30+ DIY Projects to Upgrade Your Garage

When you think of ways to organize your garage, a pegboard may immediately spring to mind. For this, you can buy a pegboard and cut it to size or drill holes into plywood, but this is more time-intensive.

Pegboards are handy because, with them, you can use metal pieces to create the perfect size to hold whatever you need. To save even more space, you can mount the pegboards on hinges to store layers of tools at once in a small space.

This Reddit user saw the idea of a pegboard and saw an opportunity. So, they expanded on it in a way that would help keep any garage workplace organized.

Instead of screwing peg holes, this tutorial tells you to screw holes big enough that you can slot your screwdriver into them. If you leave a little space on the front, you can place sets of interchangeable heads accessible right with their corresponding tools. From there, just mount it on the wall!

A lot of us are looking to limit the garbage we create in our wake as we become increasingly aware of the importance of environmentalism. What if you could take that idea into your garage?

With this idea, you can get rid of old plastic bottles when you’re finished with them without sending them to the landfill. With a hole cut in them, they make easy-to-organize devices for small items. By adding an eyebolt, you can even hang them on the pegboard. Just remember to file those access holes down.

If there’s one thing that any space can use, including a garage, it’s shelving. Taking advantage of vertical storage space can go a long way! In this one, you’ll just need some wooden boards.

You can cut them to whatever size you want your shelf to be. Then, all you have to do is put the boards together to create the shape and size you want and mount them to the wall. Now you have a convenient, versatile storage space!

There’s more than one way to do shelving. The last example was great for holding large items or creating a shelving unit close to the wall. You can use the same primary principle the way that Ana White did here, though.

Instead of keeping things too tight, this shelf is expansive enough to store an impressive amount of stuff in a small, organized space. Plus, you can see how you can build it to accommodate other items – like a whole fridge!

This is a great tip that can help anyone who’s gathered a collection of wooden crates in their garage but would like a more efficient way to store them.

Virginia Sweet Pea came up with this craft, and they say that as for the length of the pieces of plywood, you can adjust that to fit the size of the crates you have. In general, you’ll need plywood pieces to create the simple frame you see here.

When it comes to finding space in your garage, it can sometimes feel like you’re fighting an uphill battle to find enough of it to accommodate everything. This tutorial encourages us to think outside of the box and look up for inspiration.

With some metal shelving, the tip here is to install it higher than you normally would. This puts it out of the way but still accessible whenever you need what you’ve stored. This is a great way to get seasonal items away until you need them!

If you like the last option but want to think even higher, get out your wood, tape measure, and your favorite set of tote bins.

For this DIY project, you’ll want to use wood to create slots that the top of your tote bins slide right into. Make sure you get the top of the bin in there — don’t just rely on the lid holding it in place. Then, install these custom rails in the ceiling, out of the way of any rolling garage doors.

This tutorial isn’t about saving space as much as it’s about creating a space that you can move wherever you need it. After all, a workbench is handy, but many are fixed in place. Not this one!

To start, you’ll want to build a frame for the bottom, attaching wheels underneath. From there, you can add the sides and a sturdy top. Like this person advises, adding shelving units on the side can help with storage too!

Ellie Larson has a great tip for anyone looking to completely revamp their garage into a more efficient space. Looking for new wall designs? Consider something slatted!

Walls with slats are great win garages because they serve a similar purpose to how we explained you can use pegboard to organize things. Instead of inserting pegs, though, this type of wall allows you to slide in shelving and hooks — but you can still customize it to shift as your life changes.

If you and your family like to bike around, you might find that it’s hard to find an efficient storage place for everything when you aren’t on a ride together. Not anymore!

This DIY gives us a simple way to install a metal rod that you can hang your bikes on by the wheel, side-by-side. The only trick is that you have to lift the bike on and off there, so younger kids and shorter family members might need a hand.

If you keep your bikes and scooters just outside the garage or you have a dedicated corner for them, you can make something a little easier to reach with this bike rack.

All you need to do here is to make sure that as you build this triangular structure to make sure you leave slats large enough to fit the front wheels inside. For an extra touch of organization, add hooks to the upright part to put helmets on. Safety first!

If you have kids, you might have a lot of balls rolling around your yard with other yard toys. There’s a DIY that you can use that you might recognize from your local toy store. This is rather simple too — all you’re building is a simple wooden frame.

To keep the balls in place, though, you’ll want to thread elastic through holes in the wood, rather than create a cage-style wood piece. This will help provide some give to allow it to hold more.

The last idea is great for ball storage but if you have a bigger space in your garage, you can opt for a bigger but highly organized storage option.

This suggestion from Strong-Tie is a great way to store all sorts of toys and sports gear, making it versatile for anything from holding young kids’ toys to keeping dad’s golf clubs tidy, along with anything you need for the sports you and your family try over the years.

Not every DIY that you do in your garage has to be about storage. In a more personal and less utilitarian DIY, Classy Clutter is here to help!

