Garage Storage Ideas

When you're thinking of garage storage ideas it helps to make a list of what you want to store so that you can figure out where it's all going to fit.

I'll start you off by having a go at making a list.

• Your wheels (of course)
  
• Car maintenance equipment (eg hose, chamois leather, oil)
• Workbench and tools.
• Garden equipment (eg lawn mower, strimmer, garden hose, garden tools, fertilizer)
  
• Bikes
• Sports equipment (eg balls, golf clubs, tennis rackets, hockey sticks)
• Winter sports equipment (eg skis, ski boots, sledges)
• Water sports equipment (eg small sail boats, canoes, windsurfers, surf boards)
• Pet stuff (eg kennel / hutch and food supplies)
  
• Laundry - maybe you have the laundry in your garage.
  

This page is part of the garage design series.

There are lots of manufacturers out there with great garage storage solutions on offer.  I've gathered some pics of them for you towards the end of this page.

On this page I'm going to concentrate on whereabouts in the garage the storage can go and the effect this has on garage dimensions and layout. 

We'll take a look at

• Wall storage
• Roof storage

Wall Garage Storage

High level cabinets

First of all let's consider storage mounted on the upper parts of the walls in a garage.  The beauty of this idea is that, if mounted high enough the car doors can swing underneath the storage, so this is a good storage solution for garages on the small side.

Here's what it would look like on a floor plan.

Lower level or whole wall cabinets

Now let's move on to take a look at storage which takes up space on the lower parts of the walls.  I've assumed the same depth as a kitchen cabinets. 

First of all we'll just add lower wall garage storage to one wall.

From above in floor plan view this looks like this below.  Notice how the storage arrangement means it makes sense to have the garage door placed off centre.

What if we add wide storage to both sides the garage?  Here you go...

Here's what that arrangement would look like on a floor plan.  You can see here that there's also storage in front of the car.

Here's another set up with one side with base and wall storage and the other with narrower shelving.

Here's what that set up looks like in floor plan view.  Once again this is an asymmetrical arrangement and the door needs to be placed off centre.

Roof storage

Using the roof for garage storage is a popular option.

There are three main areas to consider:

1. The area above the hood / bonnet of your vehicle.  This is only an option if you don't need to walk into that area of the garage.
2. The central roof area.  The depth of storage available depends on the height of your garage and what headroom you want to have left.  If you have an apex roof on the garage you can consider opening up the roof space to storage.
   
3. Above the garage door.  The amount of storage that will be available here depends on the height of your garage door.  Of course, if you have older style doors which open to the outside you'd have the same depth of storage available as the central area.
   

Garage storage ideas in real life

So far it's been all about where to put your storage.  Here's a few pics of some garage storage ideas in real life.

More garage design for you...

More room design for you...