Garage Organization Tour 2023

After a month and a half of updating our garage, it’s finally done! Here’s the full tour of our freshly organized garage and all the details on what we used so you can get the look in your own home.

You know when you’ve been working on a project for so long that you kind of forget what life was like before it? That’s what’s been happening here at the Burris house. We worked on the garage almost every day for a month and a half. I’m not going to lie, I started to burn out after the one month mark.

But we pushed forward, kept on purging, organizing, purging more, and organizing more, and the light at the end of the tunnel, or, slide-up door, finally peeked through. Ready to see the garage reveal and how we organized each of the three zones?

The Full Project List

Here’s a quick rundown of everything we did to update our 1970s garage:

• Empty entire garage, purge 50%, store the rest in a Pod
• Replace non-working garage opener
• Replace damaged ceiling tiles & repair leak
• Clean and coat floor with Rustoleum Rocksolid
• Install cabinets, countertops, and slat walls
• Empty Pod and purge some more
• Organize cabinets and slat walls
• Hang additional wall rails and pegboards
• Organize large storage totes on shelves
• Make new labels with Cricut

The Main Storage Zone

This area is where most of our “stuff” is stored. It doubles as a workspace for tools, projects, and home repairs. We used four tall cabinets with doors and four base cabinets with drawers from Modular Closets to give us the most accessible storage options. The wall above is covered in slat wall panels which allow us to hold tools and frequently used items on hooks for safety and ease.

The side wall holds tools, outdoor supplies, home improvement supplies, toys and sports equipment, and household backstock. I really wanted to be able to keep everything all in one place without getting “too specific” with categories. This loose separation will help me still be able to find things without feeling confined to one area, especially as the seasons change.

And the back wall is the home of all the random items that don’t really fit into a category at all. This spot will probably change the most over time, but since the remodel, we’ve found that it actually gets the most use. It’s also the spot where I started opening incoming packages so the boxes and trash don’t make their way into our house.

Inside Our Garage Cabinets

The cabinets I chose are full length, so they span from the entire floor to ceiling. I love that the shelves are adjustable, so I could customize the height to fit each cabinet’s specific needs versus trying to find containers that fit within the openings. And with the doors closed, they look so clean and uncluttered, even if they end up that way over time. (Spoiler, they are going to get cluttered, I’m sure.)

On this side, we keep all our paint, hardware, repair supplies, yard maintenance items, and pest control solutions. Since shelves have the tendency to get messy quickly, I corralled each category into a lidded container so things don’t get pushed to the back and accidentally spilled.

Most things are stored in regular tote bins, but we keep our bird seed and squirrel food in containers with a gasket lid so mice can’t get inside. The less enticing our garage is to a field mouse, the better!

The other side holds my son’s outdoor toys, entertaining items, sports equipment, pet carriers, and bike supplies. It’s basically “the fun zone.” I really tried to focus on easy access so my son would be able to put away his outdoor toys and find them on his own.

Garage Drawer Organization

The garage drawers are organized in a bunch of random ways. I didn’t want to invest in a huge amount of organizers, especially since I know they will likely change over time. So I used a mix of inexpensive plastic trays, recycled bins I was no longer using in the house, and bamboo drawer dividers.

Some drawers look really nice and sparse like these two tool drawers, and others aren’t so Pinterst-worthy. I focused most on how I could keep like-items together so we could actually find them without having to fumble with stacks of containers.

I call these two the Junk Drawers because they hold a lot of miscellaneous items, but they’re still separated into their own little trays. Truth be told, I can’t even remember where half of this stuff is most of the time, so having them all together in a drawer ends the all-out-search for electrical tape at 9pm.

Slat Wall Storage Solutions

The slat walls in the Main Storage Zone currently hold all my power tools on the side wall and frequently used household items on the back wall. I used hooks, baskets, and shelves to store them based on their size and weight. We got our slat wall panels and accessories from Modular Closets, too.

These baskets have been the most helpful so far. I can change up what’s stored in them seasonally and not have to worry about reconfiguring the whole wall layout.

I love all the hook options available, too. They’re so easy to unclip and move around. I spent an entire day just arranging and rearranging the hooks on the tool wall to find the best layout, and I’m sure I’ll change it agin at least three more times this year.

I’m also obsessed with my new logo sign on the side wall. I got it from Etsy and the creator did such an amazing job. It really makes the garage feel more like a room, which hopefully will mind-trick us into keeping it clean and tidy now. (Whatever works, right? Ha!)

The Lawn Care Zone

Moving to the other side of the garage, there are wall rails for holding all our lawn equipment. These work the same as the slat walls, but they’re much more affordable. The only difference is you just have one or two lines of rails to work with versus a whole wall of slats.

Rail system organizers are perfect for lawn equipment because most lawn and garden tools are long and narrow. I did add a second row under the higher rails to hold short items but the top row can still overlap. I also added a rail system by the cabinets on the Main Storage side to hold outdoor chairs and tables.

We do have a riding mower, too, so it usually lives right in front of the wall. To prevent oil leaks, slippery wet floors, and give us a clear place to park, we added an absorbent floor mat. I got the small size for the lawn mower and a larger size for the other side of the garage to park our car.

Lawn Equipment Charging Zone

We had an extra cabinet leftover when I decided to add a gap on the side wall for a workspace, so we put the cabinet here on this little opening beside the stairs. Since it’s next to the lawn equipment zone and there happens to be an outlet, we decided to make it a charging station.

All the batteries are stored in the drawer and the chargers live on the shelf. We can charge everything all in the same place and remember to put it all away when we’re done.

The top of the charging station holds everything we use to do yard work. It’s like a one-stop-shop to get ourselves and our equipment ready. There are also two metal pegboards beside this spot to hold smaller hand tools for gardening.

Grill Storage Solutions

I know, a grill doesn’t technically go in a lawn storage space, but sometimes you just have to work with what you’ve got. My husband likes to keep his grill in the garage and just rolls it out when it’s time to cook. I gave it a permanent parking spot under the window here and added a place for him to store all his supplies.

The metal pegboard makes stocking his utensils easy. Before, they were stored in our kitchen but since they’re so large it was hard to keep them all together. Now he can see everything at a glance and not have to dig through drawers and containers.

Another thing that has been really helpful is this rolling cart. It stays almost empty most of the time so when he’s prepping to cook he can fill it with all his food and supplies. Then he can just roll out the cart beside the grill for extra storage space. We also use this cart to fill up gardening supplies and car wash stuff, then roll it out to the driveway with us.

The Holiday Storage Zone

This spot didn’t change much since my last garage cleanup project, which means it was working for us. We have two plastic garage shelves in the corner that hold all our holiday and seasonal totes. I labeled them with my Cricut machine and added QR Code stickers so each bin would be searchable from my phone. This is really helpful for keeping inventory of seasonal items.

Related Post: How I Label My Garage Bins

Read it here

Our winter trees are stored in big rolling totes and since we don’t use that door (it’s a second entrance to our basement) I stood them up against it. Biff The Skeleton is currently hanging out on top of them, and our outdoor wreaths are hung on nails on the wall so they don’t get squished.

For now, the bikes are here too. I thought about putting them up on the wall but don’t really have a free wall for them and we use them often. Having them out and ready makes it faster and easier to go for an impromptu ride around the neighborhood after dinner.

See The Full Tour Video

If you want to see the full garage walkthrough plus get all my tips for organizing your own garage, here’s the most recent tour on Youtube. I show you inside every single drawer, cabinet, and nook, plus I cover how to get a similar look on various budgets. You can also get more inspiration from last year’s garage cleanup here.