DIY GARAGE STORAGE CABINETS | FREE BUILDING PLANS

Take back control of your messy garage! I know how overwhelming it is to keep your garage in check. That’s why I want to share this easy storage cabinet idea to help keep all the clutter in your garage and organize every bit inside.

If your garage is getting chaotic and you are having trouble locating where each item inside is being kept, this DIY garage cabinet storage will solve all your organization problems!

Here are free building plans and storage solutions for garage cabinets to organize all your tools, household supplies, automotive supplies, outdoor toys, garden tools . . . you name it!

*This post is sponsored by Kreg.  We are so grateful for our friends at Kreg and their help to create this content and how-to for you.

I’m forever saying goodbye to those days of apologizing for my garage.  Oh how I would cringe when I pulled inside with the babysitter.  I wanted to say, “I promise things are so much better inside” or “don’t judge me by my garage”.

Then there was the full-on panic mode when I realized we left our garage door open for all the neighbors to see for over 30 minutes.

Horrifying.

Not to mention the impossible task of actually finding what you are looking for in the dark hole.

Someone please tell me I’m not alone here! When your garage is a much-needed storage space and a workshop, things get bad fast.

When we moved from our home and into our temporary rental home and had to pack up the garage, we knew we never wanted our garage to end up as it had again.

I recently introduced our garage makeover project, and our plans for making it work for our garage storage needs and a studio space. 

Well, it is finally taking shape and I’m excited to show you the progress we’ve made in building DIY storage cabinets to fit all we need to store. Be sure to catch our Wall on Wheels tutorial. That has also given me a place to take photos and film projects. We’ve built all these things so that they will move with us when the time comes.

You can find the full building plans for the Garage Storage Cabinets over at Kreg buildsomething.com, along with tons of other inspiring building plans that you can make use of.

While you are here, Mr. TIDBITS and I will detail building the base of the compartments, and the hacks we came up with for the wall cabinet that we will use as his tool organizer and for building supplies

If you would like to look at the inside of the compartments and find links to his tools, click over to our post on tool storage and organization.   

We are going to get to work on organizing the rest of the 3 cabinets. His tools will fill one cabinet. Then I’m going to set to work at getting the other 3 organized for outdoor toys, household supplies, and automotive/painting supplies. 

Everything we have shoved into our garage will now fit perfectly inside these 4 cabinet doors. It’s going to be a glorious thing!

We didn’t begin this project until we thoughtfully sketched out each interior and considered all our needs.

Things changed and adapted as we build the cabinets, but the sketch helped us think it through.

I’m going to let Kevin (aka–Mr. TIDBITS) take over now and tell you about the tools he used for this project and some insight into how he designed and built the inside compartments to organize his tools from top and bottom.

*This post contains affiliate links. 

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Hello again! Kevin here, taking over once again for some tool talk. This was a really fun project for me and I am thrilled with the results. hen I set out to build the primary structure of the cabinets, I knew the Kreg Jig Pocket Hole Joinerywill create perfect pocket hole screws that will be crucial for strength and its locking system.  I wanted to also be sure to point out their new Screw Selector Wheel, which has been very handy.

I found the building plans for the primary structure on buildsomething.com, but I want to share some compartments I added to the inside to help me organize my tools and enable me to adapt to the space as my needs change.

First, I needed shelving that would hold specific tools and toolboxes that I owned, so I built this cabinet around what I had. I wanted to make sure it was adaptable as my tool arsenal grew and changed over the years. 

I started with adjustable shelves that could hold the weight of a few toolboxes, thus the use of pocket hole joinery to hide screws with wood glue that would create a much stronger union than just nails.

I also added spaces where I could store many small parts so I could finally organize my cans of miscellaneous screws and nails that I have collected over the years. I could also organize my smaller tools into these boxes and combine two large toolboxes and 1 shelf into a more manageable system.

To adapt the storage space to future needs, I built hangers on the walls to form a wall cleat system so I could move the different tool bins I built to make room for more tools or easily change the layout of the cabinet down the road. I did this by using a table saw set to a 45-degree angle, to rip 1×3 pine boards in half.

One-half of the board goes on the wall.

The other half goes on the tool bin or shelf.

The two pieces make a solid joint that holds the tool bin very well and yet allows things to move easily.

I also built a clamp holder to organize my pile of clamps. To do this, I used a 20-inch longboard with 3/8 inch notches cut out 1 inch apart.

I used a pipe to make holders for my growing number of drills, drivers, and staple guns.

I bought a 2-foot piece of 4-inch ABS pipe from Home Depot and cut it into 4 equal pieces with my miter saw. I used my table saw to cut sections out of the pipe big enough to fit each tool.

I screwed them onto a 24-inch wide shelf that was 12 inches wide and tall, then added the hanger to the back. It fits perfectly into the wall-mounted cabinet.

I used the HomeRight Finish Max Super paint sprayer to paint everything to match.

*PAINT COLOR!  I know you are going to ask.  We used paint from the Kilz Magnolia Line, the color name “Wedding Band”.

Now, I finally have a place for anything and everything in its place.

That’s one cabinet. Now I have three more to fill and I don’t have an excuse for not finding something anymore. Be sure to check out how we organized and completed the interior of this tool storage cabinet and come back for the other cabinets. Let me know if you have questions.

Thank you Mr. TIDBITS!  Isn’t he something 😉 .

I would love to know if you have any garage organization ideas for us!  Even let me know if there is a trouble area in your garage and if you would like us to consider ideas for them as we move forward.

Now, if anyone knows how to ward off spiders from my garage forever . . . I’m all ears!