Organising your Garage

How to make your garage a place to be proud of

Let’s be honest, many of us use our garages as a dumping ground. It ends up not only being the place for tools, old paints, gardening equipment and bicycles, but also sports equipment, suitcases, Christmas decorations and even old and broken items of furniture and appliances.

So, the first step to organising your garage is to have a thorough clear out. Declutter the space, be ruthless. That old broken chair you thought you might one day get around to fixing, throw it away! Throw away anything broken. Sell or donate to a charity shop anything you never use. Depending on when you last did any organising in your garage, this may take a while – make life easier on yourself and don’t try to do it all in a day.

Once you have cleared the clutter, now you are going to want to assess your space. Be clear about your goals – what do you want to store in your garage? Plan it out so that you store the items you are going to use most towards the front. Ensure that everything is in its place and easily accessible when you need it. One tip we love is to paint your garage floor – this makes it easier to clean and prevents mildew, plus it makes it look nicer. You can also paint around items such as lawnmowers or kids’ ride on toys so that they go back in the same place when put away.

Assess what you need, make sure the shelving is suitable for the job – measure the space and look at the different options. Industrial Shelving is the perfect choice for the garage, as it’s sturdy and robust and able to hold a lot of weight. It’s also easy to put together without tools, using just a mallet, and is easily adjustable to store items of different sizes. Our Chrome Wire Shelving is also great for both garage shelving and shed shelving as it’s hard wearing and modular, which means you can tailor it to your needs, it’s also easy to assemble and effortlessly stylish.

Hanging items is a great way to save space and make them easy to see and get to. Our Wall Mounted Grid Mesh range with hooks or hanging rails  works very well for hanging items like gardening tools, gloves, packets of seeds and other smaller gardening accessories that sometimes get mixed up, hidden or lost. Plus you can use the baskets to organise items that can’t be hung. Store small items in labelled or clear packets so you can easily identify their contents. The grid mesh shelving is adaptable, with a range of different sizes and accessories to completely suit your individual needs.

Both the Wall Mounted Grid Mesh Shelving and the Adjustable Wall Shelving work really well above a work bench. You can also mount magnetic strips on the wall to hang things like screwdrivers and scissors.

To ensure you can find everything easily and that your garage stays organised, use Storage Boxes for any loose items. These are also good for things like open compost bags, to keep them fresh. Label all boxes to make sure you can find what you need with a glance, and place the items you use most frequently on the bottom shelves. Keep flammable and dangerous liquids separate and out of reach. Make sure you keep plugs and drains uncovered and ensure you have good ventilation. If you have enough space, you could even consider a ceiling rack or even build a mezzanine area.

Whatever you decide to do, having an organised garage will make life so much easier, saving you valuable time at the weekend rather than having to spend ages hunting around for that screwdriver or old can of paint.

If you have any questions or need any advice on the best shelving to suit your needs please get in touch – we’d be happy to chat through the options with you.