Take back control of your garage! Free building plans for garage storage 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 our garage door was left open for all the neighbors to see for more than 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 much needed storage space and a workshop, things get bad really fast.
When we moved from our home and into our temporary rental home and had to pack up the garage, we knew we never ever wanted our garage to end up like 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 starting to take shape and I’m excited to show you the progress we’ve made for building garage 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 photo and film projects. We’ve built all these things so that they will move with us when that 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.
While you are here, Mr. TIDBITS and I will detail the building of the organizing compartments and hacks we came up with for the cabinet where we will store all his tools and building supplies.
If you would like a look at the complete inside compartments and find links to his tools, click on over to our post on tool storage and organization.
We are going to get to work organizing the rest of the 3 cabinets. His tools 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. Basically everything we have shoved into our garage will now fit perfectly inside these 4 cabinets. 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 started to build, 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 on how he designed and built the inside compartments to organize his tools. By the way, I’ve never quite seen him take ownership over a project as much as this one. This tool cabinet is his new baby, and he is pretty smitten with it.
*This post contains affiliate links.
Hello again! Kevin here, taking over once again for some tool talk. This was a really fun project for me and I am very happy with the results. When I set to building the main structure of the cabinets, I knew the Kreg Jig Pocket Hole Joinery was going to be crucial for strength. I wanted to also be sure to point out their new Screw Selector Wheel, which has been very handy.
The building plans for the main structure are found on buildsomething.com, but I want to share some of the compartments I added to the inside to help me organize my tools and enable me to adapt the space as my needs change.
First of all, I needed shelving that would hold specific tools and toolboxes that I owned so this particular cabinet was built 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 shelving that could hold the weight of a few tool boxes thus the use of pocket hole joinery to hide screws with glue that would create a much stronger union than just nails.
I also added spaces where I could store a large amount of small parts organizers so I could finally organize my cans of miscellaneous screws and nails that I have collected over the years. I was also able to organize my smaller tools into these boxes and combine two large tool boxes and 1 shelf into a more manageable system.
In order to be able 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 be easily moved.
I built a clamp holder to finally organize my pile of clamps. To do this I used a 20 inch long board with 3/8 inch notches cut out 1 inch apart.
I used 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. I added the hanger to the back and it fit perfectly into the 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, color name “Wedding Band”.
Now I finally have a place for everything and everything in its place.
That’s one cabinet, now I have three more to fill and never have an excuse for not finding something again. Be sure to check out how we organized and finalized the interior of this tool storage cabinet and come back for the other cabinets. Feel free to let me know if you have any 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!
Thanks for sharing this with us.
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This is possible for folks with greater then intermediate skills, so beware. And plan on many weekend hours if you work a real job M-F and don’t have the support or tools that endorsement allows.
Blogs are great, but truly only give your eyes some viewing pleasure (for the ordinary DIY).
Check out Dragon Fire and save yourself time, energy and aggravation.
Nice job though.
Just ordered your plans and I can’t wait to start! Just waiting for my table saw and router and I’ll be a building fool! Look forward to building some of your other builds. Keep up the good vids! 👍🏽 This is my website
Really nice and simple project. I would just add that, if you’re going to load it up with heavy stuff, it’s a good idea to use an ‘L’ bracket or two to fix the unit to the wall. Especially if there are kids in the home. Thank you for your sharing. This is my blog
Do you have a catalog showing garage storage units?
And a phone number so I can speak to someone about what you sale . Have a new home in Idaho and wanting to install some Storage cabinets.
Where do I get plans for the cabinets?
Love!
Thanks!
How can I get the plans for this cabinet? I’m willing to pay for the plans.
There are no plans. Yes, the title says “plans” but nope. It was just click bait to get you in for the advertisements. Of course this reply will never see the light, deleted before it hits the big time. That’s ok. Lesson learned with this site.
For those of you looking for plans, there’s a link to buildsomething.com above in the paragraph under the photo of Mr. Tidbits looking in the cabinets.
These are exactly the kinds of cabinets I’ve been looking for! My only question: are they secured to the wall or sturdy enough as standalone units? Thanks!
Thanks for sharing these wooden glass cabinets with us. This step by step guide is nice and helpful.
Could you post the cost of the project, please?
Looking for directions to build the cabinet(storage) doors. Is there a link that I’m not seeing? Thank you. Love the look so much I’m going to build them for the kitchen.
I appreciate the guide for making a nice storage cabinet for the garage. My wife likes how it is stacked. We will need a professional to help us make something similar to the dimension of our household. https://stadiumstoragewa.com/
I completely agree that the safety procedures are often disregarded in various sorts of workplaces due to insufficient time, inadequate resources or in order to save money.
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Thanks for the step-by-step guide.
Cami can you give us a cost estimate? I’ve seen a couple people ask and I just need a ballpark. This is pure brilliance! This is our next project and will really help all the following projects go more smoothly!!! LOVE!
I use pallet racking as workbenches and I have found that I am really wasting the space under the benches. There is no organization system under the there and it has become wasted space in which I could store things that are currently out in the middle of the floor. It hasn’t really been a huge issue yet due to the size of the shop, 40′ x 60′, but I am going to address it before the issue gets worse.
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I like these cabinets. My Garage is a disaster (my wife helps a lot with that) I am planning cabinets and work benches with tool tables to get it straight. One of those will be a full length cabinet in which will be hand tools and tool sets that I have had for years. This plan looks like it will be easily modified to my needs thanks.
About how much did it cost you?
Better yet. How do you find someone to this plan and install? It is fantastic !! A wife’s dream come true. BUT does every man want his garage organized? Mine says, “IF IT ISN’T OUT WHERE YOU CAN SEE IT , YOU WILL NEVER USE IT. Ha! At least this proves, it can be done.
Thanks for this wonderful solution. 🙂
Truly glorious! …And no, no INDEED, you are not the only one who’s garage is their shame. We definitely top the list. : )
Well that’s a relief 😉
Oh my goodness!!!! I love that so much! It is so calming, you must LOVE walking into the garage right now. lol
Yes! I do infact! First time I’ve ever enjoyed the garage . . . .ever!
I do have a mess in my garage and hope in 6 months it will be gone. My garage is a storage place for one of my sons but, hopefully in 6 months he will be married and my garage will be cleaned out. I do have my work shop in there but most everything has a place. You have a wonderful husband to help you with your projects and garage, cabinets looks so nice.
That’s so sweet of you to store your sons stuff! My mom was very anxious to see us take our collections as well. Way to go for keeping your work shop organized, and thank you for coming by Marlene!
Nice. I wish I had a husband who would be willing to help me out like this and make things nice. You are very fortunate.