Reclaiming the Garage

There is something about a clean and organized garage that makes me happy.

So you can imagine my mood when I came home to this:

Despite my better judgement, I'm putting it online for all to see.  

My extension cords, outdoor "won't light up" lights, and random shelf components from when one of the shelves came crashing down.

My wood from previous and future projects lining the wall so I could barely pull my car into the garage.

The Pepsi container from the people that lived here before us. Cough 3 years ago.

The remnants of wood from projects passed that I just might use in the future for a cool project that is yet to be determined.

And the corner of death (feeling dramatic today..) where projects go to die and never be touched.  I think our powered snow shovel is even hidden back there.

And my "woodshop" workstation with no usable counter space and a glorious pegboard that I wasn't fully utilizing.  Not to mention an empty rubbermaid and oodles of car wash products from the SO (which means significant other as one of my recent interviewers pointed out to me).  

What can I say - he loves a clean car with EXTRA shiny tires. 

After cleaning my floor mats, I couldn't stand to look at my garage or even be in it.  Since it was a 70 degree day in November (not likely to stay that way long) I tackled another project: reclaiming my garage.  

I took a quick survey of the garage, and decided immediately we had too much stuff.  I recycled all the extra cardboard (most of the boxes were empty or nearly empty), repurposed the Rubbermaid container for wood scraps (why did I not do this before?!), threw away broken unfixable objects, and reorganized the remainder of the garage by grouping like things together.

How did I tackle this project?

-Wood pile in the corner of death, sorted by size and type.

-Outdoor citronella candles, bug repellent, and summer related things into the same container on a shelf.

-Car wash supplies in a plastic shoebox already owned and sitting in the basement.

-Tools and building supplies with the workstation.  Saws, sanders, drills on top of the station.  Tools, screws, and nails on the pegboard.  Spare nails, screws, and other metal objects in small plastic storage container.  Remainder odds and ends (screwdrivers, stir sticks, etc) in flower pot.

-Extension cords, ropes, and all things "corded" wrapped and hung on previously owned shelf supports. 

  -Outdoor lawn equipment hung on the already present hanging organizer.  Exception: gas powered weed eater which needs to be stored horizontally (so I'm told), now lives on shelf.

-EVERYTHING had to have a home, or it didn't go in the garage. 

Ready to see how it all worked out?

Before: 

After:

I can actually see what I have now and something about the pegboard made me REALLY happy.  So happy I took more pictures...

I think I was the crazy neighbor lady spending hours on end outside and taking pictures of strange things (for the purpose of blogging, but they don't know that!).

The best part about this project?  I used what I already had and spent $0!  The garage is now back to being a happy place for outdoor tools storage, wood working projects, and my car.  

Not having to scrape my car in the morning? Priceless.  

Project "Reclaim the Garage" tackled.

*True story: The end table/nightstand from the corner of death was a project I just didn't feel like tackling anymore.  So I decided to give somebody else a chance to make it their own.  I took a picture of the end table (which wasn't really necessary anyway) and put it on the curb.  I went inside to post my ad to Craigslist for "free stuff", went back outside to take a few more pictures of the end table, and saw it was already gone! It sat on the curb for 5 to 10 minutes max. I either live by vultures or have creative neighbors!