Be happy with your garage space
As the first port of entry into your beautiful home the garage should be a pleasant “welcome home” but unfortunately this is seldom the case and we have experienced more than one marital disagreement over a messy garage.
A cluttered room leads to a cluttered mind.
Most garages are multi-use areas, primarily for parking cars but most often also used as laundry areas, a place for the chest-deep freeze and unfortunately a dumping area for everything else.
Plan out the garage space into well-defined areas for different categories of storage
Adding to the problem is that the garage is shared by the whole family, making it difficult to control and keep organised.
Simply hiding the mess behind closed doors is not the solution.
Step one could mean hiring a mini skip, take a day with the family and go through the cupboards and shelves. Make three Piles, throw away, keep and sell, they say “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” so don’t underestimate the value of those old books, the bikes the kids have outgrown or old roller-skates, selling second-hand goods on Marketplace is free, quick and easy. Then put the proceeds towards the makeover.
A mud room between the house and garage is a brilliant way to transition and define the area between house and garage, a mud room Panel with shelving and hooks is a good way to stop clutter landing up on the kitchen or dining room counters. Wallock has a compact Mud panel to neatly go on any wall at the entrance or exit between the home and garage.
Plan out the garage space into well-defined areas for different categories of storage, i.e. general, workshop, a gym area and your hobby’s, you don’t want to be looking for your golf balls in the laundry area or masking tape next to your Specialized bike.
Don’t separate items that are co-dependant
Don’t separate items that are co-dependant, a common mistake for example is all your power tools in one cupboards, then the batteries and chargers in another and the bits and blades in a third. My Makita drill, batteries, charger and all its bits and attachments are in one compact cabinet in the DIY section of my garage. My boards, leashes, fins, wetsuit, etc are on one wall, fishing on another, this makes finding things much quicker and easier.
Stacking high is a great use of space but makes access to these item difficult and dangerous, in our opinion the roof cavity should be reserved for the Christmas tree and anything else you only need once a year.
Wallock’s philosophy is to make better use of the accessible space between the floor and approximately 2,2m, this makes everything accessible, easier to find and more manageable. A basic rule is heavy item at the bottom and light, fragile or hazardous items safely up high.
You can never have enough shelves!
Permanent Fixed cupboards, cabinetry and work benches look great but don’t box yourself in, your sports and hobbies change, cars change, the kids grow up, so having a flexible and modular system that can grow with your adds, moves and changes is essential.
Mixing and matching racks from different suppliers detracts from the overall aesthetic and can look very disjointed.
You can never have enough shelves but once you have them you are going to overload, so avoid soft pine shelving that looks good when new but sags and breaks easily over time.
Unlike your house the garage is not climatically sealed from the elements so avoid metal brackets, frames, hinges and screws as these will rust over time (especially on the coast.)
We are passionate about creating the best storage systems on the planet!
Wallock has everything you need in one unique matching style, Chat with one of our consultants for sound practical advice and ideas, browse through our image catalogue for inspiration or request a 3D rendering of your dream garage.
The Wallock team will happily work with your architect or interior decorator on green field builds.
