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.