Raise your hand if your garage is a mess. In this post I want to share a garage project I did this summer. This client has been in her home for many years and accumulated a lot of ‘stuff’. She wanted to create a new sense of order but was overwhelmed trying to do it on her own. My 4-step process allowed us to break it down into smaller, very manageable steps. It took us 2 long visits in the July heat.
Setting goals for this project was critical. It allowed us to stay focused and on track. When she started getting overwhelmed, I could gently steer her back to where we were in the process, and help her re-focus instead of getting stuck. We did a full walkthrough of her garage at the beginning to really understand what types of items she had there. We had conversations to figure out what types of things she truly wanted and needed to keep there, how much, and where she could reduce. We talked a lot about her past and her future. We uncovered her patterns and routines to come up with a system that would provide better function for her.
She was motivated to reduce the quantity of things she had that she didn’t need. She did a fantastic job of letting go of items that were no longer needed or duplicated in usefulness, creating more space for those things that she uses most. We identified her items most used inside and moved them closer to the door to inside. We moved a large shelving unit to improve the flow from inside to outside. We created a ‘Project/To Do’ space where she can store things to be fixed, or otherwise have action needed before they can be used again. We talked about various maintenance strategies, like ‘one in, one out’ and finishing projects in progress before starting others.
This client is intensely dedicated to minimizing landfill waste. In this project, we worked together to find ways to discard items from her home without them going into the garbage. To name a few, she donated old towels and blankets to the Humane Society, gave cardboard boxes to a farmer who actually uses them (as opposed to putting them into the recycle bin where, frankly, most of us don’t know if these actually get recycled), and donated shoes and household items to a local donation center. We both felt really good knowing that we were doing our part to support a healthy planet, while she was able to gain back valuable space. That’s a win-win in my book!
We didn’t meet all our goals, but when I left after the second visit, she had a functioning system she can now tweak and continue improving. Her anxiety was greatly reduced, so she felt empowered to finish the rest on her own. We had transformed her garage from an overwhelmingly cluttered space that gave her anxiety to a place where the placement of things made sense and items were easily accessible. I loved that I was able to support her in her journey, which was clearly so important and had been so frustrating. It was extremely gratifying for her to look around at the end of the day and simply say ‘Wow’ with a huge smile on her face. It really doesn’t get any better than that.
3rd Bay-Before 3rd Bay-After 3rd Bay Wall 1-Before 3rd Bay Wall 2-Before 3rd Bay Wall-After Main Bay Back Wall-Before Main Bay Back Wall-After Main Bay Outside Wall-Before Main Bay Outside Wall-After Looking into 3rd Bay from Main Bay-After
