If you are lucky enough to get one more beautiful fall day, do you think you’ll want some ideas on how to organize a shed? We recently organized a cute little shed, and I’m hoping to inspire you to organize your own shed, garage, basement, or patio storage. These organizing ideas work for just about all storage spaces.
How to Organize a Shed (with a Side Order of Photo Albums)
The couple living here are new homeowners of the family home. I think we’re going to see more and more of this, as buying a home gets more expensive. Boomers are often moving to smaller homes, but don’t really want to go through all the effort to sell on the open market. Transferring the family home to young adults is easy on everyone.
This house flippity-flop left the young couple wondering what exactly was in the shed, and did they need it all, anyway???
Sort and Succeed in your Shed
This is a perfect SORT and Succeed project. With a little hustle, a shed can take just a few hours to organize. Click here to get a refresh on the SORT and Succeed steps to organize any space inside — or outside — your home.
We had already written down our goal, to organize the shed in about 3 hours. That’s Step 1 of SORT and Succeed.
How long do you estimate organizing this shed would take you?
What’s in that Shed, Anyway?
Step 2 of Sort and Succeed is to organize things into groups. Use the driveway to line up groups of things. Our groups included sports gear, long-handled tools, party gear, plant pots, power tools, car care, small tools, and a few others.
By grouping similar things together, you can easily see when you have duplicates, unmatched singles when you should have pairs, and you can clearly see broken or damaged items.
We got to this point without the homeowner present. Then she went through the groups of things on the driveway and decided what needed to be shipped back to the parents in their new home and what could be tossed and recycled.
A shiver went through my soul when we found a box of photo albums!!! See that grass in the corner? That side of the shed will be fine after a little repair, but it’s currently open to weather, rodents, and an attack by weeds! Don’t worry, we asked her to find a space inside the home (or at mom’s house) for those family photo albums. Photo albums do not belong in the shed, garage, attic, or basement.
A New Tour Around the Ol’ Shed
Step 3 of SORT and Succeed had us putting things back into the shed on double speed.
By shifting the freezer just a few inches to the right, we’ve got spaces for a tall ladder to the left and a short ladder on the right. I’m a big fan of having ladders handy.
By turning one of the shelving units ninety degrees, we create some protected space to slide in a party table on one side, and golf clubs on the other. It’s a perfect fit.
Large nails and screws along with some scrap wood already in the shed provide simple tool storage for long-handled tools. Getting tools up out of the corner makes them instantly more organized. Hanging everything up is a habit worth building in a shed or garage space. Use all of your vertical space!
How to Organize a Shed with Project Space
Every shed and garage can use a project space. This organized shed now has three!
The white cabinet on the left is now designated for plants and potting.
The counter in the back is for cutting the flooring that they are sprucing up the house with. The shelf above holds power tools out of the way.
The counter on the right is for the rechargeable batteries and small projects.
What Not to Buy to Organize a Shed
My favorite part of this job was upgraded cord storage. These cords were shoved in a milk crate on the floor when we started. Why have the cords take up shelf space when they can look this great on the wall?
Did you know that you don’t need to buy a gadget to store cords? Wrap in large circles (elbow to thumb is about the right distance), wrap the ends around the middle 4-6 times, and plug ends together through the middle. They make a neat little package all on their own. We added three garage hooks similar to these here (affiliate link) for about $15.
Labeling can make all the difference between getting organized once and staying organized season after season. We added large labels using 1″ label tape, and it makes it easy to see what’s in the bins without having to search. These are the tweaks that matter (Step 4). If you don’t have my fancy label maker, you can add temporary labels with masking tape and Sharpies. It may not look as polished as our labels, but function beats looks in a shed almost every time.
How Long Does it Take to Organize a Shed?
Two organizers spent just over three hours on this shed, and the homeowner spent about an hour making decisions on the driveway. Having a plan and a system are what ensure that a half-day organizing event doesn’t turn into an unfinished mess.
A shed is all storage space, but you’ve still got to get that lawn mower in and out. This one now has a genuine parking spot that’s conveniently in the center, just under the long project bench.
Could we make this shed even cuter? Absolutely! We could upgrade some of the containers and make everything shiny and magazine-perfect…but it’s a shed, and now it’s an organized shed. That’s perfect for most families.
If you are thinking about getting your car back in the garage before winter hits, you still have time. Here’s some inspiration for your organized garage.
Your Car Wants to be Inside a Garage
Super Beautiful Organized Garage
