Talk to me about your garage

[Mrsmophead]

I need to gut ours and tidy it up.

It's now secure. Is watertight and safe. One end holds our washer/drier/freezer, the other end has bikes on a rack, in between there are raincoats, dog things, and random stuff. I've one wall of fitted shelves, and have a shoe rack in for our boots etc but I'm looking to make it tidy but remain functional.

What have you done to, or have in your garage that you really recommend. I'm willing to spend a few grand if required.

We have a steel drawer storage system that has all my husbands tools in it. Saves loads of space, but they were very expensive. I expect you can’t get them cheaper now, but we’ve had them 15 years.

Your garage pretty much sounds like most peoples garages OP, nothing wrong with that! Probably the big decision you have to make is whether or not you want the garage to accommodate a car or not. If it doesn’t need to accommodate a car then obviously you got a lot more options as to what you can do. If it does need to accommodate a car then main thing is to clear the actual physical floor space by means adding wall storage. Think about the things you need to access very regularly and easily. Could bikes for example be housed in a timber bike store somewhere else on your property? Maybe you should start by having a really good clear out and getting rid of a lot of things which you no longer really want, but just end up making their way into the garage. I moved house recently, when I cleared out my old garage it was full of broken hose pipes, cracked buckets, broken light fittings and allsorts of stuff once that lot been cleared there was a huge amount of space. If you have a vaulted ceiling with beams for example a really good idea is to use that for things that you really don’t need to very access very often like water sports gear, holiday stuff, tents etc. Another idea is to board up the ceiling, add a hatch and create a loft space for storage maybe?

Something that doesn’t cost money is having some “rules” about what goes in there. Be wary of keeping things that might be useful one day! We have a corner for putting bulky rubbish in and when it gets to a point we take it to the tip. Everything having a place to be stored and most importantly people putting things back where they belong is the key. I have to remind DH of this quite a lot. We also tidy up in there like the living space so that DH’s habit of leaving things on the floor and not putting them back properly doesn’t get out of hand.

All wise advice. Thank you.

No car is ever going in there. Ever. In fairness we are actually quite good about what goes in there. If it's for the dump we bring it straight to the dump. Christmas Dec's etc are stored and labeled in the loft, lawnmower etc in the shed. I just like a good decluttered look and maximum floor space so I can stick a clothes horse, or put a dog in there if he needs to chill from visitors . @Rainbowshine I try use that same ethos in our garage too, putting stuff where it belongs, I'd just like more definitive storage, any wall mounted magical gadgets etc.

The steel storage sounds fantastic. Is it floor to ceiling @intheningnangnong??

They can be, but we have them at workbench height. They are amazing as they hold very heavy amounts 95kg in each drawer. They are industrial products really, but the concept is the thing that matters. Organise it, put it away. Drawers are much better for that.

www.lista.com/en/products/drawer-cabinets/

I have had a stud partition wall put across ours with a door in so the 'utility end' can be clean, whilst the other end (still with garage door) has bikes, tools, paint etc.
The wall could easily be removed and the garage become a garage again if we moved.

@intheningnangnong those cabinets with sliding doors are garage goals right there 😍 @WhoWouldHaveThoughtThat the partition wall has been vetoed by DH. I wonder could I get away with a half wall... Get me more shelves....