Top 10 Smart Ways to Organize and Upgrade Your Garage

A well organized and structured garage is an excellent and pleasant thing to have.  In this article, we’ll walk you through 10 key steps that you can take to ensure that your garage is as organized and efficient as possible.

But first, let’s spend a bit of time talking through why it’s a worthwhile endeavor to proceed forward in getting your garage organized.

Why Organize A Garage?

Organizing a garage can take a decent amount of work – especially if it’s an activity that you’ve been putting off.  In honor of that we wanted to walk through a few of the most important benefits of having a well-planned and organized garage and let it be inspiration for you to get to it.

Ease of Locating Items

The number one reason to go about organizing your garage is that it makes it so much easier to find things that have been placed into storage.  With an organized garage everything has a place – which means that there will be no more guesswork in trying to locate something.

Need that can of white paint to touch up some trim?  It’s on the top shelf right to the left of the door that leads into the house; makes things that simple!

Less Frustration and Headache

When things aren’t easy to locate, or when things are in spots that are very challenging to reach – it leads to frustration.  Organizing your garage will remove all these obstacles and ensure that you have a relieving and enjoyable experience in your garage rather than a taxing and irritating one.

Safer Conditions

A well organized garage is a safe garage – for both you, your family, and your vehicles.  Having a space that is clear of clutter and chaos will go a long way to preventing damage and harm.

Satisfaction

There’s just something about having a clean and tidy space.  Getting after organizing your garage is worth all the hard work just to get to experience that feeling of satisfaction! Now, let’s get on into the ten smart ways you can actually make this happen.

#1 Wall Shelving

One of the best places to start when beginning the journey into an organized garage is by applying shelving to your walls.  Shelving is an excellent way to move stuff out from the open floor and onto vertical structures that maximize the use of your square footage.

There are a few different options available for this sort of shelving – you could either look into wire shelving the affixes directly onto the walls or you could opt for freestanding shelving units that can be butted up directly against the walls (these will eat up more of your actual flooring space but can serve as a better option in some conditions).

#2 Corner Shelving

The places where your walls come together can either work for you or against you.  Often it is very difficult to make effective use of this space without applying some sort of organizational aide; enter corner shelving.  These don’t have to be anything fancy – just some rough-and-ready shelving set to make a stable platform of that tricky corner space with the added bonus of making good use of vertical space.

#3 Overhead Storage

This is truly the key to developing effective use of your ceiling space.  There are different kinds of overhead storage options available – you can either look to purchase pre-made options from a retailer or develop your own DIY system. 

The important things here are to make sure that they offer a wide platform that is off-set enough from the ceiling to accommodate different size items and also that they are properly and securely tied into the ceiling joists so there’s no risk of falling.

#4 Mobile Workbench

Let’s step away from storage for a second and talk about workshop production.  One of the central components of a functional shop is a good workbench. Take your organizational game to the next level by putting your bench on casters –  this will make it mobile and allow you to perfectly integrate it into your streamlined garage.

#5 Bin Systems

Another key way to develop an organized garage is to adopt a bin system.  Here too, there are a variety of options that would be available between retail or DIY.  The important thing is to create an actual system with your bins in which different categories of items have a dedicated and specific place.

#6 Slat-wall/Pegboard

Get your hand tools and other small items up on your walls by using either slat-wall or pegboard.  These are very easy to use – the panels are just directly screwed into the 2×4 studs and then items can be hung off them via the use of hooks.

#7 Hooks for Power Tools

Here is another excellent way to make the most of your wall space.  The concept is similar to what we explored above on pegboard only these hooks are far more heavy-duty and affixed directly onto 2×4 studs themselves.  These large hooks typically come with some sort of protective covering over the actual metal that allows you to mount and hang your power tools without any marring or damage.

#8 High Cabinets

Much like the corners in your garage, the meeting point between your walls and ceiling can be a tricky spot to use efficiently.  To meet this challenge, work to install cabinets in these spaces. By definition these will be quite high (likely outside your reach) and will likely require the use of a step-ladder to access; but it’s well worth it for the amount of storage space that can be gained.

#9 Ceiling Track Systems for Bikes

This is a very specific solution for a very specific problem – but if you and your family enjoy riding bikes then this will serve you well.  Bikes generally take up a lot of space but moving them to the ceiling can greatly reduce their footprint. This being a rather niche system, our suggestion would be to find a retail option rather than trying to implement a DIY setup.

#10 Overhead Air Compressor

Our final way to organize and upgrade your garage again goes back to maximizing ceiling space.  If you have an air compressor, move it out from taking up valuable floor space and mount it onto the ceiling.  Not only will this free up space but, if properly set up, will make operation of it far simpler – you’ll be able to pull the hose all over the garage without having to worry about navigating around obstacles.

Upgrade Your Garage and Increase Curb Appeal

Increasing your curb appeal doesn’t have to end with your home, your garage is also important. Once you upgrade your garage to a two car or a three car garage then you’ll get a hefty return on investment. At Danley’s, you can customize the garage that you’re looking for and we take care of the hard part. Speak to a specialist and get a free quote online today.