Get busy getting organized!

It seems like spring cleaning has lingered into fall cleaning. We've been busy this fall helping families get their homes organized in time for the holiday season. From a custom bar to some pretty extreme garage projects, we've been working non-stop to get it all done. I can't wait to see what spring brings us and we'll be spending the next few months getting prepared for it!

If you're thinking about having your garage project completed by us, please call us and get on our schedule as soon as possible, we'd love to complete your project for you this spring!

Garage Cabinets & Wall Storage | South Dayton, OH

We underestimated the time it would take to put this job together and ended up losing a day due to communication, but managed to pull it together and get it installed on time for our client's party...even if it took working 16 hour days all week. Jeff likes a challenge and does his best to meet his deadlines and definitely wouldn't be able to do it in circumstances like this without a little help. You can't tell on the time lapse video on our Facebook fan page from last week, but Jeff and I were putting things together the shop while other things were being done on site by Mark. Having a reliable, capable, and skilled carpenter as a friend is essential to being able to pull off what sometimes seems impossible. 

~Shannon Hickcox

Garage Planning | Cincinnati, OH

Here's Jeff with a potential client discussing storage needs and getting measurements to start the design. Typically when we meet with clients, it takes us about an hour to discuss what they're storing, get measurements of everything (and I mean everything), put all of their ideas in our notes, take all of that information back to the office and put that plan together for the clients to review. We work together with our clients to come up with the most functional, beautiful, economical, garage plan possible.

Red & Black Garage Cabinets | Cincinnati, OH

I found an old memory card in the bottom of my camera bag, checked to see if there was anything good on it and came across these pictures. I watched them be built in the shop, thought they were unique, but wasn't able to make it out to the job site. Glad I found the card, because it's much more impressive now that I see it put together. Love the floor and the way the cabinets are broken up by color into different sections of the garage.
Shannon Hickcox

Garage organization plans | Cincinnati, OH

While Jeff works hard designing plans for a few garages today, I get to test out my new camera and it's cool remote app on my phone. He's grumbling about me taking pictures of him already, something about not being shaved and too furry for pictures. I just need a victim..errr...model, I'm not terribly picky today. Working from home should have a few perks, one of them being you don't have to get showered, dressed, etc. just to sit on the computer. It's a nice bonus especially on a gray, rainy day.

So here he is, unshaven and in a tshirt....gasp!

Garage Makeover | Centerville, OH

The most recent garage Jeff renovated before we made the drive up to Detroit to visit some family & friends for Easter. They chose our cabinets with extruded handles (see the close up photo of the drawer), silver RaceDeck flooring, and gray slatwall. The finished look is pretty awesome if you ask me, I know I'm a little biased though.
I have to mention how awesome our clients are too. They let us bring a potential client over and use their newly renovated garage as a showroom. Thank you Mike & Robin!

Garage Cabinets | Cincinnati, OH

While I was sorting through some of our old photos of garages Jeff has installed cabinets into, I came across this one. Not one that draws a lot of attention, but I'm betting the cabinets and drawers keep their garage very organized. It looks like they opted for plenty of drawers, and I'm sure Jeff added the dividers that he loves so much. It has a nice, clean, bright look with the white cabinets and the heavy duty, gray, 2mm edge banding for added durability.

Something worth mentioning since it comes up when we are designing garage plans is our mounting system. This floor mounted system offers additional load capacity since there is a custom base that spreads across the entire cabinet unit. The base is leveled off of the concrete with heavy duty leveling feet, then trimmed (but not sealed at the bottom) with PVC baseboard so if water reaches it, there won't be moisture issues. No wood actually comes in contact with the concrete. Clean up around the cabinet system is easy, not to mention, they never have to get on their hands and knees to clean out cobwebs, leaves, or whatever blows in from outside. We offer wall mounted cabinets as well, which also have a very high load capacity, it's really just a matter of preference. 

