Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Operation Organize Garage: The Plan

Happy New Year, lovelies! I've been doing a whole lotta NOTHING lately (still saving away $$ for my new french doors), but I've gotten a lot of advice lately on garage organization, so I figured I should really get to it!

You see, I've been working in my garage with the door open since I first started on Halloween decorations last year.. Every time anyone would come up to talk to me (I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by lovely neighbors that enjoy chit chatting), I'd be a little embarrassed to let them see my garage.

We have exactly zero organization in there.

Ok, there's at least SOME...

When we moved into the house, the previous owners left us with this hunk'a hunk'a burnin' love table that measures 3' deep by 6' wide with no shelves. It was convenient to just throw crap in there, but when you needed anything, it was a huge pain to get out. I spaced on getting before pictures to depict it's chaos, so you'll just have to trust me on it.


Mr. Goats and I removed the table in under 5 minutes (after seeing how flimsily it was put together, I felt that I'd put myself in danger every time I had stood on it!). I actually moved the TV stand that's next to it into that corner and stole the big kid's cubbies to hang on the wall, but I don't think that'll be staying. You can get a glimpse of that in the photo below.

Clearing that out actually led to a major (and much needed) purge of PAINT (which is what I'd mostly stored down there). You can see in this photo, the paint is filling the boxes and the area next to the door along the back wall.


The paint (and the old, broken steam cleaner) can now be considered residents of the Chandler Recycle Center.

The Pepsi stayed.

What can I say? I love Pepsi.

The metal shelving to the left was bought at Costco over a year ago, and it's been serving us well. Other than maybe moving it (I'll get to my idea in a moment), nothing else needs to be done with that.

As you can see, there is still a ton more work to do with everything else.

Shall we create a list?

Yes, I think we shall!


  • Build/Buy another shelving unit and maybe put them side-to-side along the back wall.
  • Build a lumber storage rack (nearly complete, will have a post on that soon!)
  • Figure out bike organization
  • Create a mud room system along the right wall (plans for that are being drawn up by the lovely Ana White)
  • Paint door + trim (a little far fetched, but it's so dirty that I'm thinking a darker color would save my sanity)
  • Maybe I'll get around to cleaning the floor.... (this one is REALLY far-fetched)

Of course I'll probably add more stuff to the list while I'm working out there, but I think that if I get the first four bullets done, I'll have no reason to be embarrassed by my garage anymore!

Being more organized was not a New Years Resolution for me, but this just happens to be perfect timing! Maybe I'll be finished in time to consider this part of my Spring Cleaning...

Was being organized a resolution for you? Or are you just conveniently organizing something major during the new year? Any garage updates? C'mon, spill!

4 comments:

  1. Yay, you are back! :) Organization - yes we all need it! We converted the office closet to all shelving and I was so excited since I keep a gift closet and needed the space. However, the crafts and seasonal change in decor has overtaken it and now I need more room. I really need to get in there and organize some more and take an inventory of the rest of the room. Possibly getting rid of books we will never read again, ditching one of the bookcases and getting another cabinet for storage? I'm for it, but now to get the hubby on board... Our garage isn't too bad as we park in it, but our two shelving units in there, that we also got at Costco, are totally disorganized and not very efficient. I know I can fit lots more on there. Just another on the list. I also having to finish (okay, start :) ) painting a small project that I built for a friend, convert an acquired dresser (free - woot! woot!) into a media stand, and am now considering reupholstering a living room chair I just scored at Savers (like a GW) for just $4.99. Oh yes, I've never reupholstered anything other than some easy dining room seats and this chair also has tufting! Did I tell you I have yet to stencil those wall(s) with the stencil I bought last year? So please don't call yourself lazy ever again, because I don't have young children or anything to distract me! Just the energy and motivation. Ugh.....

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    1. Lisa, just reading that exhausted me. I have so much trouble getting rid of books. Even knowing they're one's I'll never read again! I've recently come to the conclusion that, as long as i'm set on something, Mr. Goats doesn't have to be on board (he really questions a lot of what I do, but it always seems to turn out great, so I think he should just leave me to it ;-) ).

      I'm SO glad I don't have any painting looming (yet), and YAY for free stuff! We have Savers' here, but I've only been in 2-3 times. And it's really close. Guess I'll have to check again... I really want to hear how your tufting turns out. You know, when you get around to it...

      Stenciling walls isn't for the soft-hearted... so! take your time! LOL!

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  2. I actually never considered getting rid of any more books (did a purge several years ago) until my closet starting running over. So I'll have to discuss with the hubby to see if he wants to get rid of any and will start from there. He does goes along with most, but when the bookcase I have in mind getting rid of is one that he had before I came along and is a nice one, he might take acception to that. Big items like furniture, I do have to consider his feelings, darn it, LOL! We shall see!

    Since I love the west, I say I take a road trip and you can help me with the chair, ha ha! As for the stenciling, if I don't get around to it soon, it will long be out of style. I dread doing it, but I want it done. Part of what stops me is that I think I decided to do the hallway instead of the living room wall. That living room wall was hard enough as it is a long one, but the hallway is worse because of, let's see, I think 10 doorways to go around? Am I crazy? Oh yea, and I have your issue, it's textured. We'll see. On top of that it's not a color I want and has a chair rail so I'd probably do two different colors. I'm having a hard time trying to decide on that (might just go neutral to make it easier), let alone do the stenciling. Decisions........decisions........

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  3. Oh and I forgot.........I took down the old headboard I made because I'm supposed to be making another. Yet another thing on the list.

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