The intent of a garage may be to park cars, but we all know they are used for much more. From doubling as a laundry room to serving as a storage unit, the garage can wear many hats in the home.
While utilizing the extra space to serve your needs is often necessary, leaving the garage in a constant state of disarray is not. Here, we’ll share five tips and storage solutions for a more organized garage.
- Stop thinking of the laundry room as just “part of the garage,” and give it its own designated nook.
When a single space serves more than one purpose, it’s important to create clear divides. If you have a garage laundry room, you can do that by adding some laundry room cabinetry.
Not only will this laundry room cabinetry help create more division between your “laundry room” and “garage,” but it will also serve as additional storage solutions. You’ll now have a designated place for your detergent, dryer sheets, iron, clothespins, and any other laundry-related odds and ends.
Décor can also help you create division. Paint the section of the wall behind your washer and dryer a different color than the rest of the garage, and put a matching indoor/outdoor area rug in front of your appliances. These little touches will remind you to keep your laundry room out of your garage and your garage out of your laundry room.
- Hang your tools up rather than lean them against the wall.
It’s likely you have a plethora of tools to keep your driveway and front lawn in pristine shape. You also probably prefer to have that broom, rake, and shovel in arm’s reach. But rather than rest these tools against the wall or pile them up in the corner, install an easy tool rail to hang them on.
Building a simple DIY rack with hooks can create an easy, organized option for storing your lawn and gardening tools. Pegboard can also be installed on walls for hanging smaller tools.
- Let open shelving solve the mystery of missing things.
We’re all guilty of purchasing those oversized garage totes to store everything, from holiday decorations to old photo albums, and stacking them in the attic. They may be great for a quick pickup, but they’re pretty terrible storage solutions.
When it finally comes time to decorate, or you get that yearning to flip through old pictures, you have to get them down, and sort through at least three bins before you find what you’re looking for.
A more organized solution is keeping clear bins on open shelves in the garage, so that you can literally see through the clutter. You won’t have to do any heavy lifting either, looking from one bin to the next.
- Assign children their own locker for sports equipment.
If your children play sports, your garage may feel like a locker room already. Assigning each child their own locker to keep cleats, uniforms, and other gear is one of the best storage solutions, because it will encourage them to put their things away at the end of each day — rather than drop it on the garage floor.
- Put a makeshift mudroom near your door.
Not all homes have a mudroom, and the garage can become the place to leave muddy rain boots and wet coats. Prepare for the inevitable by setting up a shoe and coat rack near the door to your home, and make it the first stop before heading inside.
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