5 DIY Garage Storage Ideas You Can Make Over the Weekend

Trying to fit your car back in the garage before winter arrives? Apart from cleaning out your garage, there are a few DIY garage organization ideas that can help solve your current clutter conundrum. But before you cover your garage floor in saw dust, make sure you have these tools handy:

Level
Nail Gun
Chalk Line
Circular Saw
Clamps
Cordless Drill
Hammer
Jigsaw Miter Saw
Safety Glasses
Sander
Sawhorses
Socket & Ratchet Set
Straightedge

Stud Finder
Tape Measure

Once you’ve donned your tool belt, you can start working through these DIY garage storage ideas to restore order to your garage. Some of these projects may be challenging if you’re new to the DIY game. Make sure you have a more experienced DIYer with you in case you get a little in over your head.

Storage Solution #1:

Extension Cord Hanger

Difficulty Rating: Novice

Extension cords are essentially scaled-up versions of spaghetti noodles, only they conduct electricity a whole lot better. With this quick DIY garage storage idea from Simply Easy DIY, you can ensure your cords remain untangled and readily accessible when not in use. All you have to do is roll the cord around the hooks on opposite ends of the hanger and then place it on any old hook in your garage. It’s super-easy to build, requiring just these three items:

One 24×6-inch backer board.
Two 2×4 pieces cut to 3.5×1.5 inches.
Two 6×1.5-inch front pieces.

Storage Solution #2:

DIY Garage Shelves

Difficulty Rating: Experienced

Shelving is a great garage organization idea you can easily DIY. Ana White’s plans for building a 20-foot long garage shelving unit is just what you need to find a home for all those bins and boxes sitting on your garage floor. Even better, the design is so simple that your shopping list will only have five items on it:

Ten 10-foot long 2x4s for the legs.
Sixteen 20-foot 2x4s for shelving.
One-pound box of 2.5-inch self-tapping wood screws.
One-pound box of 2.5-inch screws.
Elmer’s wood glue.

Storage Solution #3: DIY

Magnetic Tool Holder

Difficulty Rating: Novice

Perhaps the easiest DIY storage option for the garage is to build your own magnetic tool rack. Rather than keeping all of your tools jumbled together in a toolbox, you can simply slap them on the magnetic holder attached to your new shelves. You can either buy a magnetic strip online or build individual brackets using Make: magazine’s how-to. If you go the DIY route, all you need is:

Your choice of bar magnet (ceramic is cheap and easy to find).
Steel sheet metal cut to fit around your magnet.
Two screws.

Storage Solution #4: DIY

Garage Cabinets

Difficulty Rating: Expert

Rather than dropping hundreds of dollars on a brand-new cabinet, you can build a few DIY cabinets in the $100 to $500 range, depending on how much organizing your garage needs. One potential blueprint you can follow comes from The Family Handyman Magazine, featuring 80 cubic feet of storage and sliding plywood doors. The instructions are easy to follow, and the project itself should only take you a day to finish. Before you mount them to the wall, account for where your car will be parked. Mounting them on the wall opposite your garage door should give you plenty of wiggle room.

You’ll need these materials from the hardware store:

Three 4×8 sheets of ¾-inch plywood for panels and shelving.
Two 4×8 sheets of ¼-inch plywood for the door panels.
Eight 8-foot 2x2s for framing.
Four feet of 1×2 shelving cleats for every 24-inch shelf.
Sixteen ¼ x 3 1/2-inch lag screws.
One-pound box of 16d nails for framing fasteners.
One-pound box of 2-inch screws for panel fasteners.
One-pound box of 1-5/8-inch screws for shelving cleats and bottom fasteners.
Small box of 1-inch brad nails for track and trim fasteners.
One 4-foot and another 8-foot door track.
Four ¾-inch diameter finger pulls.

Storage Solution #5: DIY Lawn Tool Holders

Difficulty Rating: Novice

Possibly the most frustrating things to find storage for in the garage are the assortment of brooms, rakes and shovels that inevitably end up lying haphazardly on the floor. Fortunately, the Newly Woodwardsstumbled on the perfect DIY storage idea for your vertically-challenged lawn tools. Using some spare PVC piping and two boards, you can create a simple, yet effective, holder for every single broom and shovel in your garage. Here’s the full (but short) list of supplies: