Pinterest's Brilliant Tip Will Totally Change The Way You Organize Your Garage
Garages are notoriously untidy places because we ask so much of them. This one space is a portal for family members coming and going, a place to stash rarely used things like holiday decorations, a place to stow frequently used things like lawnmowers, and a place to keep and use tools. Our garages absorb overflow for things bought in bulk, sports gear, and much more. And right in the middle of it all, we park a car or two. Pinterest users who went looking for a solution found it in Innovate Home Org's guide to creating space with garage storage zones. The idea is simple: locate and dedicate areas of your garage to specific purposes, and then organize each of these zones, optimizing for the types of things the zone will contain and how you'll access and use them.
It's the sort of thing we do intuitively in most rooms. A kitchen, for example, will contain zones for fresh foods, dry and canned goods, cooking implements, etc. Each of these is, ideally, organized according to how you prefer to use or access them, which keeps your kitchen from becoming a series of mixed-up piles like so many garages. Things you'll want to grab as you dart through the garage should be easy to put your hands on, for example, and stuff you almost never need should be out of sight but in a logical location with like items ... a zone of their own.
The 7 garage storage zones
Innovate Home Org calls them "storage zones," but their seven zones are functional spaces that allow you to do whatever you want to get done in the garage. For example, the transition zone stores coats, umbrellas, leashes, dog treats, shoes, and the like ... things you might need when leaving and will need to park somewhere when you return. To make this work best, locate that zone by the entry door and make the items as accessible as possible, perhaps hanging some of them on hooks rather than inside a cabinet. You might also use hooks and wall-mounted storage on the sides of the garage to maximize vertical space, but keep the bikes, garden tools, and the like from encroaching on your parking space.
Frequently used big stuff goes together in a zone where recycling bins, bulk foods, and other things you need to be neatly hidden away but kept accessible. Other bulky storage is socked away in bins that can be less easy to reach. Sporting equipment and other outdoor goodies are stored near the garage door, perhaps on shelves or in cabinets to manage the visual clutter. Actual workspaces – whether involving potting benches, workbenches, or a comfy bench to help with the hard work of escaping your kids for a bit – bring both flat work surfaces and drawer storage into the picture. And for the large or rarely used items, your ceiling space is a prime spot for hanging storage solutions.
Customize and organize the zones just for you
The magic here is in the divide-and-conquer approach, not in the actual zones you designate. Your garage and your zones should be firmly yours. Perhaps your woodworking can't be confined to a workbench against the wall, so you'll need a multi-purpose floor zone that makes room for cars and rolling tool carts. Or maybe you've streamlined a well-appointed chef's kitchen by storing countertop appliances you don't use daily in their own garage zone. With the right shelving and bins, your overhead zone can go from hanging kayaks and luggage toppers to an additional area for the ever-growing number of plastic storage bins we all have.
Once you identify your zones and you're ready to organize them, don't limit yourself to off-the-shelf storage solutions. There are tons of clever DIY projects that will maximize the storage space in your garage, and the trick is matching the storage to your zone's function. For example, wall-mounted storage makes shoes quickly accessible without interfering with the flow of your entryway. If you use your garage as an occasional DIY workspace, look for garage storage ideas that will inspire the handyperson in you. Focus on walls: Storing tools, hardware, and other supplies vertically on a single wall leaves the rest of your garage free for your other zones. And if you're dealing with a particularly small garage, focus on small garage storage ideas to make your space seem bigger, like track storage, slatwall, magnetic strips, and pegboard.