Easy Garage Storage Ideas For Setting Up Your Space

Garage with car and floor to ceiling red cabinets.

Floor-to-ceiling storage cabinets are one of the most attractive garage storage options.

Easy garage storage ideas for setting up your space. The first challenge of using the garage for storage is that, unlike most rooms, the garage is not exactly furnished.

You will need a lot of storage "furniture" to make the garage work for your family. The good news is that these catchall furnishings don't need to be attractive, just functional. And they don't have to be expensive, either.

Here are some easy garage storage ideas to consider, depending on what you use it for.

Easy Garage Storage Ideas for Neatening Up

None of these easy garage storage ideas are ideal for storing everything. You will probably need a combination to meet all your needs. These furnishing options are roughly arranged from most to least expensive:

Floor-To-Ceiling Storage Cabinets

This is one of the most attractive options, and it's also one of the most expensive.

The advantage of this system is that all your unsightly items are out of sight. You can organize them well and keep them relatively dust-free and clean. For neatniks, this might be the right choice.

The bad news is that floor-to-ceiling cabinets must be deeper or larger to store big boxes or bulky items such as luggage. Small items can get lost within big cabinets unless boxes are placed on the shelves to contain them.

Friends of mine, a retired couple, Pat and Sam, use their garage as a workspace for their hobbies. Sam likes to mount and frame artwork and prints. Pat likes to refinish old furniture.

Neither hobby is an indoor activity. So Pat and Sam keep their equipment and supplies along opposite garage walls.

When ready to work, they back the car out of the garage into the driveway, pull their tools up front and center, and get down to business.

Counters and Cabinets

Some people install counters and cabinets in their garages, just like in a kitchen. Some even have a sink in the garage. This is helpful for washing up after gardening or working on the car without messing up the sinks inside.

Of course, this, too, is an expensive solution. You do have the convenience of drawers for small items and can keep things relatively clean, but it's obviously not for everyone.

Easy Garage Storage Ideas For Lofts

Garages

The secret to a clean, well-organized garage is giving the kids just a bit of space. Do not give them the run of the garage. You will never find anything, and everything will be a mess. This is not a family room. If anything, you will need stricter rules for this area because they will be unsupervised more here.

You might want to invest in lofts for the long-term storage items that you use only once in a blue moon. These are platforms suspended about 4 or 5 feet from the ceiling.

They are great for storing mementos, old financial records, and other stuff you don't need but can't part with. It keeps them dry and out of harm's way.

You can put things you might need more often, such as luggage and pet carriers, up on the loft, but store them at the front, where they're pretty accessible.

Instead of building them from wood, you can buy wire lofts that are about 4-by-4 feet and hang from the ceiling.

If you don't want to create a loft, you can store large items in the rafters, such as rafts or tents. You can even devise a pulley system to pull them up and down. The sky—or the roof, anyway—is the limit.

Easy Garage Storage Ideas: Specialized Racks

There is a specialized rack designed specifically for just about anything that you want to hang or store. There are racks to store balls, bikes, tennis supplies, garden tools, you name it.

Most people would not need such costly solutions. However, if you have a passion—biking, tennis, fishing, golf—and expensive equipment, you might want to invest in proper storage for it.

Easy Garage Storage Ideas: Industrial Shelving

These are the aluminum shelves you can get at hardware stores. They are inexpensive and light. They can hold everything from pantry items to sodas to boxes.

Capacity on these shelves range from 50 pounds to more than 200 - so make sure you know how much weight yours can hold. This will be helpful when considering what to store where, but it's essential to know if the kids try to climb them.

For safety and many other practical reasons, make all your garage's storage units no-play zones. If the kids don't comply, make the garage and all its contents off-limits for a day or two. You shouldn't have to tell the kids twice.

Easy Garage Storage Ideas - Pegboard

These boards are filled with holes where you hang things on special hooks. Pegboards are convenient garage storage because everything is accessible and in plain view, yet not on the floor.

Garage storage ides include pegboards because everything is accessible and in plain view yet not on the floor.

Pegboards are great for storing bikes, gardening tools, work tools, and sports equipment.

A friend of mine, Kimberli, has a family that's really into sports. An entire wall of their garage is covered by a sturdy pegboard with even sturdier hooks.

Everything from bikes to skis to hockey sticks to swim goggles is hung on the pegboard. All balls are stashed in a series of bins at the bottom. Water bottles and energy bars are stored alongside the bins.

Gym bags are on the counter, ready to go with fresh, clean towels. Running shoes, hockey skates, and hiking boots are in shoe cubbies at the bottom.

A canoe and a rubber raft hang side by side from the ceiling. This is a family that's ready to play anytime. Tennis anyone?

Easy Garage Storage Ideas: Lidded Plastic Containers

Remember that the garage is a really dirty place. Protect anything that's not sealed by storing it in plastic containers. Wheeled containers are great for toy pickup at the end of the day.

What You Shouldn't Store in the Garage

The garage is very enticing for storage. But certain things don't belong there.

No clothing or bedding. Rats would love to nest in your expensive duvet. Let them find a B&B farther down the block. Also, garages are usually too damp for storing clothing; they will mildew.

No fresh foods. ITheoretically, a nice, cool garage would be a great place to keep extra potatoes, carrots, onions, etc. Ants, mice, and rats think so, too.