In their DIY, they remind us that your concrete garage floor can be painted with concrete paint. Just remember — you’ll want to clean the garage completely and sweep and power wash the floor before you open a paint can. You don’t want to paint any dirt or debris into place!

This is a pretty specific DIY, but if you’re a frequent woodworker or just love to attempt different DIY projects, you just might find this tape dispenser handy.

All you need is to create a shelf that tape slots into each opening with a filler block in place to hold them while they unroll. Unfortunately, things like duct tape can be a nightmare to pull a piece off of, but not when you add a hacksaw blade to help slice off pieces cleanly.

This is a great DIY if you’re looking for something useful but not quite so complicated. It’s a great project to take on when you’re short on time or just starting with DIY projects.

It doesn’t take any cutting or anything — all you have to do is set a pallet up longways and slide your long-handled tools into the slot. However, you’ll want to fix the pallet to your garage wall to make sure that you don’t have to deal with the pallet falling over.

If you have an attached garage on your home, odds are that you have an entrance through the garage along with a front door. Then again, it’s easy for this entrance to be forgotten or completely utilitarian.

You can turn the space into a small mud room to make things a bit more organized and tidy. Plus, this is a great way to have an “outside” entryway so guests don’t have to bring in muddy boots or wet umbrellas.

If there’s one thing that can sometimes seem impossible to keep in order, it’s cords. It can feel like if you look away for a second, they manage to tangle themselves into a mess.

Instead of always allotting a lot of time and tears to untangling everything you need, installing something like this simple wooden frame you can make at home will give you a place to store your cords without fear of them ending up in absolute knots.

There are a few different things that you can do to give yourself more storage space in your room. If you’re as confident as Sarah Wimberley in your DIY skills, this is a great idea!

This DIY takes up a whole wall but turns the entire space into vertical storage — including shelves, drawers, hooks, and bins. To make the space even cozier, much like the mud room concept, she even added a bench with a cushion! It’s time-consuming and not a DIY for beginners, but it really transforms the space.

There are a few items that you might use in your garage that can seem to really start to pile up after a while. For instance, what should you do with a bunch of half-empty spray paint cans?

One idea is to make your own spray can holder if you’re looking for a lumber DIY. This simple tilted shelf makes sure that your spray cans are held neatly and organized without any chance of anything spilling out.

We’ve talked a lot about how to make your garage space more organized. Here, we have another tip that’s more geared toward giving your garage some personality.

If you don’t feel like breaking out a gallon or five of paint, you can use adhesive tiles to get a new look on your garage walls. There are a variety of options out there, and most come with instructions, making for an easy DIY!

There are a few ways that you can store things like bikes and scooters. One idea that you can use inside or outside of your garage is a bike rack.

If you have a couple of sets of pallets, you can make your own just by affixing them so that they make a right angle so that the slats line up. In the gaps, you should be able to fit the front wheel of any scooters or bikes that need a place.

We have another aesthetic tip for you here. Given their usual design, it’s easy for your garage to end up a blend of browns and grays without much life.

One way to change things up with a little effort and a great beginner DIY almost anyone can do is to paint your wooden steps. These are common in garages with an attached entry to the house, and it’s a great way to brighten up the entrance. Landeelu even added some stenciled messages!

If there’s one thing that makes sure you know exactly where to go when you need something, it’s the help of a label. You don’t have to order a label maker, either. This DIY just calls for a bit of duct tape.

You can even use something patterned if you want to get decorative like they did here! From there, all you need is a permanent marker and a pair of scissors to make the trimming easier when it comes to the tape.

If there’s one thing that can help you keep a lot of things in order in your garage without becoming cluttered or putting some things out of reach, you’ll want to think dynamically.

A DIY like these rolling cabinets is a great way to make sure that even if you have part of your garage packed wall to wall, everything is organized and accessible. After all, there’s no squeezing between shelves to try and find things when you can just pull the shelves out.

There are a few things that you might have trouble storing because they don’t fit on an average shelf. Do you want to know one of the great things about DIY, though?

What you build is completely personalized to what you need! Here, you can see an example of a DIY where you can make something measured to fit whatever you need — in this case, water jugs. You can make it have as many slots as you need to!

As we’ve covered, there are some items in your garage that might seem like a hassle to store. Where do you put caulking guns and other tubed tools?

Instead of leaving them as a mess in a drawer, create a wooden piece that they’ll fit into with a couple of elastic cords affixed to keep everything in place. This way, everything is easy to find and grab when you need it, even if that happens mid-project.

If you want shelves that are easy to build, but you aren’t interested in or don’t have the ability to screw them into the walls, there are other options.

Truss shelves are a great way to build a tower of shelves that offer a lot of storage without taking up so much space that they eat up most of the garage. Plus, they’re pretty simple to build and won’t run up a high bill. Just remember the rule — measure twice, cut once.

If you want something to keep your tools in order, there’s no better choice than a toolbox. Some of these can get really expensive, though.

