Garage Storage Tips
For Setting Up Your Space

The first challenge of using the garage for storage is that unlike most rooms, the garage is not exactly furnished. You will need a lot of storage "furniture" to make the garage work for your family. 

These garage storage tips for furnishing options can help get you started.

Garage Storage Tips for Furnishings

The good news is that these catchall furnishings don't need to be attractive, just functional. And they don't have to be expensive, either. 

Here are some storage systems that you might consider for your garage, depending on what you use it for. 

None of them are ideal for storing everything. You will probably need a combination to meet all your needs. These furnishing options are arranged from most to least expensive. 

Garage Storage Tips: Floor-to-Ceiling Cabinets

Floor-to-ceiling cabinets are one of the most attractive options, and it's also one of the most expensive.

The advantage 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 the best 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 things 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 and into the driveway, pull their tools up front and center, and get down to business.

Garage Storage Tips: Counters and Cabinets

Some people install cabinets and counters in their garage, just like you'd have in a kitchen. Some have a sink in the garage. This is helpful to wash up after gardening or working on the car without messing up the sinks inside.

Of course, this, too, is an expensive solution. You do have the convenience of drawers for small items. And you can keep things relatively clean. But it's obviously not for everyone.

Garage Storage Tips: Utility Lofts

For the long-term storage items that you use only once in a blue moon, you might want to invest in storage lofts.

Garage Storage Tips: Specialized Racks

For just about anything that 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.

Most people would not need such costly solutions. 

However, if you have a passion - biking, tennis, fishing, golf - and have expensive equipment, you might want to invest in proper storage for it.

Garage Storage Tips: Industrial Shelving

These are the aluminum shelves you can get at hardware 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 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 garage and all its contents of-limits for a day or two. You shouldn't have to tell the kids twice.

Garage Storage Tips: Pegboards

These are boards filled with holes on which you hang things on special hooks.

Pegboards are very handy garage storage because everything is accessible and in plain view, yet not on the floor. Pegboards are great for storing bikes, gardening tools, work tools, and sports equipment. 

A friend of mine, Kimberli, has a family that's really into sports. An entire wall of their garage is covered by a sturdy pegboard with even sturdier hooks. Everything from bikes to skis to swim goggles is hung on the pegboard.

All balls are stashed in a series of bins at the bottom.

Water bottles and energy bars are stored alongside the bins. Gym bags are on the counter, ready to go with fresh, clean towels. Running shoes and hiking boots are in shoe cubbies at the bottom.

A canoe and a rubber raft hang side by side from the ceiling. This is a family that's ready to play anytime. Tennis anyone?

Lidded Plastic Containers

Remember that a garage is a really dirty place. Protect anything that's not sealed by storing it in lidded plastic containers. As a bonus, wheeled bins are great for toy pickup at the end of the day.