Freshening Up the Garage

Last week we hired some painters to repair several areas of drywall damage and repaint our garage walls and ceiling. Even the doors and windows!  Cue the cheering!! If you're thinking what's the big deal about a garage, then let me tell you a little secret. When I walk by homes with neatly organized, clean garages, I experience what I'll frankly call ENVY. Bikes standing or hanging nicely, sporting equipment contained in appropriate containers, shoes stacked by the door, it all calls to me so temptingly. I'm drawn to it like a moth to a flame, imagining that if that area is clean and neat, the inside of the house must be awesome.

For this project we had to move everything into the middle of the garage and then start from scratch putting it all back. We got rid of anything that didn't serve a purpose. I think we had moved some things in ten years ago and never touched them again. Our paint collection had definitely gotten out of hand. Old shoes, electrical and plumbing supplies we were saving for a rainy day, a filing cabinet, extra dry wall and plywood, and more miscellaneous junk than I want to admit, finally moved out!

Here are some pictures taken right after the painters left...

Is it weird that I was excited to arrange things on this wall of shelves?

I even told my husband several times not to start without me. (No worries there!) A side note on the garbage can...If you're a mom without a "circular file" next to your vehicle, you're missing out. It really cuts down on the number of papers, "art" projects, little toys, etc. that would otherwise make their way into your house to drive you insane. It's even become a family joke over the years. My kids know if it makes it past that garbage can, ahem, circular file, it must be something pretty special!

Back to garage organization...You can really go wild buying things to organize the garage, but since we had a wall of built-in shelves and several free standing units, I thought we'd be fine. I did buy this 4 foot long folding table to sit just outside the door to the kitchen.

Both my boys play lacrosse so I can store their gear under it instead of right in the middle of the floor. Flat spaces are prime real estate in our house, so I'm sure this table top will be heavily used. Is it crazy that I'm looking forward to deciding just what I'd like to hang on these empty hooks? Tell me I'm not the only one who gets a little giddy at filling empty hooks and shelves. I'm thinking that pool bags and towels will be the first things that get hung up here as swim season is only a month away.

I'm not naive enough to think we'll always keep it this organized, but a girl can dream, can't she? And no matter what, it's a vast improvement over this obstacle course I documented in Missing the Messes!

So now that you know about my secret garage envy, it's time to spill your guts. Is there a space that you see in other people's homes that always brings out your little green monster?