How to Organize Your Garage With Do-It-Yourself Creative Storage

Preparation

• 1

  Open all doors and windows in the garage for extra light and ventilation. Remove all items from the garage. Place items in a handy location.

• 2

  Create a scale drawing of the garage. Mark the location for shelves and other storage on the drawing. Mark the locations of doors and windows that cannot be blocked.

• 3

  Sweep out the entire garage to remove dirt and cobwebs. Use a power washer to clean the walls and floors. Allow all the water to drain out of the garage before beginning to work on organizing.

• 4

  Place all items used infrequently and items only in the garage for storage into plastic totes with secure lids. A tight lid keeps rodents and water from damaging the items.

Large Items

• 5

  Construct large shelves, wide enough to hold the plastic totes, on the walls of the garage. Install the shelves high enough to store items underneath, but low enough to reach easily. Place all plastic totes and any other large items on top of the shelves.

• 6

  Attach the screw-in hooks to the sides of the shelves. Hang items like small garden tools, watering hoses and ropes on these hooks.

• 7

  Place toys and other items in plastic laundry baskets. Slide these baskets under the shelves and within easy reach. Place taller items such as baseball bats, fishing poles, and hockey sticks in tall laundry hampers. Lean these hampers against the wall of the garage.

• 8

  Cut a PVC pipe into several 6-inch lengths. Along the entire 6-inch length, cut a 1/4-inch wide slot all the way through the thickness of the front of each PVC pipe. Screw the pieces of pipe to the wall of the garage vertically. Place the handles of large tools, such as shovels, rakes and hoes, along the 1/4-inch slot, and push to snap them into place, where they will hang neatly out of the way and off the floor.

Small Items

• 9

  Cut the apron part of the of the tool aprons off, leaving you with just the tool pockets. Stretch the the pockets out on a bare spot of wall in the garage, and screw them in place. Place small tools, such as scissors, pruners, measuring tapes and eye goggles, in the tool pockets.

• 10

  Screw empty cans, such as soup or coffee cans, to the wall of wall of the garage with the open side facing up. Place screwdrivers, putty scrapers and paint brushes in these cans.

• 11

  Place small hardware items, nails, screws and other tiny items in muffin tins. Place the muffin tins on shelves or tables within easy reach.