Make Your Garage Rock: 10 Organizing Tips for Your Most Overlooked Space

For equipment like kayaks or surfboards that would otherwise monopolize floor space (and can’t safely be stored leaning against a wall), create a storage grid—full-wall, or just overhead—so items can stack.

Arrange small athletic equipment on a pegboard affixed to a wall near the entryway. This way, all your sporty essentials are in one spot and in plain view, rather than in a drawer or a bin where you’re less likely to find them as you rush out the door.

Bikes are an awkward storage fit and floor space is usually at a premium, so get some bike hooks and line up those beauties on a wall, or hang them from the ceiling. BONUS TIP: If you want to keep your bike in a more visible space like the home entryway, get yourself this beautiful wooden bike shelf (available in walnut or white oak), and be the envy of all visitors.

Invest in transparent storage boxes so their contents are clear. If you have cardboard boxes, label them on all sides so you know what’s inside them.

Even the smallest space can live large with hardworking walls. Whether it’s interior shelving or exterior shadowboxes (consider repurposing old dresser drawers!), you’ll find everything a lot easier when it’s not piled on the floor.

A hip-height table can turn a corner of your garage or shed into a garden workstation. For the work surface, consider reinventing cast-off furnishings like an old kitchen island or a low bookshelf. Arrange tools on the adjacent wall, and a bin for soil close to the floor.

Weather permitting, store yard tools—rakes, shovels, etc.—outside, where they’re easily accessible.

Just as you might keep spice jars in plain view in the kitchen, organize your home improvement bits—nails, screws, bolts—in transparent jars in your garage or shed workshop. Arrange jars on a windowsill or shallow shelves, or create a permanent system by screwing jar lids to the bottom of a shelf.

If your garage is also an entry to the house, create a bench seat and an area for shoe storage. You’ve heard it before: Keeping shoes out of the house is the best way to keep dirt out of your home!

Save time organizing by having less to organize. Get in the habit of hosting a yearly garage sale. Take stock of all those items you’re storing for someday but that you don’t use ever, and then sell (or donate) anything of those things that don’t have strong sentimental value.