If you have a knack for carpentry, you may not have to order anything online except maybe some lumber. In this DIY, Mark Lovett Wells just made his own toolbox. As he showcases, one of the great things about this is that you can customize the inside to suit exactly what you need.

Do you remember how we said that it was really easy to forget about vertical and overhead storage? We have another overhead storage tip for you!

With the right tools to secure them, you can keep ladders out of the way until the time you actually need them by putting them on the ceiling. Of course, you’ll want to make sure you don’t block any rolling garage doors from opening up.

A lot of tools are made of metal because, well, it’s a durable and inexpensive material that’ll last you through a variety of jobs.

This gives you a distinct advantage when it comes to organizing things like wrenches or drill bits. You can install a magnet strip in your garage and just stick your metal tools there for storage — literally. Just make sure that you choose a magnet strong enough to hold the items up.

When you park in your garage, your car is protected from a lot. It won’t be damaged by poor weather or even others if you keep your garage locked.

However, being in your garage does mean when you or your kids swing the car door open, the odds that you’ll hit the door on a wall are a lot higher. You don’t have to worry about that at all with this simple DIY that just requires a pool noodle fixed to the garage wall where you need it!

If you’ve ever tried to paint a room, you know that it’s nearly impossible to estimate exactly how much paint you need so that you don’t have any left over.

More often than not, you’ll find some left, and you probably don’t want to throw it out. To make things a little neater and less spacious, try transferring these last bits into mason jars. Then, you can pull them out when you need them without having to sort through opaque cans.

Your garage should suit your hobbies and needs, so let’s get a little specific here. This DIY is a great idea for anyone looking to garden.

If you do, you know that there are a few tasks that you’ll want a station for rather than just kneeling in the grass. By adding a gardening bench to your garage, you have a place to work on repotting and more, as well as store all of your supplies where they’re easily found.

When you want to work on a project or are in the middle of an unexpected and stressful repair, having your drill die can really feel like the last straw.

So, why not find a way to avoid this issue altogether? What if you never had to worry about your drill dying again? That’s the hope when you create a docking station that not only works for storage but also with plugs for your chargers — you just have to slot your drills into charge after a job.

There are some small items in your garage that seem like they’ve run away or disappeared. Screws, nails, nuts, and bolts all seem like they’re nearly impossible to keep together neatly.

Jars are a great option, but where do you put them? Just use a jar with a plastic lid and use a couple of screws to attach it to the underside of a shelf or table. Then, you can unscrew the jar to access it and screw it back on the lid to put it back.

Plastic jars aren’t the only thing you might have sitting in your kitchen right now that can help you organize your garage. Plastic cups are handy, too.

Of course, once again, you could run into the problem of these cups taking up table space. However, you specifically chose plastic here, which is great for easily drilling through so that you can affix the cup to the wall.

Earlier, we looked at a solution to storing spray paint cans if you have some floating around so they’re neat and organized when you need them. As we’ve seen, though, there’s more than one way to do things.

If you want another option, you can set aside the lumber and grab the shoe organizer you were about to toss. With no work at all, you can turn it into a spray paint can organizer and hang it anywhere!

Cabinets make for great storage in your kitchen and bathroom. You might even have a wardrobe in your bedroom to keep things in order.

There’s nothing stopping you from taking advantage of that same storage space in your garage. While it’s a bit more of an involved DIY, if you have the right tools and skills, you can skip the process of dealing with people coming to your house — and, instead, just build your own!

There’s not a lot of room for fun in an “all work, no play” concept but that’s not what you’re garage has to be. It can be a spot where you hang out too.

As such, you might want to consider a DIY that’s all about fun. This dartboard holder will make sure that you never have to hunt down another dart again unless you really miss. You can even close the cabinet when you aren’t using the board.

This tutorial keeps a really similar idea to the water jug storage that we had earlier. However, this idea is a bit more general purpose.

This time, you’ll want to leave out the pieces to keep the jugs in place so all sides of the shelves are open. You can store anything here and without a closed side, you can move the shelf around wherever you need as you rearrange over time, and it won’t look out of place.

We’ve already talked about items like storage shelves and workbenches that you can easily move to get out of the way or to you when you need them. This is a similar idea.

This table is there for you when you need it, but when you aren’t working in your garage, you can fold it away to take up practically no space at all. This is a great option when you want to make the most out of a small garage!

This one has a two-fold situation to it. For one, it’s a great way to keep your sockets in order. On top of that, it’s a fun project for any woodworker.

All you have to do, basically, is create the right sized holes for your sockets. However, like this person, you can really go the extra mile and make your DIY socket holder detailed and gorgeous.

We all want to do our part to save the earth, even if that means sorting through the trash a bit. However, the extra bin isn’t always easy to deal with.

If you have a recycling bin that isn’t made like a trash can on wheels but more like a tote, hanging it on the wall will get it out of the way. Just like the tutorial we looked at earlier, though, you’ll want to make sure the lip holding the bin up is well-supported.