Home Organization: Garage Storage Ideas + DIY Magnetic Utility Board

A lot of people this time of year find themselves wanting to get organized, purge unwanted items, and find better ways to store the items to keep! So, our Lowe’s Cre­ative Ideas blog­ger challenge this month centered around creative storage/organizational ideas! We have a lot of places in the house that we could tackle, but one that desperately needed some help was our garage. Really, it was scary! So, we headed out to Lowe’s to get some supplies to help us tackle it! Are you ready for the before photo?….Please tell me you have areas where the junk is just piled in a heap!! It was bad! We only have a small, two-car garage. No room for a fun work station or anything. That was the corner where all the tools & hardware were kept. But, forget about trying to find something you needed. A serious disaster. So, we picked up a variety of storage goodies at Lowe’s to help get us organized:

• An enviro-elements storage cabinet
• Small hooks
• Clear, plastic storage bins
• 2 12 x 18 pieces of sheet metal
• magnets & magnet clips
• industrial velcro

We really liked the enviro-elements storage cabinets! They are made from recycled resin! And, the one we purchased ($79) fit perfectly in the space next to the wire shelves (once we cleared out some junk)!

We purged a lot, organized items into bins (you can see part of that in this organizational post), added some small hooks & nails to the wall to hang items from, and put together our new cabinet! Then, we decided to get a little creative with the cabinet and add some added functionality! We turned the front into magnetic utility/bulletin boards into what might possibly be our easiest DIY project yet! To do this project, all you need is sheet metal and industrial velcro!! We found already cut sheet metal in 12″x18″ (the perfect size for the front two panels of the cabinet). Lowe’s also sells industrial velcro. So, we bought a 4-ft. roll of that and cut it in half to get 1″-wide strips. This velcro is crazy sticky! So, we cut strips to just run along the top and bottom of the sheet metal. Then we attached those metal panels to the front of the cabinet. That’s it! A 5-minute project that has great results!! Isn’t that awesome?! I love it! It’s such an easy added element of functionality…and it looks fun too! Lowe’s sells some good-quality magnets & magnetic clips too! So, the front of the cabinet can now hold reminders, lists, ideas, inspiration, and even some tools (like our magnetic level and a little flashlight hanging from one of the clips). Gotta love a little inexpensive creativity that gives you added functionality! We’re definitely loving a much better organized garage space! Here’s the complete before & after:

Much better, right?!

Have you completed any organizational projects lately? 

For even more ideas, visit Lowes Cre­ative Ideas and fol­low along with Lowe’s on Pin­ter­est or on Insta­gram! You can sign up to receive their free Cre­ative Ideas Mag­azine, which is full of all kinds of ideas & inspi­ra­tion! There’s also a mag­a­zine app so you can have inspi­ra­tion on the go!

Dis­clo­sure:  I am a mem­ber of the Lowe’s Cre­ative Ideas Cre­ators & Influ­encers Net­work and receive a Lowe’s gift card to com­plete my projects. How­ever, all ideas, opin­ions, & expe­ri­ences are entirely my own.