Room by Room

The Makings of a Dream Garage

by Guest on January 30, 2012

in Organizing,Outdoor Spaces

So, have you decorated your garage yet? Ok, so maybe you haven’t looked at it this way, but I think we can all agree that it needs to organized! I love this post from Jessica – a self-professed DIY and blog junkie about creating your dream garage. If the garage is not your area of responsibility, feel free to forward this post to your personal garage manager.

A well organized garage is every homeowners dream; unfortunately the garage is one room in the home that doesn’t always receive the love it deserves. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t use my garage for random items that have no place, excess storage and well, garbage. Just because we don’t spend as much time in there as we do in the kitchen, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t still be a space that can be enjoyed.

One of the main reasons my garage gets neglected is because I never go in there. It houses the boyfriend’s project car and the many, many tools he “requires” to work on it and therefore looks like this most of the year:

garage before

Now, just because I don’t currently have the garage of my dreams doesn’t mean I don’t think about what it would be like. Someday we’ll move, and when we do you can bet I’ll be staking claim over part of that garage and putting it to good use. Until then though, I’ll just keep on gathering my ideas to share with people like you, who are able to implement a few changes!

storage binStart by heading out and picking up some storage bins to keep similar items in one spot. Rubbermaid bins are great for organizing gardening supplies, cords, decorations, etc, but anything similar will do just fine. The great thing about these is that they make it really easy to stack things on top of one another, clearing up extra floor space in the process.

Another key ingredient to a well organized garage is shelving.  Whether you purchase shelving or make it the DIY way it can be a huge space saver. Look at how nice this looks without the clutter:

organized garage

(Via)

I really like the idea of putting a shelf above the door tracks too. There is a ton of used potential up there!

vertical storage in a garage

(Via)

The next big contributors to a well organized garage are hooks and racks. You have no idea how useful they actually are until you have them installed. While I don’t have them in my garage I do make use of hooks all over my house and honestly don’t think I can ever have enough. They’re great for hanging things like extension cords, ropes, rakes, shovels and more.

This garage has made use of everything we’ve talked about so far – bins, shelves, hooks, and racks. What I wouldn’t give for a garage like that.

amazing organized garage

(Via)

Truthfully, getting things organized can be the easy part, keeping them that way is what often gets us in trouble. The best way to ensure that your newly organized garage stays that way is to give everything a place. This is actually one of the biggest problems with our current garage – we put a lot of stuff in there at random, never actually knowing where things should go. It’s a lot easier to put things away when they actually have a home. If you need to, try labeling your shelves and bins accordingly so that unused items, like gardening tools for example, always end up in the same place.

Jessi is a DIY enthusiast and writer with a big thing for organization. When she’s not guest posting on other blogs or working here, she’s taking on projects at home and hanging out with her awesome dog, Abby.  

{ 3 comments }

Welcome to Guest Poster Samantha Peters! She is a blogger who enjoys writing about ways to turn rooms within a house into more usable and enjoyable spaces (amen to that!).   Samantha currently lives in San Diego, California where she lives with her dog Leona. I can totally relate to her quest to make the living room livable in the real world.

living room

[click to continue…]

{ 5 comments }

Elfa Closet Envy

by Susan on January 6, 2012

in Bedrooms,Laundry/Halls/Foyers,Organizing

her closetI have a confession to make. I have closet envy. I shouldn’t – I actually scored my own walk-in closet in my current house. I even wrote “hers” above the door in case anyone needs clarification of ownership.

But what I have in space is tempered by efficiency. I have no closet system. Just the racks that came with the house, augmented by canvas shoe bags that sag like…{fill in the blank}.

So when my good friend of many years called me to come see her new Elfa Closet, I checked my jealously at the door and ran over to check it out. We all love a good closet story, right?

We’ve seen the promises of miracles on The Container Store website – the closets featured look so uncluttered and delightful. But what about elfa in the “real” world? I had to see it for myself, and of course, share it with you!

Before I show you the real deal, lets drool over some amazing Elfa closets from The Container Store website.

[click to continue…]

{ 3 comments }

I miss my old laundry closet in my last house. It was 2nd floor, and it’s only purpose was providing clean clothes.

Now I have a laundry room off the kitchen, which forces certain mudroom functionality on a space overwhelmed by needs, especially since I no longer even have a mudroom. There is great temptation to overwork this little space.

Here’s how the room looked when we moved in.

laundry room before

[click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }

Basements rarely get top priority when you move into a house. This was the case for us.  It was already finished when we bought it a year ago. Finished, but not particularly inviting. Dark gray walls, gray berber carpet, and mismatched furniture. We had other rooms to focus on.

But that all changed on a random August night – hurricane Irene was not kind to us.

But after adding a second sump pump with a battery backup, we fearlessly set out to refinish the finished basement. One catch – most of the furniture and many toys were lost in the great flood of 2011. So we started with a refreshingly clean slate.

We had the walls redone and carpet replaced, then we (meaning us, ourselves) painted the whole darn thing DIY style (whew). We opted for a lighter, neutral palate. While there is good height and many pot lights down there, it’s still a basement with only a few windows.

Below are some before and after pictures. But first, a few things to look for:

  • We added a yoga space.
  • We moved the TV to the former art nook, and move the art area to a more open space.
  • There is remarkably little furniture. But we did reuse the old mirrors we took out of upstairs bathrooms to create a fun dance area. Zumba, anyone?
  • Can you pick out the few pieces of furniture that made it?

[click to continue…]

{ 1 comment }