Garage Storage Tips
For Setting Up Your Space

garage-storage-cabinets-red-19Outfit your garage with a storage system that meets your unique needs.

Garage storage tips 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. These garage storage tips for setting up your space can help get you started.

Garage Storage Tips for Furnishings

The good news is that these catchall furnishings don't need to be attractive, just functional. And they don't have to break the bank, either.

This affordability can bring a sense of relief, knowing that you can create an organized space without overspending. 

Depending on what you use your garage for, here are some storage systems that you might consider. None of them are ideal for storing everything.

You will need a combination to meet all your needs. These furnishing options are arranged from most to least expensive. 

Garage Storage Tips: Floor-to-Ceiling Cabinets

Floor-to-ceiling cabinets are one of the most attractive options, and they are 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 best choice.

garage-storage-cabinet

The bad news is that floor-to-ceiling cabinets are not deep or large enough to store big boxes or bulky items such as luggage.

And small things can get lost within big cabinets unless you put boxes 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 and into the driveway, pull their tools up front and center, and get to business.

Garage Storage Tips: Counters and Cabinets

Some people install cabinets and counters in their garages, just like in a kitchen. Some also 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.

Garage Storage Tips: Utility Lofts

For the long-term storage items that you use only once in a blue moon, you might want to invest in storage lofts.

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 that you might need more often, such as luggage and pet carriers, up in 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 may be able to store large items, such as rafts or tents, in the rafters. You can even devise a pulley system to pull them up and down. The sky—or the roof, anyway—is the limit.

Garage Storage Tips: Specialized Racks

Wood wall storage rack for snow skis.For just about anything that you want to hang or store, there is a specialized rack designed specifically for it.

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

Garage Storage Tips: 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. 

The capacities of 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.

Garage Storage Tips: Pegboards

These are boards filled with holes on which you hang things on special hooks.

Garden tools hung on pegboard.Pegboards are great for storing bikes, gardening tools, work tools, and sports equipment.

Pegboards are convenient garage storage 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 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 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?

Lidded Plastic Containers

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


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