I've Got The Power!

Saturday Jonathan and I decided to rearrange some shelves and finally organize our garage. Homeownership can be so glamorous.

At least this entire project was free since we reused all the shelves. 

Our garage is big enough to accomodate two cars but its smaller than the average two car garage. The previous owner lived alone and only had one car so the size wasn't an issue for her. She installed shelves around the garage at a height easily accesible for her. Sounds like a good idea right? WRONG. The shelves were so low that our car doors would always hit them as we were opening the doors. Trying to squeeze in between the car door and trash cans or a shelf with random stuff on it is not cool. Especially when you're wearing a cute outfit and don't want to get dirty.

I had always wanted to reposition the height of the shelves but its one of those projects that sat on the back burner. Especially in the Wedding- Birthday- Holidays craze that made up our first few months in the house. And then it was too cold to be out there. I don't do cold.

When autumn rolled around last year I put away all of our fans. I washed and covered them with trash bags and placed them in the garage on the shelves, leaving us plenty of space to get into and around our cars. Then the holidays came. All of our new Christmas stuff got thrown in the garage in a haphazard way but it was still maneuverable. Then we bought a new bed frame we didn't have a mattress for yet. Super tight squeeze but still manageable.

Eventually our garage was full of stuff everywhere. On our washer and dryer. On the floor between the cars. You name it, we had stuff on it.

Now that the temperatures have been rising I knew that it would soon be time for us to bust out our fans. Only I couldn't get to them. Even after three trips to the Salvation Army (you're welcome by the way). The time to move the shelves and organize the garage was upon us.

So Saturday rolls around and we get started. First Jon swept the entire garage and we took everything off the shelves.

Then Jon removed the shelves. One side of the garage only had one shelf and we wanted to move it to other side. We left this wall blank (we might add another shelf one day but it would depend on our new car, which we'll buy one day, and its dimensions). We left the brackets attached to the shelves. We figured it had already been adjusted to match the width of the studs. How wrong we were....

We used me as a tool of measurement. We compared me against the cars and used that to set the new height for our shelf. Told you that's how we roll!

Then the real fun began. Jon was trying to hold up the first shelf while drilling it into the wall. That didn't work so well. So I decided to help by trying to hold it up while Jon drilled. And it still didn't work! The shelf kept shifting and we couldn't get it level.

After two failed attempts I said "I'll drill. You hold it up." Jon looked at me in disbelief and said "Are you sure? Do you even know how to use a drill?" "No, but I can do it." And I DID IT. Such a big moment for me.

Yes, you read that right. I used a power drill. I did it (mostly) right and I liked it! You know I don't do manual labor. I must be growing up.

Check me out drilling! That's right- I included proof!

We figured the next two shelves would be easier to install since we now knew what we were doing. We couldn't have been more wrong. Jon's stud finder was totally failing us. I don't know why it was throwing a temper tantrum. It kept giving off inconsistent readings and so not all of our screws were hitting studs. It was super important that we hit studs since garage shelves need to be heavy duty.

It took several tries but we FINALLY got there.

Sadly that was only half the battle. We still had to go through and organize all of our stuff. All of the Christmas stuff went on our newly repositioned shelves. The rest of it is on the higher shelf pictured above. We have a lot of Christmas stuff. The (under used) sports equipment joined it. Our trash cans went underneath now that they fit.

Jon's tools went on the shelf that used to be blocked by a mountain of stuff. All of our paint cans are on the shelf above it. My craft stuff is on the floor so I don't have to ask Jon to get it down for me.

We parked the cars back inside and we were finally done! After 7 hours. 7 long, sweaty hours.

In the end we had another car load of stuff for the Salvation Army and about 5 boxes of stuff that need to find a place inside our house. But we ignored that new pile. We earned a fatty dinner and ice cold beer(s). Seriously.