Small Garage Storage Archives - Storage Solutions

Most new homes are designed with a standard garage of 6m x 6m which might look big when its empty but add two cars, a medium ladder, some sports gear and storage containers and all of a sudden the lower area of your garage has become rather cramped. How do you make better usage of your garage walls by using more of the wall? StoreWALL is a wall storage solution which in addition to many other accessories also has a large range of shelves for a small garage.

Shelves for a small garage

Shelving is the first thing most people look to when adding storage to their garage. There are lots of rack style shelving options available on the market. The biggest challenge with shelves for a small garage is finding shelving that can be placed high enough on your wall so that it doesn’t interfere with the vehicle parked next to it.

Your standard rack shelving will in “most” (not all) cases be far too deep for a 6x6m garage with two cars parked in it. Most rack shelving is 600mm deep. If you consider that your vehicle is about 1.8m in width. Then approx 4.5m of your garage will be taken up by two vehicles (leaving some space in between the vehicles). Which leaves you about 750mm – 1m on either side of each car. It’s tight.

Shelving options

Yes there are rack shelving options which are narrower in depth than 600mm. Bunnings sells a Pinnacle 2090 x 1200 x 460mm 6 Tier Adjustable Shelving Unit.

Other options include shelving you install directly to your wall with brackets. This style of shelving will be guided by your size of bracket. The one key limitation is that once the brackets are mounted to your wall, they will need to remain there, there is no way to move the brackets without adding more holes to your wall.

What you need to consider is how to make better use of the wall itself for storage, not just adding additional furniture to the room. Whilst some rack shelving would be practical, there are other options like wall mounted garage storage which can give you access to the entire wall upon which to hang and secure your items.

StoreWALL Shelves

StoreWALL has a great range of shelves for a small garage. Best of all, StoreWALL Storage solutions are designed specifically for making better use of the your wall area, not for eating into the depth of your garage.

StoreWALL garage solutions are built around our range of garage wall panels. Our wall panels are made from a hardened plastic and are water and damp proof so they can be used inside the home and in the garage or shed.

They can be screwed directly to your wall or installed with our InstallStrips which gives them extra support and the ability to hold a lot more weight. Panels come in a range of colours and in two main sizes, 1.2m and 2.4m. The height of each panel is about 30cm.

Once your panels are installed then the range of accessories you can add to your wall is almost endless. We have over 20 hooks and a great range of shelves.

StoreWALL Metal Shelves

StoreWALL offers a solid steel shelf which is easily attached to your wall panels. The Steel Shelf comes in 2 lengths (762mm and 1212mm) and is 393mm in depth.

This is a super durable shelf that can be used for holding any large and bulky items including power tools. It is secured to your wall panels with our Camlok locking mechanism. This shelf can also double as a bench area.

StoreWALL Wire Shelves

StoreWALL also offers toughened wire shelves. The Small and Large Shelves are flat in design and have a depth of 355mm. There is also the Angle shelf which has a depth of 381mm. These shelves also sport the CamLok system.

StoreWALL Plastic Shelves

StoreWALL also have a great range of shelves made from hardened plastic which are either installed with brackets or installed directly onto the wall panel.

The StoreWALL Shelf is 254mm in depth and 812mm in length. It is installed with StoreWALL brackets (254mm) which are locked to the wall panel with the CamLok locking mechanism. This Shelf also comes in a 1.2m version for those that needs some extra length.

Want a deeper shelf? Try our 381mm brackets combined with our 820mm x 400mm floating metal shelf.

The final shelf option is the new Metal Ledge Shelf. This shelf is made from 2mm powder coated steel and is 812mm in length and 200mm in depth. This style of shelf doesn’t need brackets as it has a small lip which hooks itself in the wall panels and stays secure.

Small Garage Shelving Options

If you want to build your own shelves but want the ability to move them around then also consider our range of brackets. They come in 254mm and 381mm sizes. They come with a predrilled hole to secure your own shelf as well as Camlok for securing them to the wall. In addition to the great range of shelves for a small garage, StoreWALL’s system allows you to move your accessories around as often as you need to without impacting the wall in any way.

All StoreWALL accessories come with the CamLok mechanism which secure the hook, basket or shelf to the wall. When its time to move the accessory, CamLok allows you to unlock it and move it to the new location. There is no uninstalling of brackets and leaving holes in walls.

