How to organize garage...don't even know where to start?

[Anonymous]

We moved into a house. It has a 2 car garage and it's pretty grimey and doesn't have finished walls, just the studs. So there is absolutely no where to put our junk except on the floor. Should we not even think about organization until the walls are finished (ideally I see that painted floor surface and cabinets everywhere over a counter like space, with cabinets below?) or what can I do now to organize the tools, kids equipment, paint cans, trash cans, leaf blower, unused baby gates, etc.? We don't have a ton of stuff in there, it isn't a matter of getting rid of anything. My husband parks in there and I could too if the wagon and the tricyle weren't in the way (and if I weren't a chicken--I hate parking in there). I guess I need to know what to buy.

[Anonymous]

You can buy relatively inexpensive plastic shelving at Lowe's or Home Depot that is made for garages and basements and such. It's not terribly attractive, but it's sturdy and easy to assemble and move around. However, unless there's some financial or other reason you don't want to do the whole thing right now, I'd just go ahead and renovate. Once you get the shelves up and the stuff out of the way, it will be hard to motivate yourself to go back and redo it.

[Anonymous]

You could get free standing shelving so you don't have to install it and then remove it to finish the garage later. The Container Store, IKEA, etc. sell things that work in garages.

[Anonymous]

I"m with the earlier poster. If you can afford to insulate and drywall, I would do that first. Then organize. You will be happier in the long run.

[Anonymous]

We went with Elfa's garage system on one wall to hang bikes, lawn tools, etc. It would work on studs until you do the finishing.

We finished our garage after 12 years. It's a small one car garage so we never park the car in the garage. But just doing drywall and painting the floor made a difference.

[Anonymous]

My dream is to hire a guy who advertises in the NW Current for his garage cleaning and organizing services. Haven't vetting him or anyone else, but if I had the money . . .

[Anonymous]

I would take everything out, power wash to remove the grime, and do inexpensive peg board and hooks to get as many as the tools off the floor as you can. Costco also sells the metal shelving. A couple of those to hold things in plastic bins to keep things dry and clean will help before you finish the garage. Might be a good time to purge as well and be really selective about what stays and what can go.

[Anonymous]

I make 250k a year and am too poor for a garage

[Anonymous]

I called the garage guy at Capitol Closets. He made all my dreams come true. Before that, I made certain that we did not move one thing that we didn't need or love (my general rule to keep down clutter).