Elise Steffensen and her family have converted their old carport into a super-practical garage for an active family, with space for sports equipment, tools, garden tools – and, of course, the car. If you need some tips and a little inspiration for smart garage solutions, you may find it here.
Elise and her family live in Tromsø, and they’re an active family with lots of skiing and sports equipment. Their old carport was roomy but impractical. It was open to the wind and weather, and they wanted an enclosed garage with space for storing their sports equipment, garden tools and other tools and materials. They started by digging out and pouring new foundations, before building new walls and extending the roof. The floor was given a smart epoxy coating. The old cupboards and shelves were removed, and the walls were painted the same colour as the floor. And an essential detail – good lighting. Good lighting in a garage helps in ensuring things are well organised and easy to keep tidy.
The garage has been fitted with storing boards and a workbench along the short wall. The boards accommodate hooks and holders for large and small tools. So everything is well-arranged and easily accessible when they need it. There are plenty of gliding mesh drawers under the bench that will hold masses of stuff and stand up to rough treatment. The space above has been fitted with bracket posts to hold materials and timber securely in place, and deep shelves for seasonal storage.
The long wall has been equipped to the full with storage products chosen for their specific purpose, such as wire shelf baskets with edges to keep things in place, deep wire shelves for large objects and holders for bikes, garden hose and other sports equipment. Wire shelves are ideal for a garage, as they can bear a lot of weight, and any soil and dirt will simply drop through the shelf and can then be easily swept or washed away. The wire shelf baskets have been divided into sections for further organisation and system.
The system used in this garage is Elfa’s top-hung Click-in system, which is based on a top track, which is the only component screwed to the wall. Together with hang standards and brackets, this forms the backbone of the system, which can be expanded with gliding drawers, shelves, and accessories designed for specific items. So the solution can be customised to suit your needs and wishes. The best thing is that you can easily alter and add to the system whenever you want. You can start with a very basic solution and add to it little by little.
