Organizing the Garage

Yesterday, with Hurricane Sandy approaching New Jersey, my husband and I managed to clean out the garage enough so we were actually able to park both of our cars in our two-car garage.

Getting the cars in our garage is a major accomplishment, since this is the first time we’ve parked both cars in the garage since we moved in more than nine years ago. In the garage is so much stuff – boxes of stuff for storage, bikes, ladders, a lawn mower and plenty of recreational items like beach umbrellas, folding chairs and athletic equipment.

We were able to make space in the garage by stuffing lots of stuff into our backyard storage shed. But come spring, it will be really difficult to get our landscaping gear and plastic lawn furniture out of that crowded space.

So, once the storm dies down, I hope to focus my organizing efforts on the garage and get some wall storage into place. I already plan to make a mini mudroom area in the garage so the front entry of our home will get less wear in tear. I also hope to paint some pegboard a pretty color (perhaps green, my favorite color) and create areas to hang up our shovels, tools, etc.

 

Colorful Pegboard

I really like the pegboard ideas that are shown on the website, Decorology.com. I especially like the green and white, checkerboard-patterned pegboard that’s shown in one garage. The pegboard adds a nice splash of color and design element to the garage, and on the pegboard, they’ve hung everything from tools, to a paper towel holder to a clock. I like the idea of using pegboard to organize gear in the garage since it is super cheap and because I can customize it the way I want with paint. I could even spray paint a word or initials on the pegboard for more customization.

But for now, we are hunkered down, waiting out Hurricane Sandy. But once Sandy clears out (and if we don’t have any hurricane-related repairs to focus on), I will be at my local Home Depot to pick up some pegboard and hooks!