Garage Makeover with California Closets

Garages hold the spill over of life – holiday decorations, the boxes of junk your Mom dropped off for you to keep, leftover baby things in case you have another baby, keepsakes, lawn mowers and then your kids science project from nine years ago! Plus they have the everyday items like tennis shoes, gym equipment, bikes and extra paper towels! The garage functions much like a kitchen – it’s a workhorse room!

We had a goal to make the garage function better. We wanted more “sensible storage” because I was going mad not being able to find what I had when I needed it. This may sound weird but we wanted our garage to function like a room. An actual room. Why? Because then it would be treated like that – and not the dump room garages can become.

In my first blog post I share the beginning of our garage makeover with new flooring from Granite Garage Floors. Read more about garage flooring here.

I’ve been watching the “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” series and I like what she shows people can do with garages. So often people allow this to become stacked with junk with no rhyme or reason, making it very difficult to find the things you are storing and need.

Example: I love to garden and my husband enjoys washing his car. We both need access to all the tools that go with this. The kids need access to sporting equipment, tailgate wagons/tents, slime stuff that never goes away (when does that phase end?!), pool bags and more!

I met with California Closets (the same designer, Carmin, I met in this post about how to better organize my closet!) to come up with an affordable solution for storage that fit everything on my list and then some.

The result is magnificent! The garage has transformed into a very clean space, with each thing having it’s own spot. My personal favorite was the desk we built in which is where I keep my things to handle for the day like boxes, Goodwill donations and more. It keeps things off the floor, and it’s easier for me to see and reach!

I also love the way the swim bags hang. At a quick glance I’m able to say “ok, we have towel, sunscreen, goggles” before we head to the neighborhood pool.

If you’re investing in custom closets built I recommend:

Measuring the width, height and length of the big things you’re planning to store. This way you’ll know it will function specific to your needs.

Think through how you access things. If you need storage bags and pool. bags by the car, put that cabinet by the garage door entrance to make them easy to grab. We put sporting equipment furthest away from garage door because it wasn’t everyday items.

Add high storage cabinets for non-everyday items. Our are above the trash cans and hold lightbulbs, paper towels and decorations. Everything is out of the way, but useful when you need to get to it.

Utilize pull out baskets for everyday items. We have our kids baseball gloves there and my husband puts his gym equipment and gym shoes there.

Put cabinets on “feet” you so you can clean under them if you have spills.

The slime even has it’s own space! I love these cheap white containers from Container Store. They have handles to easily grab and you can label them!

We love our new cabinets and floor. The room stays super clean. You can mop the floor quickly which helps the space feel clean. Having a place for everything means you buy less (since you know what you have), saves time and functions much better! Totally worth the investment!

RELATED: Epoxy Garage Floor Before & After