Garage Makeover & Organization Tips
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It was a long time coming, but I finally completed my garage clean out, declutter and makeover and I just love it...
To begin: Assess the situation...
If your garage is like mine, a repository for things in transition, it doesn’t take long for it to become a hot mess. Even the best made plans can go awry when you get busy. Some of my organization systems that I had put in place last year were still working so I didn’t change them. My shelves with storage bins, Christmas bins and cabinet bins worked well and only needed a little tweaking. My recycling center also only needed a little tweaking. To see my garage makeover from last year click here to view Garage Declutter & Organization 2017.
I had planned to put my winter tires up on a rack, but when I got my new car the snow tires on rims were too heavy for me to lift!
The floor was badly in need of repainting as it was peeling and stained in places.
Next...Remove everything from the garage...
It is easy to see what you have when it is all out in the open. Reassess everything you have and whether you really need to keep it. Set limits for yourself if you have a lot of one sort of thing such as nails and screws. How many can you really use? If you haven’t used something in the past year or two, how likely are you to use it in the foreseeable future? I had some red duct tape that I hadn’t used in almost twenty years. If I needed it I could have easily replaced it for a couple of dollars. I once read that, for those items you were keeping “just in case”, you should let it go if you could replace it for under $20.
Everyone’s situation is different, but be honest with yourself. If you’re not a carpenter, some basic tools and a few nails and screws might be all you really need. Why burden yourself with unnecessary clutter? Or is that part of your fantasy life?
I thoroughly cleaned the garage and prepped the floor for painting. I used the Rustoleum Garage floor kit to repaint it. My one piece of advice for doing this would be to read the directions first and watch the video. I pressure washed the floor before I found the cleaning powder that came in the kit. Then I did it over again. It makes it so much easier. Disclaimer: I am not sponsored by Rustoleum.
After purging, cleaning and painting the garage floor...
I put the shelves and bins back in and reorganized everything in zones, as I had done before. Winter, yard, Christmas, recycling, tools, paint supplies, storage, etc.
I had a piece of teal slatwall put up above the shelves that had my recycling bins. The shelves on this were repainted and will be used to hold other items that I want to donate or recycle.
The only thing left to do is to get some rubber mats for the car to go on to protect the floor in the winter. Hopefully this will make it last a bit longer in our harsh climate.
My new video is below with a shot of before. It actually was worse before I filmed this because all the demolition garbage from my kitchen reno ended up here. Can anyone relate?
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