This is a guest post by John Gregory, a design consultant with Bullion Coatings, in Houston, Texas.
A garage is probably one of the most neglected areas in a house. It is often seen and used as a place to park your car. Some use it as a storage area for items you don’t want seen or are not often used inside the house. Although it is often used as a storage area, it doesn’t mean that it can be left cluttered all the time. Not only will it be an inconvenience for you, it would also be a total eye sore for anyone who sees it. Fortunately, there are surefire tips you can consider to turn your garage into an ideal storage area and car park. A bit of warning though: you might not want to leave that area after such transformation.
Install Storage Cabinets and Shelves
You know that you can’t put all your stored items on the garage floor itself. Well, that is unless you are capable of parking your car on the wall. Installing cabinets and shelves is very important in making your garage a lot more organized. Not only does it free some space on the floor, it also makes everything easier to find when you need them. Opt for cabinets with doors for items that need to be protected from dust and naughty hands. These can be used to store paint, chemicals, and sharp objects. As for items that are less harmful and more commonly used, you can put open shelves against a wall to store them at. Make sure that the cabinets and shelves you install are of the right size to accommodate your stuff. If in doubt, hiring a professional organizer will totally save you from stress and frustration.
Sort and Label your Items
You could put paint cans in one area and then tools in another to make searching and storing a lot easier and organized. This may require time but it will benefit you tremendously in the long run. Labeling your items will also make things easier to find, especially if you have to send someone else to get it for you. If you hate your handwriting, you can have your labels printed on sticker paper.
Give your Floor Some Love
No, kissing and hugging is not an option here. One of the most abused areas in a garage is the floor. It is an area where your car is parked, where heavy items are stored, and where chemicals are used and spilled. You can marvel all you want at your beautiful storage cabinets and your perfectly printed labels but if your floor is all chipped, stained, and broken, the transformation is not complete. You might want to consider a garage floor resurfacing project. One of the trends nowadays is using an epoxy sealer on the floor. This can help make it a lot more durable, easier to clean, and way more gorgeous than it has ever been. You can ask professional concrete contractors who specialize in this type of floor installation to help you flip your garage from hideous to oh-so-gorgeous!
A big thanks to John Gregory for this contribution. John works at Bullion Coatings, in Houston, Texas – the place to go if your floor needs some love!