More Fun Projects

The end of the year has come again. A week or two ago, on one of the last warm days, I cleaned up the patio and put away the summer toys. There are a few last things to put away before true winter sets in, but first, a little project for the garage.

We don't have a basement, so a lot of our miscellaneous storage ends up in the garage. While, technically, ours is a two car garage, it really is a tight fit for two cars and has a lamentable lack of rafters that so often grace garage ceilings. Since the footprint of the garage isn't enormous, we've taken to utilizing the walls. We've got some cabinets and one wall with some vertical storage, but I've been thinking it might be time to expand.

In the garage there's this short, corner wall that's got a big pipe running through it. Most of the time we just back the bike trailer into the corner and that's about all it's good for. However, a while back, it occurred to me that the space did have some potential if I could figure out how to use the wall.... 

Then, about the time we were transitioning Moon into his toddler bed, I did some searches for possible upcycled uses for crib railings. In all my internet wanderings, someone somewhere suggested using them to hang stuff on. Turns out, this little corner is just the right size for putting a crib railing and turning it into some extra vertical storage. 

hooray for fans in bathrooms allowing for cold-weather painting projects!

This was another one of those projects where I dug into my scraps and odds and ends and, sure enough, I already had most everything I needed to make it happen! First, I cut some left over wood to the right size and painted it white to match the wall before hanging the boards. Next, I made sure to screw the, freshly painted, slates into the studs in the wall:

Then, came the railing. An excellent fit! I affixed the railing to the slats, and so it's all pretty sturdy and well attached and should be able to hold a decent amount of stuff without falling off the wall (*fingers crossed*)

Now, I did have to go out and buy the hooks and things for hanging stuff, but I say it's still a win 'cuz I got to use bits and bobs already lying around and assemble them into things that'll make my garage all the more useful - my favorite kind of projects! Plus, it all came together so quickly I felt a little silly for putting it off for so long.

Voila! Sweet, sweet organization.