Garage Before and Afters

Enough is enough...it is time to organize your garage! You know, that space that has so much storage potential.  The one that you used to park in but now you can barely walk between the stacks of boxes and bags that have piled up over the course of the year or years.

Recently I helped a client regain control of her garage.  We talked about her vision and organizing goals for the space during the organizing consultation and then set up an organizing session to tackle the project.  She wanted the space to be family friendly. She and her kids love to dance so it was important to clear the clutter on the dance floor.  She also wanted a system for her tools and household items, sporting goods, the kids dress up items, and holiday decorations.  We worked with the layout and exisiting shelving and got to work!

Before

After

Tip 1! Dividing up your project will help you stay focused and on task.  
I divided this project into 4 mini projects; the tool bench area, the back wall of shelves, the floor space, and the storage loft.

When I start organizing a garage the first thing that I do is place empty bins in the driveway so that we can sort the items that we want to keep/store into categories.

As you can see the bins quickly fill up.  The categories we have so far are costumes, Halloween, Christmas decorations, outdoor pillow.  Once a bin is full I put a lid on it and then place an empty bin on top, that way we can easily see the quantity of each category.

Tip 2! Make a pile for items you intend to sell or donate.
I also have a pile for items that I can sell, bags of items that can be donated, and empty containers that I might find that I can repurpose.

This is the start of the recycle/junk pile...

My client used the left side of her garage for tool storage, paint storage, and extra household products like light bulbs and batteries.  Before we tackled it, the shelves and cabinets were cluttered with products and it was difficult for her to find what she was looking at.

Before

After

From another angle...

Before

After

We put all of the paint cans and supplies in one central location.

I reused the pink and black bins that I found during the sorting process, lined everything up nicely on the shelves, and organized and labeled all of the tools.

The right side of the garage was set up to be used as a dance/workout space but it had become cluttered with boxes and bags.  There was a great built in cabinet that was being under utilized and the shelving on the back wall needed to be cleaned out and reorganized.

Before

After

From another angle...

Before

After

The shelving wasn't kid friendly and it was a challenge for the entire family to find what they were looking for.  I pulled all of the items off the shelves and sorted them into categories, then I set up this space as the costume and music area for the kids to use for the dance and performance routines.  I also placed wrapping items like ribbon, tissue paper, and gift bags in clear bins.

Before

My client already had a handfull of blue bins (I love that they blend in with the wall color and the curtains) so I used them to organize all of the items on the shelves, I love the uniform look.

After

Before

After

We also tackled the loft of the garage in the same day.  It was full of boxes so be brought them down, sorted everything into clear bins, and labeled them.  The bins contain her kids memorabilia and seasonal decorations.  Now she has plenty of room to move around in the tiny loft when she is brining her decorations down.

My client and I were able to work together to get rid of lots of items.  I took a truckload of items home with me to sell and this is a photo of the truck that took items to Goodwill.  It's amazing how things pile up overtime!

This project took me a full day to tackle.  This client hired me to organize her entire home and this was one of the last projects that we worked on making it easier for me to understand her organization goals and preferences.   I hope this project inspires you to tackle your garage this Spring, if you need an extra boost to help you achieve your organizing goals please contact me.