Workshop Organization Ideas

Need some workshop organization ideas? Today, I’m sharing a few of my favorite tips and tricks from our garage workshop.

Our Garage Workshop History

Would you believe it if I told you that Corey and I have been homeowners for 9 years now and we have never had an organized workshop?

Never, ever.

We’ve tried. Ohhhhh have we ever tried. Once we even got far enough to organize our garage and make some progress on the workshop space that we had. But, if we’re being honest it was really never all that functional.

Nine years, y’all. It’s a little pathetic.

But. But! We are finally making some progress in this house with the garage. I think that by the time we hit 10 years of owning a home (in August!), we’ll be there.

Fingers crossed.

I’ve put hours and hours into working out there over the last few weeks. Things are finally starting to look so, so good. I mean – I can’t complain about this before and after.

Shop Organization Ideas

Today I wanted to share a few of the tips, tricks, and tools that we’re using in our garage to keep things organized. Our biggest problem in the past has been that we never really found a space for every single thing out there. So, any progress we made was immediately undone as soon as we did a project.

This time around, I’m determined that eeeeeeeeverything will have a home. So far, it’s working!

Again…keep your fingers crossed for me. Toes too, maybe .

So, let’s dive into the tricks I’m using in this garage that gives me hope I’ll keep it more organized than ever before.

1. A Dust Collection System

A dust collection system will CHANGE YOUR LIFE, I promise. It’s definitely more expensive than just using a plain ol’ shop vac. But, it’s approximately 7 million times more efficient!

How does a dust collection system work? It’s basically a ginormous shop vac that can attach to the walls in your workshop. You run a hose off of it that can be attached to the various tools in your shop.

For example, we have one hose running right off of the dust collector that we use to clean the floors. Then, a little further down, there’s a port we can attach to for the miter saw or other mobile tools. And, at the end of the wall is one last port that’s meant to be attached to the table saw.

So, every time we use pretty much any tool in our shop, we can quickly hook it up to the vacuum, turn it on, and not have any dust flying around as we work.

I probably don’t need to spell this out for you but less sawdust flying around means less sawdust all over my garage floor. Which means less sawdust that gets tracked inside my house. And that means less cleaning for me! You see why I’m so excited about this situation?

A large dust collection system like this isn’t necessarily going to be the most logical investment for the casual woodworker or DIYer. But, if you’re doing regular projects in your workshop and struggle to keep up with the mess, it’s really truly worth it.

You can also read more about our dust collection system here from when we first got it!

2. Drawer Organizers

We recently got a new fancy workbench for the garage that has drawer liners in it already (so things don’t slide around). I honestly figured we wouldn’t need any additional organization beyond that.

Oh, how naive and foolish I was.

We got to try Rockler’s Lock-Align drawer organizer system and, holy cow, it’s a game changer. I can find exactly what I need in the drawers within seconds! And, since things have a very specific place within the drawer (remember the goal, here?!), it’s a breeze to clean up when we’re done.

Also, there’s something oh-so-satisfying about opening up a drawer to get a tool and having everything hyper-organized and looking all pretty.

It’s the little things, you know?

Drawer Organization Accessories

• We grabbed this Lock-Align master kit and it’s a great way to get started with getting your drawers organized.
• This bit organizer is hands down my favorite thing we added for those pesky loose bits that always seem to get lost. It’s magnetic, too, so they stay put!
• A few of these larger bins and these small ones are great for all the loose things that get lost in your drawers. I use them for pencils, long drill bits, keys, and more.
• I also love, love, love this screwdriver rack and this pliers rack for not only screwdrivers and pliers but also scissors and other long skinny things that take up space in the drawers!

3. Storage for Very Specific Purposes.

Here’s where we really dive into the “have a place for everything” mentality. Over the years I’ve learned that the following always tend to float around our workshop with no home:

• Shop towels
• Hand sanitizer
• Cleaning wipes

We’re constantly using them, and so we’ve always just kind of left them all out on the workbench. But then they get used and don’t make it back to the workbench. And basically I spend half my time in the workshop looking for those three dang things.

I needed to solve both of these problems and I found a way to do it with just some simple metal shelves!

I added on shelf above the small workbench that holds our hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes, and a spare roll of shop towels. The other shelf hangs on the side of the small workbench and it holds a roll of shop towels as well. So far these two little shelves alone have made a world of difference in things feeling more organized in here. Don’t you love it when a big problem is solved by something so tiny and easy?!

The lesson here? Get specific! If you have a problem with something always getting moved around or lost, look for solutions for that specific thing and make a new home for it.

Shelving Options

• Here’s the shelf I have above the workbench.
• Here’s the shelf I have hanging on the side that also holds shop towels.
• This is the wood glue caddy that I’m obsessed with – and as a bonus, here’s the silicone glue holder I’m really loving right now too.
• This utility caddy is a great option for things like your tape measure, scissors, and pencils.
• And this magnetic parts tray is a life-saver when you’re working on a project with a lot of screws or switching bits a lot. I keep it on the big workbench and we use it all the time!

See more specific organization trays and caddies here!

4. Plugs and Chargers. EVERYWHERE.

Allow me to let you in on a little secret. It is impossible (I mean IMPOSSIBLE) to have too many plugs or chargers in your workshop.

It can’t be done.

If you have corded tools, you’ll want plenty of room to plug them in. If you have battery-powered tools like we do, you’ll want aaaaaall of the battery charging stations. Which means outlets, outlets, and more outlets!

In our last house we only had two (TWO!) pairs of outlets in our garage. It was just a giant pain all the time. This garage is starting off with notably more than that. I haven’t counted but I know it’s more than two! We’re also adding more via some really awesome power strips to make things as functional as possible.

This small workbench near the door is a great landing area for assembly, staining things, or just about anything else. We added this really fancy power strip above it to make it even better. In addition to adding some extra space to plug things in, it has a few USB ports so I can charge my phone so it doesn’t die while I listen to my 12th consecutive crime-related podcast. It’s also got two powerful lights that will be so helpful on the (near constant) occasion that we’re working out here long past the sun has gone down.

Long story short? You need extra outlets – may as well also get a phone stand and some lights while you’re at it, no?

Power strips

• Here’s the awesome power station we have. We are loving it so far and can’t recommend it enough!
• We’ve also used these shop lights in the past to add some extra light to dark corners. They make a world of difference.
• This cord reel is such a nice way to have a built-in extension cord that stays out of the way.

5. Make it Cute.

And finally, perhaps the most important tip of all.

You think I’m kidding, but I’m so, so serious.

I’m not sure if this is true for you, but I find I’m about 95% more likely to keep a space looking organized and clean if I love how it looks. A junky garage will always be a junky garage. There’s no point in really keeping it organized because it’s ugly already. You can’t make it worse!

There’s something magical that happens when I make a space look great. It makes me so motivated to keep it looking great.

I have every intention of doing more projects like this on the other walls of my garage. But, I kicked things off by adding this simple board and batten treatment to this back wall and painting it a color that makes me smile. It just took me a few hours over two days to install it and paint the whole thing. And now, this entire space feels so much better. In fact, the whole garage feels better because of just this one side!

I also took the time to re-paint the metal cabinets we use under the smaller workbench. I stained the workbench top and cut it down to fit better. Little touches like this look so great and make me feel so much better when I’m in the space.

It sounds silly, but give it a shot. I promise you’ll be surprised at how effective it is at motivating you to keep it clean!

I’d love to hear your tips for organizing your workspace too – anything amazing that I missed?!