7 Great Garage Storage Ideas

With the warmer months around the corner, many of us turn our attention to the garage. Throughout the winter you may have used your garage as a dumping ground of sorts, throwing things in there without much thought as to keeping the garage neat and clean. Now that spring has sprung, we’ve got some ideas for how you can take back control of your garage, decluttering it and making it an organized place to keep your extra storage.

Motorized Overhead Storage Rack

You’ve most likely seen overhead storage racks that are great for storing little-used items in your garage. While these are great for getting things off the floor, they aren’t exactly for items that you may want to access a little more often. To solve this problem, Garage Smart came up with a solution. They created the Platform Lifter, a storage rack that can be raised and lowered via motorized cable system. One press of a button on the IOS or Android Bluetooth app brings the unit down to floor level and back up again.

You may also want to purchase a electric hoist and and create your own lift system. There are also cheaper manual options available from Home Depot and other retailers.

Garage Storage Lockers

Most families have a need to store their recreational items in an organized way that will allow them to easily access them when it’s time to use them. Amanda from Dixie Delight and her husband created a nifty set of storage lockers that house all their sporting equipment and camping supplies. Each cubby holds a different activity, which makes it easy to find equipment without having to dig through bins or get on a ladder to retrieve from an overhead bind. They built a base and sidewalls from plywood. Then they used unfinished prefab cabinets from Home Depot for the upper cabinets.

Garage Wall Storage System

Your garage was originally built to house automobiles. And perhaps you still store your cars in the garage. But that puts real limitations on where you can keep additional storage items. The walls of your garage offer a lot of normally unused real estate that you can take advantage of. To do that, Rubbermaid has developed something called the Fasttrack Garage Organization System. The system uses a rail system that screws into your wall studs. Hanging from the rails are hook attachments that are configured to hold a variety of items like bikes, ladders, chairs, shelves, and more.

Bike Organization

One of the more space-intensive items in your garage are bicycles. This is especially true if you have a family with kids. So, it’s imperative to find a solution for getting your bikes out of the way, but easily accessible when it’s time for a ride. Liz Jenkins at a fresh space wrote an article about her experience putting up a Monkey Bar Garage Rack. It comes with a Monkey Bar, 6 J hooks and two shed brackets. The best part of this system is that it only takes up 4 feet of wall space but holds up to 6 bikes.

Space-Saving Work Bench

If you have an older home, or even a newer one, you may be stuck with a garage that doesn’t have a ton of extra space. One item that many people want but don’t have much for is a workbench. Most traditional workbenches are permanent structures that stick out 2-3 feet. While the surface area created allows for storage as does the underneath area, it’s still taking up room that you may need. Enter the folding workbench. The Quick Bench by Forest Products Distributors is a solid hardwood butcher block bench top that is 48” W x 20” D x 1.2” Thick. The bench installs in minutes and utilizes two heavy duty steel brakets with a safety system that prevents the top from lowering unintentionally. When engaged in the up position the work bench can hold up to 500 pounds, providing a strong and durable work surface.

Shoe Storage

Garages are one of the main entry points to a home. And as such, there needs to be a good way to organize the mountains of shoes that get taken off and put on in this space. Shelves work okay, but if your family is like most, this inevitably becomes a jumbled mess with stray shoes laying everywhere. Not such a good thing when you’re trying to get the kids out the door for school.  We uncovered an ingenious solution. This PVC shoe rack accommodates 66 pairs of shoes! Start by purchasing PVC pipe at your local hardware store. They typically come in 10-foot lengths. Then cut the pipe into 12-inch sections using a hacksaw. It’s recommended that you sand the outward-facing edges to make them less sharp when putting hands in to grab your shoes. Then glue the pieces together in a row. Continue this for each row, also gluing them to the row below. Once finished, the entire structure will be sturdy enough to stand on its own. Halter also makes a 10 Tier Stackable Shoe Rack that works well to keep your family’s shoes organized. 

Fishing Rod Rack

If your family does a lot of fishing, then chances are you have a good number of fishing rods that need storing. Family Handyman reader Thomas Doty came up with this smart idea to use wire shelving mounted to the ceiling of your garage. Use wire or bolt cutters to cut out some of the sections to make it easy to get the rods in and out. This creates an organized and easily accessible method of storing your fishing gear. Cobra Storage also makes a neat rod holder that attaches to your garage door.

The garage is a great place to keep your extra things stored. By taking some time to map out a logistical plan for what should go where and by using some of these garage storage ideas, you can make the most of your valuable space.