Our New Easy & Affordable Garage Organization

Today I am excited to show off the new, affordable shelving option we built to add storage in our garage.

This post is sponsored by HomeRight.

I told my husband earlier this summer I was really hoping to figure out how to park my car in the garage before it got cold. I really hate cold weather, I am already dreading those freezing cold mornings when I have to go out before dark to get kids to school–I know I am thinking ahead since it’s in the 90s here right now but #priorities!

Above is the not pretty “before”. Our garage, like most garages, is a catchall for pretty much everything–sports equipment, a lawn mower, seasonal decor, leftover paint and all the DIY tools I have accumulated over the years as well as my husband’s ever-growing collection of hunting and fishing equipment not to mention all our bikes, which we ride all the time. Even though I’d tackled this space several times to try to organize it, we still weren’t at a point where we had enough open space to park a car in it. We talked about the option of getting a storage shed for the back of the house, but they are expensive and our yard has a downhill grade which made that an even more involved project.

We looked on Pinterest for some inspiration and came across this photo below (I could never find the source, I tried hoping for a step-by-step tutorial) of hanging bikes with storage over top. My husband thought it would be pretty easy to recreate, and this way the bikes would be out of the way, so he set about designing a plan. (I’ll list what we used at the end).

I am sure he thought it was a little overboard, but when he brought the wood home I told him I wanted to make sure it looked nice so I got out my HomeRight Super FinishMax and gave all the wood a few coats of white paint. In a perfect world, our garage walls would be painted and the floors sealed for extra beauty out here, but I got painting quotes before we moved in and had to admit it would be a waste of money. At least this storage set up looks a little bit better without it being made of raw wood.

Painting the wood only took a few extra hours and I think it looks so much better white. Painting with the Super Finish Max is so easy, and the HomeRight Spray Shelter contains all the paint overspray. I did forget to pick up a large drop cloth, so our grass got a little bit of decoration but we’re beginning a landscaping project out here this fall so I am not worried about it.

I gave all the wood two quick coats of paint, the sprayer even allows you to angle it so you can hit the sides of the boards too all at once which made it go super fast. All in all, it took less than 30 minutes to spray, plus drying time. By the end of the day everything was dry enough to start the build. I love how uniform it looks with the boards (at least the sides that show) being painted white.

My husband started by building two ladder style supports for the sides. The reason being, if we decide we no longer need bike storage, we can easily add more shelving with this design. He then constructed the top of the shelf to hold bins of outdoor gear that had been taking up space on the floor.  Bulkier items can get tucked in the back.  If you are wondering if it’s bolted to the wall, it isn’t. Which means we can move it or even take it with us should be move. It is plenty sturdy even without the walls supporting it.

For now, this is where we’ve left off on the project but there is more to come. We ordered this wall bike rack and will hang our four bikes on it underneath. I’ll be back to share final photos once that arrives.

Even now with just the bikes tucked underneath we have so much more space. The garage is finally starting to come together and this part of our home is finally working for us instead of against us! We used approximately 17 2″ x 4″ x 96″ pieces of wood (from Home Depot) and a $10 box of screws, and used leftover white paint so for less than $60 we gained all this storage.

The height is just over 6′ tall to accommodate our largest bike. I am including the cut measurements if you want to get the wood pre-cut, Home Depot will usually do this for free, see below for more info.

I used my trusty Super Finish Max Paint Sprayer and a Large Spray Shelter, which are great for so many projects (see more of what we’ve done here), you can get your own below.  I definitely could have left this unpainted but to me, it was worth the extra bit of time to make it look more polished. Plenty of friends and family come and go through our garage in reality so it’s not a bad thing to have it pulled together.

Here are the project specifics. 

He used this drill, which is a powerhouse and these screws (we purchased a 1 lb. box)

4 upright legs are 2 x 4 cut to 80 inches.

Top is 2 x 4 cut to 72 inches x 2 pcs.

Top slats are 2 x 4 cut to 34 inches x 13 pcs (secured approx 2.5 inches apart)

Side slats tying legs together are 2 x 4 cut to 28 inches x 10 pcs.  (5 pcs per side. )

Supports to legs are 2 x 4 cut to 12 inches x 4 pcs (just under top 72 inch and screwed to legs.

Diagonals are 2 x 4 cut to 19.5 inches x 2 pcs (on back only, but left the option open to add them to the front.)

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We still have a few projects left to finish up this garage once and for all but in the end, it should look halfway decent. A big thank you to my husband for making this happen, he’s one of those guys that prefers fishing to DIY’ing so I appreciate that this was an effort on his part to make me happy.

I’ll be back with a final post and a giveaway for a Super Finish Max as soon as we get the bike rack and get it installed, it’s due to arrive next week so once it’s up I’ll share final photos. Stay tuned!

XO,

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