Garage Storage | Northern Kentucky

As much as I love the cabinets, flooring, and stainless steel wall guard, I really wanted to show everyone this restored vintage Holiday Inn sign. Our client used to work for one of the biggest hotel chains in the USA and spent years looking for a this sign. They were all supposed to have been destroyed, but someone found one that was buried half underground in Elizabethtown, KY. He had it restored and decided to have his garage turned into a Man Cave around the same time. What better place to show off your cool collectibles than a newly renovated garage & man cave?!?  There's also a wall of white garage cabinets with a work bench on  the left wall designed around the garage door and refrigerator. I just wish I had snapped a few pictures of it while I was there, but unfortunately we were tight on time since were just there to install that stainless steel wall guard in the back and move on to our next stop. I'll get it next week when we go back to install more stainless.

~Shannon Hickcox

Grocery Bag Storage | Cincinnati, OH

We're putting together a garage plan for a client this week and came across a very typical, ordinary, everyday item that needs to be stored so that it's easily accessible and tidy....the plastic grocery bag collection! It's a small thing, but something that seems to always be in the way and causes chaos when it gets out of control. So, the question of the day over here at The Garage Guy is what do you do with all of your plastic grocery bags? You try to do the responsible thing and recycle them or reuse them, but you don't want let grocery bag chaos take over. So, what's an organized house to do? I did what I love to do...research (ie. playing on Pinterest.com & Google images) and found a few of my favorites that I thought I'd share.

#1 The wall mount system & my personal favorite
I just ordered one for our house and am planning on having Jeff customize it so that it fits on our slatwall. Not much to do here except hang it in an easily accessible spot. They have bigger units and units that will tuck into a cabinet or pantry.
Simplehuman's wall mount grocery bag dispenser

#2 The Drawer system

This is nice if you have the extra space in a reasonably shallow drawer, otherwise I feel like it might be wasted space. I love the idea of having them tucked in a manageable space in a clean and organized fashion. They have other bags tucked in there as well. Not to mention, tissue boxes are pretty inexpensive and durable as well. Wonder if these could be mounted on a wall?? Hmmm...
Better Homes & Garden's DIY Drawer idea

#3 The counter top, pantry, or cabinet

  This one I found on Pinterest.com. These are adorable...especially if you like crafting because you can really paint it whatever color you'd like. I believe they're just spray painted coffee cans with X's cut into the lids to dispense from. Unfortunately, when I tried click the photo to get the original source to get directions and give credit, I'm getting an error message with a suspicious link note. I'd love to give credit to whoever made the dispensers and took the photo if anyone sees this and knows.  

Wall Storage | Cincinnati, OH

In case anyone has ever wondered, we absolutely test the products we offer and we're not gentle on them either. We want to be sure what we're offering is going to stand the test of time and wear and tear. So over the next few weeks/months, I'll be posting how we're using {and abusing} the products we offer.

The photo below is what I've been using since I traded my gym membership for home workouts over a year ago. We were tight on space and I needed easy access, so Jeff installed some slatwall {brand name StoreWALL} for me.  I was reluctant at first to put that much pressure on the slatwall, but Jeff assured me that he would fix it if I managed to break it, and said that's something we would want to know anyway. Good point! So here we are a year later and I keep adding to the equipment and the hooks & slatwall keep impressing me.

The weights come on and off daily and they're stored pretty closely together. There are 327 lbs. in just weights hanging on the bottom half of the wall. I didn't add anything to that number except the free weights, plates, sandbag, and kettle bells.

If you're tight on space, but not on things you need to store, this wall storage system is definitely something you should consider.

Shannon Hickcox

Garage Repair | Cincinnati, OH

Yesterday, Jeff and his helper Markus were out finishing up a garage that they had already installed cabinets into. The last item on their task list was to blow in some insulation and lay a wood floor across the existing ceiling joists so out of season and odd things could be stored {this is where the Garage Storage & More fits in}. Around 5:00 p.m., I get a text with no words, just the photo below. This is one of those photos {especially if you've ever blown insulation into an attic before}, that says it all without saying a word. I know it happens, it's unfortunate when it does, just one wrong step and you're through the drywall. Needless to say they spent an extra four hours repairing the drywall...wrapping it up around 11:00 p.m. and rolled in the driveway just before midnight. Sometimes things don't go as we plan, but he always seems to power through it and get the job done...he's one tired guy today!

