Looking to declutter your three-car garage or build more space? The trick is to make the most out of every square inch with some clever planning. It’s all about working smarter, not harder so we have some garage organization ideas you should know.
It doesn’t matter if you’re using your additional garage stalls for vehicle storage, a makeshift man cave, a workshop, a yoga studio, or a gym. There’s always a way to free up some space and make your garage more efficient. To accomplish this goal, you’ll need to get creative in how you organize your space.
Before owning a three-car garage, you might think to yourself, “If only I had a three-car garage. There’s no way I’d ever run out of room!”
Then, you own one. You either buy a house with a roomy three-car garage or add stall to your existing garage. It starts great. You have plenty of room to store your vehicles and space to relocate some of the clutter currently taking up your basement, like the boxes of Christmas ornaments or an old treadmill you’ve meant to get rid of.
But sooner than later, boom, you’re out of space and are scraping frost off the windows of your car on a dreary winter morning because it doesn’t fit in your warm and cozy garage. As your fingers go numb, you ask yourself, “How the heavens did I run out of room?”
Almost certainly, the answer is one of two things:
To help you on your mission to improve your garage storage, we’ll share three ways you can do just that.
Feeling overwhelmed by the thought of reorganizing your big three-car garage? Don’t sweat it! With some cool storage solutions and a sprinkle of creativity, you can turn that cluttered mess into an organized haven that’ll make your life easier and wow your guests.
Check out our ideas below, and get ready to take notes!
Before clearing out the garage or breaking ground on the addition, you’ll want to take an inventory. Make a note of everything currently occupying your garage, plus all the things that are not currently in your garage but need to be. Grab a pen and paper and jot everything down.
Once you have a complete list, try to organize them by stall. Keeping the related items together makes managing and maintaining your organization much easier.
For example:
First Stall
Second Stall
Third Stall
Making a master list helps with two big things. First, you’ll figure out just how much storage you need. And when you start adding shelving units or changing things up, you’ll know exactly how much room you need for everything. No guesswork needed!
Second, you’ll organically realize that you’re hoarding some stuff you need to get rid of in your garage. The dust accrued on each item will let you know what you no longer need.
It’s probably safe to toss out the old Cheeto-stained college futon you’ve held onto for its sentimental value, a no-longer-functioning or in-vogue tape deck, the broken lawnmower, spare mini fridge, etc.
When completing your garage storage project, leave room for new additions. Clearing out unnecessary items now will free up space later.
Stuffing items side-by-side from garage door to wall and/or stacking items vertically in your garage like a fateful game of Jenga is the surest way to run out of garage space in a hurry. You want to use both the horizontal and vertical space available to you, but you want to do so in the most optimal way: shelving.
There are plenty of options when selecting a shelving solution for your three-car garage. You want to add enough shelving for your needs without covering every wall and turning your garage into a shelving mausoleum.
With a three-car garage, you’ll have five walls to work with (two long side walls and three shorter top walls framing each stall). Depending on your needs, only use two or three of the walls for shelving.
You’ll want to use at least one of your long side walls for shelving, as the side walls offer you the most storage capacity. If you utilize the vertical space your garage provides with some solid, multi-purpose shelving units, you’ll be able to house all of your belongings in an organized manner.
Be creative and consider working with professionals to design custom shelves. Allow some room to hang larger tools like shovels, weed trimmers, leaf blowers, tree clippers, golf clubs, hockey sticks, etc.
If you plan to have a sizable workbench to house your tools, save one of the side walls for a pegboard to house all the extras. Don’t have a ton of tools? Great, consider utilizing a fold-down workbench to save even more room.
Keep your organized list in mind when you’re placing items on your shelves. You’ll want to be able to quickly locate your box of Fourth of July decorations when you need it – instead of spending half a day sifting through the boxes of Halloween and Easter decorations.
Though it might take an extra hour or two to label everything now, it will save you countless hours over the long term.
Once you’ve completed your garage addition or reorganization, the key is to maintain the organizational principles that you’ve established. Remember the cautionary tale of the poor sap scraping his frozen windshield because his garage was too cluttered to shelter his car? You don’t want to be that person.
There will undoubtedly be a time when you’re taking a box to the garage during a commercial break of a game or your favorite TV show. We’ve all been there before.
You’ll be tempted to do the easy thing:
Purge those thoughts the way you purged your old tape deck! Take the extra time and place the box where it belongs and where it will be easily found the next time you need it.
Organization is a lot like hitting the gym – getting in shape is a grind, but falling out of shape? That’s easy. Same goes for getting your garage sorted. It’s hard work to make it look smart and slick, so don’t mess it up by letting things slide.
Have you heard of garage ceiling nets? Your ceiling provides you with a ton of unused space that’s perfect for rotating storage of seasonal items. These nets aren’t ideal for heavy items, but they’re perfect for seasonal decorations or sentimental items you don’t expect to pull out more than once a year.
Along with garage ceiling nets, drop-down ceiling storage options are better suited for heavier items. This is the perfect spot to store your overflowing boxes of yard ornaments or home decor trinkets that you’re holding onto for friends or family.
One more way you can utilize your garage’s ceiling space is with ceiling bike racks! Bicycles are great for fun and exercise, but they take up a ton of space on the ground. Even traditional wall racks cause the bikes to stick out, which takes away from your precious storage space and the flow of your garage. Get a ceiling rack to hang your bicycles on.
Pro Tip: This rack can easily be used to store other items during times of the year when you prefer to leave your bikes more accessible.
We often rely on our memories to help us find items after they are binned and placed on a shelf. However, when you’re searching for a specific item six months later, this can easily lead to disaster. Suddenly, you find yourself digging through a ton of bins and wreaking havoc in your previously pristine garage to find that one item you needed.
Prevent this problem before it ever happens by color-coding everything in your garage. Use different colored bins for holiday decorations, lawn care items, auto repair tools, spare bicycle parts, etc.
If you decide to go with custom shelving units, then you can easily color-code the entire unit! However, if you stick with a more traditional option like wire shelving, then you’ll definitely want to rely on color-coded bins (and maybe invest in a decent label maker).