Whether you have a single, double or even 4 car garage, StoreWALL has a great solution to help you make the most out of your garage walls. The StoreWALL system is versatile and a great way to store all of your belongings.

With a growing family and a family home which in today’s standards is way too small, finding storage options for small homes has become our everyday challenge. My wife and I have become experts in making the most of every square foot we have in the home to ensure we can fit it all in.

This week’s post has a focus on clever storage ideas for small houses like ours and most likely yours.

Clean Out

The best way to manage your storage challenges is buy less stuff. The second key is to move on all of your old stuff to make way for the new stuff

Sounds reasonable but in reality it isn’t always practical. Somethings just can’t be thrown out nor sold. So we need to be a little creative and research options which are sensible storage options for small homes.

Under bed storage

Under bed storage is a really effective way to store clothes, blankets, toys and other key items. Particularly those that you need to access regularly enough but don’t want to see every day. Some beds come with built in drawers, others offer it as an accessory usually on wheels so that you can roll them out easily. Having the design or the colour of the drawer match the bed is usually a good idea.

However if you don’t want what the bed offers or anything on wheels for that matter, then consider baskets or other forms of containers. There are lots of options that are shallow enough to fit but easy enough to grab and pull out from under the bed.

We have used baskets and several forms of containers for years. It has been a great way to collect and hide books and toys. Today as the kids are a little order, it holds some clothing, blankets and bulkier items like roller skates and blades.

Towel Storage

Towels that are used during the week, whether it be for hand drying or for showering can be hung behind your bathroom or laundry door. Instead of taking up precious wall space this space behind your doors should not be wasted. There are plenty of hooks that can be used for this and with a door stop, you wont have the hooks hit and damage your wall.

The space on your wall that was going to be used to hang your towels can now be used for shelving or something else. If used for shelving, you can store soaps or towels or just display items that pretty the place up. Remember, this article is about storage options for small homes so we need to make the most of every inch we have. This particularly important for heavy use rooms such as the bathroom.

Above The Door Shelving

Shelving options are plentiful at stores such as Ikea and they come in all sorts of styles and budgets. A great shelving idea that is not used enough is adding storage above your door. Its vertical, it has the width of the door and it is never used. You might want to consider storing soaps or even some of your better towels there. The one challenge with this area of the room is dust. Ideally you want to prevent your towels from collecting dust and not being usablev.

It’s a similar space to that above your kitchen cabinets. Never used but a great dust collector. You might want to consider maybe keeping the towels in a nice container which looks well presented and then can hold your nicer towels. This way the container collects the dust should you be a little lax in dusting up there.

Concealed Spice Shelves

Managing your collection of spices can be challenging. Like most families you will likely have a collection of glass and plastic bottles or varying sizes. You will also have plastic packets (refills) or varying sizes. Finding one place to hold them all which doesn’t take away from other storage is challenging.

I have however found a few ideas for those with smaller kitchens. The Sticky Clip in Spice Racks can be added to the back of any cupboard door or even your splash-back (although there might be nicer options if you are going to display them).They are simply stuck on and then your spice bottles are clipped in and stay in place ready to be used.

The one challenge is that the size of bottle they hold is fixed or limited, but the idea is certainly worth exploring.

Another option is a 4 tier spice rack which actually fits into the cupboard itself.

Kick-board Storage

Now, the disclaimer behind this idea is that you probably need to own the home. This idea is also best implemented when the kitchen is being designed from scratch. That space below your kitchen cabinets is never used and totally wasted. Kick-board drawers are a great and really practical idea. They add heaps of volume to your kitchen. A 10mm or so drawer around most of the perimeter of your kitchen can’t be underestimated. Whilst the drawers will not be big in depth they can be as wide as the cabinet itself. A great idea for storing towels and even platters plus anything else that you want hide away.

Over-The-Cabinet Door Hooks

My wife started to use these hooks for towels and whilst I admit I didn’t love the idea at first they are very useful. Instead of just holding towels, you can also hold baskets and other items. Best of all there is no need for additional hardware. There is a great range of hooks on the market and they allow you to hang anything from towels to clothing and baskets. It is really simple to use as well. Just place the hooks over door and hang the basket on the inside or outside of the door. The basket can be used for waste in the bathroom or laundry or as extra storage in the kitchen

Corner Shelving

Take a quick look around your home and you will notice that you have corners that aren’t put to best use. Why not consider installing floating shelves to create extra storage space. Depending on the style of shelving, you could create a really visually appealing spot for books, vases and photographs.