The average garage is a wasteland of otherwise useful items that fall out of use for lack of accessibility. The problem with many of the items in our garages is that there is no neat and organized way to store them either on the floor or in cabinets.
The solution for the awkward and bulky items that wind up in the garage is to get them off ANY flat surface and come up with a better way to store them. Here are a few ideas.
Slatwalls
Slatwalls are a versatile wall storage solution that, when properly installed, can be put to use in a number of ways. You can hang track shelving on a flat wall for items that can be easily set on a flat surface such as paint cans, chemicals and certain car parts like oil and air filters. The tools that you use to change your oil can be stored in convenient close proximity using pegs to suspend the tools you use most often.
Another advantage of slatwalls is that they are very sturdy when properly installed and many kinds are capable of holding a significant amount of weight. Consider installing a floor-to-ceiling slatwall in your garage to hang gardening and yard equipment and also keep larger items like bicycles and kayaks off the floor. Even better, you can store all the necessary accessories for these items in close proximity so you never lose them or spend hours searching for them.
Advantages of Storing with Slatwalls
Given the ideas already presented, there should be no question that slatwalls have significant benefits, but have you thought about all the possibilities?
Slatwalls allow you to get all those dusty boxes off the floor of the garage and visibly store everything in them. How many times have you spent hours looking for a specific item or tool only to discover months later that it was hiding in a box in the garage all along? That would never have been a problem if that wrench had been on a peg on your slatwall right next to the shelf full of fishing supplies that you “lost” in your last move. The examples are endless and so are the options for storing things in plain sight with the use of a slatwall.
Installing a good, sturdy slatwall can not only improve the organization of your garage, it can improve its aesthetic appeal as well. A garage (or any room) that is neat and organized instantly looks more functional and becomes far more useful. Case in point: if you get everything off the floor of your garage, you might actually even be able to park your car there!
