a folding workbench is the best of both worlds if space is tight. It can be collapsed when not in use to free up space for other things or storage. Folding workbenches can be useful in small garages or multipurpose spaces where flexibility is important.
Many designs are complete with locking mechanisms to make it stable and storage for tools and materials. According to DIY enthusiasts at Family Handyman, this space-saving solution is perfect for those who need a functional workspace but don’t have room for a permanent workbench setup.
Use a Slatwall System
Slatwalls are a customizable, adjustable storage system perfect for keeping garages tidy. With slatwall panels attached to your garage walls, use available hooks, baskets, and shelves to store your tools, sports gear, and other items.
The beauty of slatwall systems is their flexibility—items can be easily rearranged or adjusted as your storage needs change.
As interior designers at The Spruce explain, slatwall systems provide a sleek, professional look while maximizing your garage’s storage capacity. They’re ideal for homeowners who want to adjust their storage layout over time without drilling new holes into the walls.
Organize with Wire Baskets
Wire baskets mounted on walls are an excellent way to store lightweight items like gardening gloves, hats, and other smaller tools or accessories. Their see-through design ensures that you can quickly identify the contents without digging through bins or boxes.
Wire baskets are particularly useful for organizing items that tend to get lost in the shuffle, and they can be placed in easy-to-reach areas for convenience.
Good Housekeeping recommends wire baskets as a simple and affordable solution for maintaining order in garages. Mainly when used in combination with other storage systems like shelves or pegboards.
Repurpose an Old Bookshelf
If you have an old bookshelf, repurpose it into garage storage for paint cans, automotive and other supplies, or power tools. Bookshelves are ideal for stacking items to keep them visible and accessible.
Sustainability advocates from Better Homes & Gardens suggest repurposing furniture as an eco-friendly way to enhance garage organization. By giving an old bookshelf a second life in your garage, you can reduce waste while gaining much-needed storage space. All for a fraction of the cost of buying new storage units.
Store Extension Cords on Hooks
Improper storage of extension cords often leads to a big, tangled mess that is hard to use. A simple way to keep them neat and untangled (or at least as neat and untangled as possible) is to hang them on heavy-duty hooks on the wall.
Family Handyman tells us that storing cords properly keeps them from sustaining any damage and improves lifespan as you are not straining out the cables unnecessarily. You can even label the hooks with the length or type of cord to make it easier to find the right one when needed.
Create Zones
One of the most resourceful ways to keep your garage organized is to allocate distinctive zones for each category of item. Designate one area for tools, for example, a different area for sports equipment or a separate area for seasonal decorations.
Experts at Innovative Home Design suggest using this method to keep everything in place over time. Setting up these zones will help cut down on clutter and make it much simpler to locate what you need when you need it.
Hang Garden Tools
Wall-mounted hooks keep garden tools like rakes, hoes, and shovels off the ground and out of the way but easily accessible. This prevents equipment from getting tangled or damaged and frees up floor space for other uses.
Landscape architects at This Old House say vertical storage is key for keeping garden tools organized and in good condition. Wall-mounted organizers can hold various tools, and hooks explicitly designed for heavy-duty garden tools ensure they stay secure.
Hang Bikes Vertically
For families with multiple bikes, bicycles occupy much floor space in a garage. Heavy-duty wall hooks and ceiling pulleys can be used to hang bikes off the floor, taking up less floor space needed for walking around and for other storage or activities.
As Bicycling Magazine explains, horizontal bike storage is a game changer that allows you to store bikes out of the way without losing a lot of time if you reach for them when needed. Ceiling-mounted pulleys are especially useful for heavier bikes, as they allow you to hoist them up and down without much effort.
Disclaimer– This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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