You’ve probably seen the commercial: A couple, looking exhausted, stand in their relatively empty garage, pleased they can fit a car inside again.
Then they head to their kitchen, to debate the merits of canned soup.
The fantasy: Folks argue over soup.
The reality: There’s a world full of messy garages out there.
People would “really like to fit their cars in the garage,” said Mike Franks, director of strategic planning for O’Sullivan Furniture in Lamar, Mo., which makes Tuff Duty garage-storage equipment for Coleman. “But not that many can do it, because of all the clutter.”
The garage is used “as a drop-off point on the way to somewhere else in the house, because it is the closest open space,” said Leslie Robison, who tackles other people’s clutter through Simple Systems Organizing, a consulting company based in Green Lane, Pa.
“Then the garages end up stuffed, and they can’t figure out why.
“Getting rid of a percentage of what’s in the garage, even if it means filling a Dumpster, is a crucial first step to getting it organized,” Robison said. “It’s hard to do.”
Clutter has plagued garages pretty much as long as there have been garages. Since only the rich could afford the first automobiles, horses moved over in the stable or carriage house so cars could move in.
The word “garage,” which the dictionary says entered the language around 1902, comes from the French verb “garer,” “to dock.”
When the middle class started getting behind the wheel, narrow garages were built in the alleys behind their row houses, so cars could be “docked” there.
By 1990, the two-car garage was standard in 55 percent of American homes, census figures show. By 1995, 76 percent of new homes had at least a two-car garage.
Big business
These days, garage organization products are among the fastest-growing segments of the white-hot home organization market. Franks said his company, O’Sullivan, spent a couple of years looking at garages after a survey showed that de-cluttering and organizing them was a high priority among homeowners.
More and more manufacturers have gotten into the garage game, sharing their organizing wonders with the world through stores such as Home Depot, Lowe’s and Sears. Some companies, such as ClosetMaid (www.closetmaid.com), offer advice and storage plans on their Web sites.
Stanley Works’ ZAG division has come up with a garage workshop storage system consisting of modular cabinets and shelves made of resin and galvanized metal, coated with a powder-coat paint to make them rust- and stain-resistant.
Stanley spokesman Eric Montague said the product “is rolling out in greater numbers every day.” The units cost $80 to $100.
Specialize, simplify
One technique for organizing is “to view the area as a series of systems,” said Mike Young, Sears Craftsman tool-storage buyer. “Most projects are tackled in steps. If the garage is designed the same way, the homeowner moves from one station to the next, while maximizing time and productivity.”
For example, if a mechanic sized up an 18-foot wall, he might use that area most effectively to store a chest and a roll-away unit loaded with hand and portable power tools; a compressor with easy access to air tools for installing, sanding, spraying or disassembling parts; a workbench for tabletop activity and construction projects; and a vertical cabinet to store cleaners, extension cords, trouble lights, and other essentials.
Walls and ceilings are underused in garages, organization expert Leslie Robison added.
“A lot of the clutter — bicycles, lumber and garden tools — can be hung on wall hooks or on the ceiling,” she said. “Like things should be placed together, such as tools, which tend to be scattered all over the place.”
In its research, O’Sullivan discovered that the typical garage owner was willing to spend less than $1,000 for a garage-organization system, Franks said.
Whirlpool must have talked to another set of focus groups, because the cost of its complete Gladiator GarageWorks system, which includes a refrigerator, flirts with $10,000.
