I meant to get this out earlier, how did Thursday get here so fast?!?!
I just went through the
This isn’t even really the before I started pulling things on to the back deck before I realized I should take a before. The whole problem with this thing is the organization "style" of the previous owners/renters. It went something like this: Oh you have something you want to hang up? Stick a nail in the wall, how about another? and another? Or you have something a little bigger how about a freaking redonkulous shelving unit made of three inch thick lumber? And support that with a wimpy 2×4 so it only looks sturdy and indestructible. 
(that would be the white shelves there, so handy at about ten inches deep). And see that board behind the bikes? Turns out it’s a piece of sheetrock. I mean what?
We really were not utilizing this space well at all. And don’t let the wide angle fool you, the garage is a whopping 9 feet wide, so no car will fit in there (if you want to open your doors). So I did what I always do in this situation, got out the graph paper and made a drawing to scale. With little movable piece of furniture and shelves. The result?
Heaven. The tool chest is open because Bj was working on a project, but you get the idea. We still have a little work to do. Like finally finishing those doors in the back (but hey, at least they’re primed now). This is some serious good progress. We ripped about five hundred (okay 175) nails from the walls and took down all the hokey scrap wood shelves to make this Ikea beast:
It’s Broder baby! I’m excited about it now, but that’s after two trips to Ikea (an hour away) because they were out of a key component (the wall supports). That is all our camping and Christmas stuff in there, and still lots of empty bins! The big space is for Bj’s backpacking gear, he just needs to hang up hooks before he drags all that up from the basement. Speaking of the basement; now that the little storage room down there is free of things that should have been out here all along I’ve been able to get my art cabinet down there and free up more space in the corner of the garage.
That is another Ikea unit, an Antonius system of drawers. We have all our screws, nails, bungees, etc. up here now too. Also freeing up space?
Proper use of rafters. We’re not really sure about the weight limits of our plywood shelf so right now it has old stretcher bars and canvases of mine, the chairs I’ve yet to paint, and our gigantic tent. We also stuck the old french doors that I found in the basement up there. Bj wanted to get rid of them but I just can’t do it, they are so charming and you know someday maybe we could put them somewhere.
So everything is cleaned out, the craftsman cabinet Bj inherited was a big project. He cleaned it I organized and labeled everything. The bike stand is installed (though my low step bar frame doesn’t actually fit on it, just under). Ladders are hung. We just need to make a work bench and do a few little things. Perhaps our favorite fix can be seen on that first after shot of the garage. See that basket hanging from the garage door? When I first moved in I had no mail box or slot. In old neighborhoods like this the mailman walks around and will bring mail up to your house if you have a slot. So I knew I wanted one, but the door didn’t have the right front for cutting one out. I asked my (super friendly and nice) mailman if I could put it in the garage door instead, he said no problem. So our mail has been going all over the floor in there for almost two years. We’ve tried putting baskets and bins under the slot but it always misses. I had thought of a hanging basket a while ago but never implemented it. My friends it’s genius. It’s on two cup hooks hooked into the garage door. Then I took wire clippers and made holes in the cheap target paper bin, and threaded it on the hooks. It doesn’t even need to be taken off to open the door! And then mail? Right in the bin, every time. Ahhh success.
So that was a pretty long post just about my garage but we did spend three entire days working only on that and I’m very happy to have it done. I’ll see if I can come up with something a little more creative to share soon. Oh and Bj wanted to share this:
"Bj what are you taking pictures of?"
"The new bike rack."
"Why?"
"For your blog"
Hmm okay. Well there you go blog readers, a new bike rack. You may notice, as I did, that it only holds one bike. Not exactly picking up on the fun couple activity joint bike riding is, is he? Grrr. He said he had to test it out first. I hope another is on the way!
