By Katie Bandurski | Better Homes and Gardens
Too often, garages become hotbeds for clutter. Combined with leaky roofs, dirty floors, and creeping critters, soon your once-functioning garage can become an organizational nightmare. But with the right tools, you can get your garage back. These smart storage ideas will give every item a place and banish clutter for good.
Wood Walls
Great garages make use of vertical space. After all, the floor should be reserved for vehicles and large equipment. Maximize your garage's storage potential in style by installing a slatted wood wall. Adjustable hooks between the slats hold garden tools, cleaning supplies, rakes, and brooms. Use the top rungs to keep saws, hatchets, and other bladed tools far away from little ones.
Clear Containers
If you use your garage as a workstation, then you understand the struggle of keeping tiny objects organized. Clear plastic jars attached by their lids to basic wooden shelves provide a place for nails, screws, nuts, and bolts. This setup helps you see which contents live inside each jar, and an empty lid serves as a reminder to put the jar back.
Garden Shelves
Many gardeners swear by an outdoor potting bench, but wet weather can rust materials and dampen dry goods. Bring the potting party indoors by setting up a garage garden station. A stainless-steel shelving unit holds bulky items and provides a work surface, while wooden wall pegs prop up tools and accessories. Keep your garage potting bench clean by banishing open bags of potting soil and opting for lidded plastic tubs stored on the bottom shelf.
Built-In Bike Racks
Storing bikes on the garage floor is a bad idea. They're big and bulky, and any sharp debris can easily pop a tire. Mount bikes on hanging racks instead. Look for heavy-duty clamps that can support a bike's weight yet offer a quick-release function so hitting the road isn't a hassle.
Perfect Pegboard
Pegboard is a wonderful storage tool—it's cheap, simple to install, and easy to adjust. This framed pegboard is outfitted with simple hooks to hold saws, pliers, wrenches, and a hammer. Keep your most frequently used items at eye level, then hang less popular wares higher up.
Look Up
Garage doors are never mounted flush against a garage ceiling. So put that extra space to work! Mounted metal brackets support the weight of long, lightweight items. This is a great spot to store items used only a few times a year—like a ladder reserved for hanging Christmas lights or a pair of skis.
Ready to Recycle
A recycling bin is an important feature in any garage, but big blue bins can take up a lot of precious space. Instead, invest in a stackable unit. Throw different items on each shelf layer—think paper and cardboard on top, plastic in the middle, and cans on the bottom—for easy, presorted recycling.