Garage Cabinets | Cincinnati, OH

A new set of garage cabinets and a floor coating, along with some StoreWALL in the corner completed this garage in Cincinnati, OH. The cabinet closest to the entry door was built specifically to store shoes. We all know if you have kids, you have shoes & lots of them so Jeff designed the cabinet around that.

The system itself is 13' Wide, 7' tall, with three cabinets being 23" deep and the shoe cabinet is 16" deep.

For size reference, Jeff is in front of the cabinets. 

The garage has vaulted ceilings, and the cabinets are roughly 8' tall

The area in front of the StoreWALL stores bikes and ride on toys for the kids.

The client chose a classic, modern handle for their cabinets

A closer view at the shoe storage.

Give your car a cool place to park | The Garage Guy | Cincinnati

As I settle into my new role as Marketing Coordinator for our little family business, part of my job is to find new products to offer our clients as they're planning their garage remodel projects with us. Not only have we found that people are wanting to get their garages organized, they want them to look cool as well. So, over the past couple of days, I've set up a Pinterest.com account so I could pin products as I find them. I've also sifted through numerous websites to find some of the very best and neatest ideas out there. We'd obviously love to makeover your garage, but realize that's not necessarily in everyone's budget so I plan to share the products that I find that are available to consumers, not just dealers so everyone can turn their garage into a welcoming space. For most people, it is he first room you see when you come home...why not make it better?

Let's start with yesterday's find...

You can them at www.ballclaw.com. It's a great concept and pretty versatile! 

Show's over! Time to start organizing garages!

Well the 2014 Cincinnati Home and Garden Show has come to an end. It was a wonderful week and we met lots of new people. Hart Productions has once again organized and put together a very well attended event. Now it's time for me to start making phone calls and scheduling appointments to visit garages and make some garage magic happen. The next few weeks we will be pretty busy meeting with and designing new garage organization plans with people that stopped by our booth. If you're on our list, you'll be getting a phone call soon! Thank you to everyone who stopped by to see us....we look forward to helping you get your garage makeover plans started.

Spring is coming! How does your garage look?

Stop by our booth at this year's Home and Garden Show at the Duke Energy Center now through Sunday, March 9, 2014. You can see what your garage could look like with some new cabinets, flooring, StoreWALL, and more! We'll schedule an appointment to come look at your garage and get a personalized plan for your garage.

Cincinnati Home & Garden Show 2014 | Setup Day 3

Jeff and his team are working hard this week getting ready to roll out this year's Home & Garden Show display. We're inside the show this year, which is a big change for us. In past years we've been in a nice, large, semi-quiet corner of the lobby near the ticket booths. We decided to scale down the size of the booth a bit and go inside since a group of booths opened up that would still provide the space we like. Stop by and see us anytime from March 1-2 & 5-9! Here's a map with our location so you can find us easier....

Hope to see you there!  

Garage makeover before & after | Clifton, ohio

Custom and standard cabinets, work bench, StoreWall, and Racedeck flooring completed this basement garage makeover in Clifton, Ohio. 

The Entertainment Garage | Cincinnati, OH

Custom cabinets, Polyurea flooring, StoreWALL on the walls, and a rolling island that stores tables completed this garage in Cincinnati, OH.

2014 Cincinnati Home & Garden Show

Come see us at booth 1802-1804 at this year's Home and Garden Show at the Duke Energy Convention Center. Set up starts next week and the show will run March 1-2 & 5-9, 2014. We're looking forward to an all new booth design and location change inside the show. Being in the lobby the past three years has been wonderful, but we're making the leap and and heading into the show this year. We'll be sure to post photos as set up progresses, not just of our booth but of all the set up chaos that will inevitably surround us and everyone else. It's stressful, fun, and exciting all at the same time.
http://cincinnatihomeandgardenshow.com/