Even with the slight nip still in the air (7oC and the 40 % chance of rain), you can tell spring is here.

With the sun peering out of the grey clouds, it’s time to put away most of our winter gear.

From heavy coats, to snow chains and tires. Where else, but in your already over-flowing garage?

The single car garage in a standard UK home, is about 10 by 20 feet (3.0 m × 6.1 m). With the standard size of garages in the UK staying the same for over 50 years and the fact that cars have steadily gotten longer and wider over the years, modern cars just don’t fit any more. This leads to many of us parking outside on the driveway or street.

This makes the garage fair game for ‘storing’ EVERYTHING. From broken toys to busted appliances, the torn golf bag to the three-legged dining table you got at that boot sale, our garages have steadily become mini junk yards. Kind of a catch-all for all the stuff in your house that has lost its’ way.

Isn’t it time you actually got some proper use out of that garage? You don’t need to break the bank to have an organised and functional garage. Regardless the size, you can organise it and carve out space that you didn’t know about, simply by following these steps.

Start with a massive clear-out.

Start this quest by actually opening the garage and seeing what tumbles out. If you are like most, you shove things in there and push the door shut. Not any more, mate. Take the time and bring out every item in the garage. You will be surprised at some of the items that will turn up from behind cabinets and under tables. Ask yourself how much of these you really need?

This clear-out has two functions.

• You get to see the whole interior; walls, floor, ceiling. You can properly examine them for any traces & signs of rot, mould or damp. We wouldn’t want you catching an infection working in your new and neat garage.

• Going through all the accumulated stuff, you may actually see items that you don’t need and is still in good condition. Head on to eBay or the nearest boot sale and flog it! Talk about getting paid for your effort.

Now that the garage is empty, and you can see where your new workshop will be, it’s time to do a little mapping.

Stage 1 Mapping:

First, note that you have suddenly quintupled your storage space. Yes, that means you have multiplied it by 5. By stripping your four walls and opening access to the roof, you have created more space to store stuff. By using strategically placed hooks and shelves on walls and ceiling, you will be amazed at how much floor space you can open up.

Stage 2 Mapping:

Create a floor plan of the ideal placement of the items you have left. These work zones can divide your garage into sections for automotive stuff, gardening tools and chemicals, sports kits etc. It can be as simple as a sketch on a napkin. It is simply to guide you when you start installing workbenches and cabinets.

Now choose what can go on the wall and what needs to be stored in a shelf.

Up, up, and out of your way.

Assuming your garage is the ‘standard’ UK size, use the walls to gain some extra storage space. To achieve this, you can go as complex as mounting a ready-made panel system that you anchor to your wall. These come with hooks and different sized shelves built in.

The advantage of this is you put only a few holes in the wall to mount the system. The downside is that most of them are quite large and will be hard to fit if you have a small garage.

An minimalist alternative is to simply whack in a few nails, studs and hooks into your wall. The downside to this is that you will end up a fair number of holes in your wall. But hey, what’s a garage without a few scuffs, dents and dings, eh? One way around this is to consult the plan you made before and choose the items that can be mounted and hammer in ONLY hooks for these.

From bicycle hooks (so you can hang bikes vertically on the wall) to infrequently used power tools to gardening tools and even large sporting gear such as golf bags, you can store many unwieldy items using hooks. Gardening tools can be stored vertically on secure hooks so that they are easy to get to when you need them and they’re out of the way when you don’t.

Safety tip:

Don’t store ladders leaning against the wall. This is dangerous and can easily topple over and land on a car or a person. Ladders are best stored against the wall at floor level, or stored on hooks.

Part 2 here