Transforming Your Garage/Shop Using What You Already Have!
by
Dianna Wood
3 Materials
3 Days
Medium
We completely transformed our garage/shop from ugly and cluttered to clean and organized using material we had stored in the garage and items we got from neighbors who had left them at curbside for trash pick-up. It is amazing what you can do without spending a penny. Here is what it looked like before!
BEFORE
We began by removing everything from the garage and sorting out the items; setting aside things that we thought we could use to cover the damaged walls, as well as items we could use for shelving and storage.
Suited up for the Three Day Project
Once we removed all the items we had a much better idea of what needed to be camouflaged and covered. The previous owners kept their dogs in the garage and they thrashed the lower sections of many of the walls (as you can see in the picture below)
Oh Dear! How ugly is this?
We had a section of white vinyl fencing left over from a fence that was put up in another area of the property. This piece when turned on its side fit perfectly along the back wall under the cabinets. We also had cabinet doors from a remodel that was done in the main house and used them on this back wall as well to cover the "ugly". After washing the area down we mounted these items to the back wall.
We placed the shop bench and hung more cabinets on the left side to further cover this area.
We had a vinyl wall covering sheet that we used to cover the area above the sink and hung and old window that was missing several panes above the sink. We hung all our paint brushes from the bottom of the wooden window (using finishing nails) so that after they are used and washed they can hang to drip dry into the sink. We also saved all our pasta sauce jars and screwed the lids into the bottom of the cabinet to hold small items and hardware.
We used the rusty wire bins that were nailed inside of the kitchen cabinet doors and a cast iron wall ornament that we found under some bushes in the front yard to hold sponges and more brushes.
Pallets mounted on two walls
We had a great deal of 2 x 4's and other long pieces of lumber, molding, etc and wanted a way to store it for easy access and where it would not get wet or collect cobwebs and bugs. We mounted two wooden pallets on the side of the garage where we park the car and loaded them up with the supply of lumber. This idea came to me while laying in bed after the first 10 hours of working in the garage wondering what we would use the pallets for. THIS IS FABULOUS!
NOTE: (Make sure to securely mount these on existing studs so that they can hold the weight.)
Is this cool or what?
One key to a well organized and clean garage/shop is that you have everything off the floor and easily accessible. We mounted a 2 x 4 to the existing studs and then using finishing nails hung every garden tool from the 2 x 4. "A place for everything and everything in its place" Right?
You really do not need to buy those tool racks. You can easily remove the nails from the 2 x 4's if you want to rearrange or add new tools.
So, in three days, we went from chaos and clutter to clean and organized without spending a penny.
You might be surprised what you can do with things that are already cluttering up your garage. It just requires a little imagination and some ingenuity.
This is the perfect time to get things organized so that you can enjoy those great Spring garden projects. Please leave me a comment. I love to hear your thoughts and ideas.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Comments
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4 comments
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Using pallets as storage for wood scraps is a great idea, I might have to steal that in the future. Looks great Dianna!
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You are inspiring. I like reusing things around the house and garage. I already see several ideas from you comments and pictures that I can use. Sure wish I had a sink in my garage to wash out paint brushes. Maybe I can add that in somewhere. Thank you.
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Susan - What a great comment! My motivation for taking the time to share on hometalk is to inspire others. You made my day!
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