Scavenger Chic

Garage Makeover with DIY Storage Shelves

• By Joan
• August 21, 2024
• 5 Comments

Garage Makeover with DIY Storage Shelves

Do you have that room in your house that you’ve been ignoring for years?  That room that you keep stuffing things into but never actually clean? 

That’s my garage.  Our 30+ year old garage has taken a lot abuse over the years.  It was painted about 29 years ago when hunter green was actually a popular color.  (Is it coming back?)

Miraculously, we can still park our cars in the garage, but we’re constantly squeezing around all the stuff packed along the sides.

It’s past time for organization.  It’s time for a garage makeover.

Notice the wood ladder between the two bikes, that was the beginnings of my display shelving from last week.

The tape in just about all of the seams in the ceiling had pulled away and was only being held on by the paint that was covering it.

After 30 + years of dirt , grime, salt and oil drips, the concrete floor was badly stained and ugly.

This is what happens when you start patching holes and seams and you realize that there are a lot more nicks and gouges than  you at first thought.

All the nicks have been filled, the seams have been retaped , respackled and  sanded, and the walls and ceiling are enjoying a fresh coat of paint after 30 years.

What should I do with the dirty, oil stained floors?  Mention to Hubby that I would absolutely love a finished floor for my birthday this year.  He is always happy to get a gift suggestion!

Yes you can do a paint chip epoxy floor finish yourself, but after spackle, paint and sanding in a very hot garage, I was ready for the professionals.

It’s so beautiful, I hate to load it back up.

What did happen to all that stuff that was crammed into the garage?  It is now stuffed into my family room and is looking for a home.  A lot of this junk made it’s way to the dump.  Many items that I was saving for that perfect project had been sitting around way too long.  A lot of the kids sports equipment was donated.

Piece by piece I had to make my way thru every single item pictured here.  There were so many layers of junk that  a lot of it was stuff I forgot I had, or if I did remember, there was no way I could get to it even if I wanted to.  It was amazing that even with all this stuff, we were able to still park 2 cars in our garage.

Storage Shelves

And now to organize, I’m thinking bins and shelves.  I happily took down the old wire shelving.

These won’t be my first 2×4 storage shelves.  I previously made shelving for my storage room back in January of 2016.  Since those shelves are still going strong, I need to repeat the process for the garage makeover.  The ceiling height in the storage room was only 7ft.  With an extra 2 1/2 feet of ceiling height in the garage I have room for  an extra layer of bins.

Build your shelves out of 2×4’s.   I have a  9 1/2 foot ceiling height in my garage, plenty of room for 4 shelves.

I’m using 6, 8ft 2×4’s cut to 92″ for my support pieces

20, 10ft long 2×4’s for the shelves (5 2×4 ‘s  for each shelf)

And 12 , 20 inch shelf supports.

There is 21″ between each shelf, plenty of room for storage bins.

Screw your shelf supports onto the corner support pieces with  2 1/2″ deck screws or builders screws to create a ladder.

The floor of my garage  slopes toward the door allowing for drainage.  If I hold my newly built ladder against the wall, it will not fit square.   Use a level to determine how much to trim off the support closest to the wall so the ladder stands perfectly upright.

Now for your shelf tops.  I only attached a few 10 ft 2×4’s  before standing my shelves upright.

Screw from the sides and the top.

For safety ,I  wanted to screw my shelves to a stud but didn’t plan far enough ahead to actually hit one with the upright shelf supports. Those 2 blocks of wood are screwed into a stud and the upright pieces are then screwed into  the blocks of wood.

As my shelves are built right now, I could fit 30 bins on the shelves…15 on each side including the top and the floor.  Unfortunately,  all my junk doesn’t fit neatly into bins.  Especially that pressure washer on the lower left.

As I emptied my family room, I decided where my last shelves should be placed.

Customize your shelf placement for your stuff and your convenience.

This was the final  shelf configuration.   All the bins are labeled so I can find things so much easier.  Wood was moved to my wood pile, doors and shutters to the shutter and door pile.

My car fits comfortably, bikes hang from the wall taking up less space.  There is a place for golf clubs and even the extension ladder is up off the floor.

As always, stay inspired.

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