Garage: Setting Up Your SpaceNote: For more information and special deals related to the topics on this page, place your cursor over the double-underlined words. All information supplied by Kontera.com. 
The first challenge of using the garage for storage is that unlike most rooms, this one's not exactly furnished.You'll need some storage "furniture" to make it work for your family. The good news is that these catchall furnishings don't need to be attractive - just functional. And they don't need to be expensive, either. Here are some systems that you might consider, depending on what you use the garage for. They're roughly arranged from most to least expensive. 1 Floor-to-ceiling cabinets: This is one of the most attractive options, and it's also one of the most expensive. The advantages of this system is that all your unsightly items are out of sight. You can organize them well. And you can keep them relatively dust-free and clean. For neatniks, this might be a good choice. The bad news is that floor-to-ceiling cabinets are not deep or large enough to store big boxes or bulky items such as luggage. And small items can get lost within big cabinets unless you put boxes on the shelves to contain them. Friends of mine, a retired couple, Pat and Sam, use their garage as a workspace for their hobbies. Sam likes to mount and frame artwork and prints. Pat likes to refinish old furniture. Neither hobby is an indoor activity. So Pat and Sam keep their equipment and supplies along opposite walls of the garage. When they're ready to work, they just back the car out of the garage into the driveway, pull their tools up front and center, and get down to business. 2 Lofts: For the long-term storage storage items that you use only once in a blue moon, you might want to invest in lofts. These are platforms suspended about 4 or 5 feet from the ceiling. They are great for storing mementos, old financial records, and other stuff you don't need but can't part with. It keeps them dry and out of harm's way. You can put things you might need more often, such as luggage and pet carriers up on the loft, but store them at the front where they're pretty accessible. Instead of building them from wood, you can buy wire lofts that are about 4-by-4-feet that hang from the ceiling. If you don't want to actually create a loft, you may be able to store large items such as rafts or tents in the rafters. You can even devise a pulley system to pull them up and down. The sky - or the roof, anyway - is the limit. 3 Specialized racks: For just about anything you want to hang or store, there is a specialized rack designed specifically for it. There are racks to store balls, bikes, tennis supplies, you name it. 4 Industrial shelving: These are the aluminum shelves you can get at hardware and home stores. They are inexpensive and light. They can hold everything from pantry items to sodas to boxes. Capacity on these shelves range from 50 pounds to more than 200 - so make sure you know how much weight yours can hold. This will be helpful when you're considering what to store where, but it's essential that you know if the kids try to climb them. For safety and a lot of other practical reasons, make all your garage's storage units no-play zones. And if the kids don't comply, make the room and its contents off-limits for a day or two. 5 Pegboards: These are boards filled with holes on which you hang things on special hooks. Pegboards are very handy for storage because everything is accessible and in plain view yet not on the floor. They're great for storing bikes, gardening tools, work tools, and sports equipment. 6 Plastic containers: Remember that the garage is a really dirty place. Protect anything that's not sealed by storing it in plastic containers. Wheeled containers are great for toy pickup at the end of the day. Chores for Kids by Age
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