It’s time for the final installment of our garage makeover! I actually took these final pictures back in April and am somehow only getting around to posting them now. We got distracted with gardening tasks and then took a long vacation, but I’m back on track now!
As you may remember in the previous installment of the garage makeover, we still had a lot of stuff to store and only one side wall left. To add to that, the side of the garage is only 7″ deep meaning there’s no room for shelving racks or anything like that. After a ton of measuring and brain-storming I came up with a plan to store everything. Without further ado, here’s the finished wall of storage!
Now you may think that there’s not much going on here, so I’m going to go over each half of the wall and outline what I was able to store. Besides those of you with a lot of outdoor/sports gear I think this is totally doable for most couples.
Starting with the left side, I included storage using track-mounted shelf brackets on top, a traditional pegboard painted tricorn black with hooks from this pegboard kit, and a track organization system that I found at Costco onsite for $20 (I could only find it online at Walmart so I linked that for you, but check Costco in person). I used Rubbermaid shelf tracks, but had to use a different brand of shelf brackets because the Rubbermaid ones were way too long for the space. I’m not super pleased with the durability of the shelf brackets on the track, but there’s not a lot of weight on them at this point so I’m not too concerned. If it’s an issue in the future I may end up replacing them. With all of those systems in place, here’s what I’m storing in this area:
- Dimensional lumber (top shelf)
- Longer scrap wood (middle and bottom shelf)
- Saw guides, yard sticks, etc. (on shelves and hanging on corner of pegboard)
- Hand saws
- Some wood clamps (others in storage drawers to left)
- Scrap wood (in baskets)
- Pop-up garbage bin
- Extension cord
- Paper towels (I’m so excited about this addition!)
- Kreg mobile project center
I still have room for one more Kreg mobile project center to the right of the existing one since I hope to get another one at some point. I also have room under the paper towels to make a tool holder for sanders, drills, etc. if need be, though all of those things fit fine in the cabinets right now.
Moving on to the right side of the wall, I used 2 1/2 sets of the track organization system that was holding the scrap wood baskets on the left (that was the other 1/2 set).
This track system turned out to be awesome! I can’t say enough about how sturdy it is and how much it helped make this project a success. Even if you can’t find this exact system, a similar one would be great. Moving from left to right, I was able to store the following:
- Sports gear basket with helmet, softball glove, and softballs (only helmet pictured)
- Two camping chairs
- Step ladder
- Two sawhorses (behind step ladder)
- One extendable ladder
- Rake, shovel, and hoe
- Snow shovel
- Tree pruner
- Broom
After the garage makeover, everything is now super easy to access. We used to have all of this stuff just leaning against the wall and it was always an adventure to try to remove one thing without the rest attacking.
I want to revisit the back wall for a moment to show how it looks after we stored everything.
My miter saw sits on the countertop and the table saw just fits in front of the cabinets. It’s not ideal, but it does allow both vehicles to fit in the garage. To the left of the tool drawers is space for small plywood storage and to the right of the tall cabinet is large plywood storage. The storage on the right wall is positioned to allow the larger plywood pieces to be removed easily. On top of the tall cabinet is a small dolly (against the back wall) and the router table which juuuuust baaaarely fit. Whew.
If you’re super observant you probably see that piece of plywood under the table saw. While it fits on the concrete platform, it’s an exact fit, so if it moves even a centimeter, the saw stand feet are off the platform. The plywood is just an extra protective measure. My plan is to attach a wood block under the front edge so it will essentially extend the platform. Then I can also use that wood platform for the ladder when I need to get to the router table. Small space hacks for the win.
Every time I look at our garage now it makes me so happy! It’s exactly what we needed and makes our lives so much easier. Doing projects in here will be a thousand times more enjoyable than before the garage makeover. I think sometimes we can be hesitant to invest time and money into areas of the house that don’t need to be “pretty,” but anytime you can do something to remove a constant source of stress in your life it’s totally worth it.
And just in case you’ve forgotten how bad it looked in the beginning, here’s a final picture to capture the before and after. What a difference! Thanks for following along in our garage makeover adventure! If you missed any of the earlier posts, they’re linked below!
