Our Garage/Storage Area

Our storage area in our garage is the made up of the space left over after we did the bedroom conversion.  Up until that point we rarely parked in our garage.  It is small and narrow and better suited to storage than for actually parking a car inside.  So when the need for more space to accommodate my expanding family, in particular the addition of my two beautiful daughters, I decided to convert a large portion of the garage into a third bedroom rather than sell our house and buy something larger.

I paid cash to do the conversion and worked on it over the summer.  When it was done my son moved in and his old bedroom upstairs became my girl's bedroom for several years.  When my son moved out on his own we made his room into our family room.  Last fall when we moved back into the house after fourteen months away we collectively decided I would use that room as my bedroom and the girls would each have their own room upstairs.  It has worked out very well for us.

The storage area used to be jam packed with crap.  And I do mean "jam packed" and "crap".  I used to have two sets of floor to ceiling shelves as well as rows of bins and boxes stacked and tuck in everywhere.  There was also four bicycles, camping equipment an upright freezer and a full sized refrigerator out there.  I look back and I still am not sure how we managed it.

When we moved back in we had a whole lot less stuff.  One small chest freezer, two bicycles and an assortment of boxes and storage bins.  The goal was to empty as many of those bins and boxes as we possibly could and find homes for everything inside.  I also removed all of the dirty dusty particle board shelving and got rid of it.  The metal shelving unit was repositioned and screwed to the wall for stability.  That is all the shelving I am allowing myself.

Despite the fact that we arrived with what seemed like very little in the way of possessions it still took us from Labor Day to Memorial Day to unpack and move in.  And guess what?  I'm still working on it.  I'd say I've made it through 95% of it, however.  I want everything I own to have a purpose and a proper place to be stored.

We now have space for our trash and recycle bins, which are big and a bit of an eyesore.  I like to keep that kind of stuff hidden and out of sight so it was important to me this time to have a space for them in the storage area.  Our freezer sits perfectly in the space right next to them.

I want to make good use of our vertical storage spaces.  Yard tools are hung up on the pegboard which includes an old laundry soap bucket to hold the variety of smaller items all corralled together.

The shelving unit now holds my power tools, canning jars and canner, pet supplies and holiday items. 

I still feel I have too much stuff in there so I will be working to thin it down and get rid of stuff.