Junk Free January: The Garage

The last 4 months have wrecked havoc in my garage.  It all started with cleaning out the shed and my studio.  Things from the shed that belonged in the garage mixed with things from my studio (which I had to empty to work on).  That ran into our preparing to leave for our annual trip to see Himself's Senior relatives in MN.  Coming back home brought us right into the holiday season.

Ugh...

So January was our month to get it back under control.  You know how motivated I am when I'm working along with a blog challenge.  This time the challenge was "Junk Free January at  http://www.thriftdiving.com/junkfreejanuary/ 

We 'dove' in alright... with a fast neatening early in the month.  Then other projects pushed their way into the front of our 'to do' list.  But we put "finishing the garage" on our calendar for this last week of January.

It's been a long, tiring week but so worth it!  Look at our before and after photos to see what we accomplished.

NE wall section...

Tool shelf cleaned and reorganized.  My home 'staging' shelf also redone.

 North wall- east side

Boxes moved to a holding area (photos below).  Those are boxes moved out from my studio.  I'll be focusing on the studio in February.  Tiller was moved back to its place in the shed.

 North wall- west side.

 

Cleaning supply shelf neatened.  Bird station back in order.  Driftwood board rack neatened up too (oops... left my cleaning rag on it!).

South wall- west side.

Himself got all the paint and car products back as they should be.  Tools were put away too.

 South wall- east side and East wall- south side.

 

This was the absolute WORST part of the garage.  The grey boxes belong to Himself, and he was able to cut the number by half.  Which gave me room to clear the wall in front of the car (the red boxes are mine).

We hung the carpets until we are ready to use them.  The folding tables finally have an easy to get to home. 

Himself has decided that painting the garage floor will be a project in the future.  The former owner tinkered with cars and the floor shows it.  It's a mess!

SW corner recycle center.

 

                                Dumping ground was more like it!  

Himself also cleaned up this area.  Now I can get to it so I can do my recycling.  And I put a tub to hold my mailing boxes and envelopes.  The twine sits there because we use it a lot.

West wall looking south.

What a mess, it was another dumping ground.

MUCH better.  These are all the tubs/boxes I need to go thru for my studio.  The tubs under the workbench are designated for specific items for my creative projects, so technically they are done.  That table was the one in front of the car in the before photo.  Now it's holding my tender perennial plants til it's time to go back outside.

Workbench looking to the north.

Bleh!

Organized.

We are sore and exhausted.  But it has been so worth it to get it to the point that it will stay neat with very little effort.