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25 Best Accessories to Trick Out Your Garage

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A garage can be more than just a place to park your vehicles. It can also be your personal workshop, a place where you can work in peace and quiet. And that may be more important than ever while you’re trying to stay safe, healthy, and sane during the quarantine.

However, there’s no reason why your garage shouldn’t also be a fun place that reflects your personality. When you finish choosing a drill press and getting all of your other essentials, these are some of the best garage accessories and storage items.

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Before you can trick out your garage, make sure that it’s decluttered and organized.

Decluttering Your Garage

Maria Gatea at STORAGECafé  admits that keeping it neat and organized isn’t easy. “Most people see it as a good place for all things unsightly, from old chairs that don’t seem to suit the home anymore to toolboxes and kids’ stuff from before they went to college, all crammed into some unorganized boxes.”

“The garage is where most people keep their tools and equipment, from lawnmowers to gardening accessories, tool kits for car and house repairs, bikes and other sports accessories, not to mention all those boxes of stuff you took out of the house throughout the years. That’s obviously on top of your car, or cars – no wonder organizing this space is an issue for most families.”

She recommends that you take everything out of the garage  - cars, tools, equipment, and boxes of stuff. “Dust the walls and the ceiling and mop the garage floor.” Then, she recommends arranging the items you took out in multiple piles:  keep, donate, sell, recycle and throw away. “This will significantly reduce the amount of things you have to put back in the garage, especially if you’re realistic about the stuff you want to keep.”

However, Lisa Mark, a Certified Professional Organizer at The Time Butler, and a member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals, acknowledges that decluttering a garage can be overwhelming. She recommends breaking the project down into smaller, more manageable tasks.

“Whenever possible, use the KISS System – Keep It Simple, Sweetie: make an appointment and stick to it and then set a timer for 30-60 minutes.”  During that time frame, Mark recommends that you focus on one area of the garage, like a corner or a small cabinet. She agrees with Gatea that you should divide the items into piles, but offers this additional advice: “Be ruthless about what you keep that deserves a place in your home, and immediately take any items away for donation or trash to clear the space.”   

Organizing Your Garage

After you’ve decided what you’re going to keep, it’s time to organize your items. “Create designated sections for specific categories like tools, automotive, garden, utility, etc., since this makes it easier to find things as well as put them back,” says Liz Jenkins, a Certified Professional Organizer and owner of a fresh space.  She recommends installing shelving, cabinetry, or wall tracks that are study enough to hold boxes and take advantage of vertical space.

“Garages typically don’t have a ton of usable space if you want to park vehicles in there, so using the walls and any sections that a shelf or wall system can go is critical,” Jenkins explains. “Wall tracks can be used in narrower spaces for getting brooms, rakes, lawn tools, bikes, and more off the floor,” she says.  “Shelving & cabinetry give a place for bulky items and bins to live; overhead shelving racks are terrific for very infrequently used items like holiday or camping.” 

According to Denise B. Lee, Certified Professional Organizer and owner of Clear Spaces, garages are multipurpose spaces, which makes zoning really important.   “Think about a hardware store - each area of the store is dedicated to specific items, and that makes locating items much easier.” She recommends the same approach when assigning zones to areas in your garage.  “Items needed for cleaning the house might be handy if they are stored near the entry door into the home;  a workbench could be located at the back of the garage where it might be warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer than the front of the garage.”

Lee also recommends using shelves or storage racks to maximize storage, and says you should label everything so items are easy to find and also easy to put away.

“Cabinets - either wall-mounted or floor-mounted - provide a more streamlined appearance, but labeling is very important to help you locate the items behind closed doors.” She recommends grouping similar items in clear plastic boxes and bin.  

“Avoid cardboard, which is a bug magnet,” Lee warns. She also recommends taking advantage of high ceilings by outfitting them with storage racks to hold season or occasionally-used items.

“While having a garage organizing system installed would be ideal, it's outside of many people's budgets.” However, Lee says you should not underestimate the power of paint, storage rack, and cabinets in improving not only organization, but also the garage’s appearance.

Lesley Myrick, an Atlanta, GA-based interior designer, also recommends two more tips. “If the lack of lighting leaves you frustrated when working on projects, upgrade your overhead lighting so you can actually see what you're doing (and where all of your tools are hiding!, she says. “And once you get your garage functional and organized, a polished concrete or epoxy floor finish can make this utilitarian space feel like a real room. 

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