Before and After: This Garage Makeover Manages a Huge Mountain of Stuff
A tale as old as time: you find yourself with the luxury of space—a shelf, a closet, a garage, a basement—and then you observe yourself slowly but surely filling it. Suddenly, there are piles and heaps and plenty of shame. One hardy soul managed to turn things around, creating a garage that’s a joy rather than embarrassment. Let’s all get inspired to clean up our own messes!
Here’s how the garage’s owner described the space before:
In the past 4 years, I’ve been slowly adding items and items to the garage and before I knew it, it just became a mountain of junk. It was an eyesore every time I pulled into the garage to park my car and I was so embarrassed when neighbors would walk by and peek in.
I decided to make a change because I was so embarrassed every time I opened the garage or when friends came over. Also, I couldn’t find anything in the garage so it was time to make a change.
Feeling embarrassed and overwhelmed is the worst, and it’s worth celebrating whenever anyone overcomes it. Let’s see how this refresh turned out . . .
Who knew a garage could be fun and poppy? The paint provides personality and brightness—the yellow is amazing with the concrete floor—and the storage units are practical. The whole thing isn’t trying to be too styled or perfect: it’s a garage after all. I salute all of the flexible, helpful storage choices made by Jane Ko of A Taste of Koko—and the pool float adds the perfect amount of flair.
This gives you a fuller sense of the accumulation Jane was dealing with; what did it take to go from unfinished and cluttered to bright and tidy?
About one month to purge, clean, paint, and install shelving. Cost around $1000 for paint, RubberMaid Fast Track system, shelving, and storage bins. No outside help!
That is a lot of money—I don’t mean that Jane made any poor choices, just that grown-up things are expensive. It seems like $1,000 should get you all sorts of fun, but in reality it just covers paint and straightforward storage systems.
Fortunately, it sounds like Jane is getting a lot of enjoyment out of this investment, so money well spent!
LOVE my new yellow garage – the bright, cheery color makes me so happy every time I open the garage! I’ve even started working out of my garage. Everything is off the floor and organized and sorted into storage bins. The new shelving allows me to also organize and have things displayed on the wall. I use to have a mountain of shoes and the shoes are now sorted into their own cubby! Wouldn’t do anything differently.
Feeling happy to arrive home is precious and priceless, as is having a place for everything and everything in its place. Being able to find what you need when you need it is a sort of freedom.
Again, who knew that a shelf of storage bins could be cute? That yellow makes everything pop, these colors work so well with the paint, floor, and doughnut, and the shelf’s placement makes the most of that little nook. And hanging bikes is always a good idea—they can create such chaos when they’re free range.
Now that this garage makeover is complete, Jane has a bit of wisdom to share:
Purge and clean your garage first. Evaluate what items you need and don’t need. From there, you can consider what kind of shelving is necessary and storage options. Also, paint your garage a fun color! It’s unconventional to paint the walls of a garage but you go in there every day don’t you? Garages are always that room that is neglected in a home because it’s just where you park your car but it can be so much more.
Thank you Jane Ko and A Taste of Koko!