There were two general design considerations I had when figuring out what to do with this garage. The first was that it needed to be clutter-free. From experience, I learned the more I let clutter accumulate, the more likely I was to generate more clutter until eventually, it became difficult to find anything or even just get around the cars to do basic things. The second was to make as efficient use of the little space I had as possible.
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| Cabinets and fold away tables installed - 7-16-2021 |
After the floors were done last week, I placed the order for the Husky 10 piece garage storage system a wood worktop. This is a great value system consisting of 3 tall lockers, 3 wall cabinets, 3 door cabinets, and either a wood or steel worktop. I chose wood. It features soft close locking doors and most importantly for me, was delivered fully assembled. I just had to add the feet, shelves, and of course, the mounts for the top wall cabinets. Putting all together wasn't too bad but moving all these pieces by myself made it a bit more difficult than it needed to be.
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| Husky 10 piece garage storage system |
I also ordered a 46" Husky mobile tool chest. Years of dealing with tools in different toolboxes, unable to find the right tool, had to come to an end. The hardest part was figuring out how to get the wheels bolted on by myself. The fact that it arrived on a pallette helped since I was able to slide it out a little and use my floor jack to raise one end at a time. The storage system fits perfectly against the back wall and the tool chest fits in nicely right next to it just below the window. The tool chest includes an integrated power strip which is going to come in handy.
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| Husky mobile too chest |
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| Husky 46" mobile toolchest |
For the walls next to the car doors, I didn't want anything that would prevent me from opening up the doors all the way. However, I also didn't want to waste that space. Taking some inspiration from 12 Gauge Garage, I decided that some wall-mounted folding workbenches (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Industrial-4-ft-Folding-Wood-Top-Workbench-WSHD48FWB/302769459) would be the right solution. I can fold it out when I need the work area but the rest of the time, it can remain folded and out of the way. To not waste the space above it without cramping the space, I added 18" deep Husky wall cabinets. They're perfect for regularly accessed items like cleaning sprays and microfiber cloths.
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Industrial 4ft wall mounted folding workbench and
Husky wall cabinet |
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| Industrial 4ft wall mounted folding workbench pulled out |
Finally, today the electricians from Kat Electric came to finally fix one of the most annoying things about my garage which was the lack of outlets. There were only 2 outlets by the side door and 2 outlets by the garage doors and some outlets for the garage door openers. These were poorly installed by just running wire and stapling them to the wood. Not only does this look ugly, but it's also not particularly safe. I had them rip out all the existing wiring, run proper metal conduits and junction boxes so that I have at least 4 GFI outlets on each wall (some with more). I added a 45ft retractable extension cable from Griot's Garage to one wall, with another one that I'll probably add in the middle of the garage. For my OCD friends, yes, the electricians were very particular about making sure every conduit lines were perfectly plumb. Unfortunately, I'm unable to add more power to the garage without removing all the paver stones and digging up a trench to run larger gauge wire. I don't really run any higher power equipment out of the garage though, mostly I just want to convenient of being able to plug in something as close to where I need it as possible and not run extension cords everywhere.
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| All new outlets, wires and in proper conduit - 7-17-2021 |
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| Griot's Garage 45ft retractable extension cord |
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Now with a convenient outlet near my window fan
and mobile tool chest |
We also added two additional LED lights to the front of the garage giving me 6 lights total to really make everything super bright at night if I'm in there.
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| LED light strips added above the garage doors |
Overall, it's been a hot and exhausting weekend in the garage but we're basically done. Now I can bring over all the stuff from the other garage and give it up. I plan on hanging the quick jacks in the space between the window and tire racks, then the rest of the stuff should fit perfectly in the cabinets.
