Garage Cleanup

The Greshams enlist professional help to restore their garage to its intended purpose.

More from Mission: Organization
Filed under: Garages, Organization, Storage, Gardening, Storage Containers, Housekeeping

Racks and shelves keep gardening equipment off the floor, while plastic bins keep stray visitors out of the bird food. Tools are easy to find and return to their assigned spot.

Lisa and Steve Gresham, with their 15-year-old daughter, Khara, own a lovely home in the suburbs with a spacious three-car garage. Unfortunately, none of their cars will fit inside, since the space is being used as a dumping ground for sports equipment, gardening paraphernalia, unused furniture, seasonal decorations and random garage-sale finds.

One entire side of the garage is devoted to the haphazard storage of Lisa's gardening supplies.

The double garage, a spacious 22 by 17 feet, doesn't have room for a single car since garage-sale finds, unwanted sporting equipment, gardening supplies and decorations take up every single inch of floor space.

The sheer quantity of items that need organizing overwhelms the Greshams, so they park outside. Although they don't agree on what should stay or go, they are ready for a change. Their goal is to park two cars inside and use the other bay for storage.

Professional organizer Vicki Norris and garage expert Bob Spitz come to their rescue. Norris's first job is to dispel the myth that she will make them throw everything away. Rather, she will find a place for the things that are important to them.

She eventually helps the Greshams decide to donate many items, explaining that someone somewhere could actually use some of the things that are sitting in a neglected pile in their garage.

The garage gets a new stain-resistant floor, cabinets suspended from new walls, and specialized racks for sporting equipment.

Norris attacks the large furniture pieces first, most of which are donated to charity, to open up some floor space.

Next she has the Greshams sort the remaining things into categories such as holiday, recreation, memorabilia, garden and trash.

Once everything is sorted, like items will be stored in only one place. For example, all the sporting equipment is stored together in one spot, and all the car-maintenance items are stored together in another cabinet.

The recreation zone at the back of the garage keeps sporting equipment and bikes easily accessible and contained in one area.

Mildew-resistant plastic cabinets are suspended from walls built out from the garage’s original stone walls. Frames attached to the grooved wall hold different-sized cabinets.

Norris recommends keeping paper items inside, away from the damp and temperature extremes, or in weather-proof — not cardboard — containers.