| (March
31, 2007) — Garages can be one of the toughest spaces in the
home to organize. Just ask
Linda Tanghe of Webster.
"We have needed help with our
two-car garage since we moved into our house in 1989," she wrote
in response to our call for organizing dilemmas. "Currently, one
side houses my husband's 1969 Mustang, one of our three
motorcycles and a mass of gardening stuff, while the other side
is stuffed with tools — the air compressor, the workbench, three
bikes, two roll-around tool boxes and who knows what else." |
|
Linda's problem was trying to get to the back of the garage
while dodging a box of soda cans, swerving around bags of
birdseed and trying not to trip over the jigsaw and air
compressor hoses on the floor. She couldn't find what she
needed, such as a flashlight or extension cord. She also felt it
was a safety issue: She could cut herself on the jigsaw blades.
The deep-fryer, which often didn't get put away, could easily
get knocked over and spill its grease. The saws and motorcycle
helmets hovering over her head could fall off their nails and
onto her head when she slammed the cupboard doors to try to keep
them shut. Acknowledging
that the space is mostly Al's domain, Linda still wanted to use
it without fear. Al, who wasn't into organizing at first,
admitted that would it be nice to be able to maintain the garage
more easily. That way, he could finally get around to restoring
the Mustang — something he hadn't been able to do for 17 years.
Offering advice and an objective
third-party was Robin Harisis,
owner of Room Service Personal Organizing in Ontario, Wayne
County.
"Garages are tough because they're a multipurpose room, meaning
you use them for different things, but a lot of different people
use them, too," she says. "So when you try to think about how to
organize it, most of the time you have to divide it up into
zones, either by what's being used or who's using it."
That's what
Harisis proposed for the
space. She also told the couple to clear a walkway from the
front of the garage to the back door, to clear the floor of
objects and loose items and to create a space for refurbishing
the Mustang.
First, however, they had to
ditch some junk.
That first meeting was back in August. The purging and
space-clearing occurred in dribs and drabs, partly because Al
had to have shoulder surgery. Meanwhile, he and Linda started to
return the bottles and cans for recycling more often, so they
didn't pile up. Al fixed a cabinet he never used because the
doors were broken. The two also became more vigilant about
returning the deep-fryer to its home in the kitchen and he
started cleaning up after every project. Large, bulky items with
hoses or cords were stowed when not in use. Al even trimmed the
sharp corner off a shelf above the recycling bins, so Linda
wouldn't keep accidentally banging her head on it.
Linda admits most of this was
common sense. But having Harisis
as a coach helped them get in gear with a clear goal in mind.
Eventually, enough space was consistently cleared for Al to
retrieve the Mustang from its dusty corner and start working on
it. Positioned where it is now, it also screens many of his
works-in-progress.
Harisis'
suggestion of zoning the space according to its use or user
proved the most helpful. She divided the garage into Linda's
space (the wall adjoining the house and a traffic path along it)
and Al's space (pretty much everything else). She even gave the
Tanghes a computer-generated room schematic that showed where to
put everything and some organizational products they could use.
"I think the zoning was the
pivotal thing," says Linda. "Since that big Mustang's in the way
and I don't see (the mess) ... it's fine. He can be messy or
leave things out or whatever he wants to do, but it's not in my
face." |
