Situation: This garage had plenty of built-in storage but a mess was created when we decided to get rid of the off-site storage unit and consolidate everything into the garage. As with most organizing projects, there is usually temporary chaos before there is order.

Challenge: The back wall of this garage had built-in floor to ceiling, wall-to-wall shelves but they were completely full of childhood memories consisting of one large plastic bin per child per year.With three kids all of them at least in middle school, that meant a lot of bins!

Solution: We went through all of the kid’s  memory boxes. At first it was very hard for my client to get rid of childhood papers. She eventually became a champ at making decisions and letting go of enough memories so that each child’s memory items could fit into only one to two bins each. This reduced the storage bins from about 6-8 per child to 2 which gave us a lot more space to store items brought from the off-site storage unit. My client did an amazing job learning how to let go. Her kids still have plenty of great memorabilia to discover and uncover later!

Situation: A two-car garage that held a motorcycle and everything else but the cars! I love this case study because it is very typical of the most common garage challenges. There were fabulous built in cabinets, shelves and overhead storage available but they were difficult to access because of everything piled around and in front of them.

Challenge: The garage had served as a work-out room for awhile and then feel into disuse when the owners moved onto other fitness routines. So what to do with the equipment? There was a treadmill, step machine, free weights with incline bench and a punching bag.

Additionally, there were multiple bicycles and surfboards without a specific place to live.

Solution: We created a work-out room upstairs in a spare bedroom and the free weight and bench which are still useful for the new work-out routine will be moved up to that area. The stepper, treadmill and punching bag were donated to the San Pasqual Foster Academy which really needed the equipment to keep the boys happy. This created a lot more space.

We then took it one step further and hung up all of the grown-up bicycles from the ceiling keeping the daughter’s bicycle, mini-car and wagon accessible on the floor. The motorcycle will be sold in the near future to create even more space.

Once the main floor was cleared, we were able to get inside the storage units. We sorted, boxed and rearranged memories and holiday items and put them in the overhead storage area which opened up space in the easy-to-access cabinets.

With the open space, we were able to bring out entertaining supplies to the garage which helped to create more space in the pantry. We also created holding zones for various sports and activities including camping, triathalon, beach etc.

Another cabinet is now dedicated to household supplies bought in bulk.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of showing FOX 5 news viewers how to organize their garage. We used the actual supplies cabinet in the news Read the rest of this entry »

Here are a few answers to my most frequently asked questions:

Q) What Tools Do I Need To Organize a Garage?

Gather boxes, in all shapes and sizes along with a box of large trash bags.

Q) When Should I Begin?

The day after trash is emptied if possible.

Q) How Should I Begin?

To begin, remove everything from your garage. I know this sounds intimidating, but this is the only way you will clearly see what you are holding onto.

Start 3 piles outside Read the rest of this entry »

Before / After Case Study:

( Move mouse over picture for after )

The car had not seen the inside of the garage for quite some time (a few years) when I was called in to help. There was already built-in storage but simply too much stuff. For starters, everything had to come out of the garage. We purged and repacked the Holiday décor into large plastic bins. We arranged all Costco items on a shelf just inside the door for easy access. Many items were moved into the overhead storage area, some were donated.

We hauled a few to a consignment shop during our lunch break. As you can see, we still had a few rogue chairs which we moved to the front of garage. We scheduled a pick-up for upholstering the next working day. The holiday items were left lined up along the side of the garage since it was time to decorate the house the following weekend. After the holidays, the bins will be moved onto overhead storage.

The beautiful result at the end of the day was that one of the cars can now live comfortably in the garage!

What Our Clients Say:

“Your enthusiasm and energy made this project very enjoyable. You were
really good with creating systems and finding the space for all of my
clothes. I love my new closets.”

Ruth Rinek, La Jolla