garage organisation bliss

since we are new at the renovation game, we decided that we would start with the garage to ease into it, that way if we made any mistakes, it was just the garage... but first we had to be able to get around in there, so this weekend was operation cleanup.

Unfortunately I don't have any before shots of the mess that the garage was in, but there was crap everywhere, bikes, snowboards, skis, canoes, suitcases, boxes, ikea furniture we don't need right now etc. sprawled all over...

the place came with lots of shelving and random cupboards on every available wall space, but there was no place left to hang anything, so we decided that this wall of random shelving had to go.
and that this birds nest of tools and crap needed to be better organised
so we hung the canoe, using some really nifty bike pulleys (kindly given to us by Steve and Ami -thanks guys!) and designed a system that tucked it up out of the way when it's not in use, but really easy to pull down when you want to take it out - quite brilliant really.

on the now open wall we installed this rubbermaid fasttrack track and hook system which allowed us to hang ALL the bikes (yes that is 5 bikes and 1 unicycle...), our skis, snow shoes, snowboards, and garden tools all in one place.

a plastic pegboard solution seemed best for the tool area, and although this work bench/ kitchen cupboard combination is not ideal, it'll do for now

a little personal touch with the bottle opener we bought at the renegade craft fair

and the place looks a thousand times better! the cabinets on the right side are the next thing to go, which should open it up even more.

then the real fun of repairing that crack in the floor, replacing the gutters and adding rain barrels, stripping the paint, and repainting and so on...