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Wednesday, January 11, 2006

HGTV's Mission: Organization: Taking Back the Basement

The Debbie and Jon Katz have a problem: a garage in desperate need of organization. The storage space in the house that been used up and now the family's garage is bursting at the seams with tools, children's toys and long term storage items leaving no room for the family car. Professional organizer Lisa Witts has been sent in to take this space from cluttered and disorganized to a stylish space that Jon, Debbie and their three kids can use for both work and play.

The first step in Lisa's plan is to have the family sort through their belongings in the garage grouping like items together. Once items have been sorted into three main groups, toys, tools and long terms storage, it was time to sort through all the items and decide what will stay, what will be donated to charity and what will go to the curb. Lisa got the kids involved at this point by having them sort through their toys to decide what they still play with and what can be given away.

Once the garage was cleared, Lisa revealed her master plan for the blank canvas of a garage. Where there once was one large shelf for Jon's tools, there will be a new storage system making tools easier to access. Wire shelves will be mounted to the ceilings where long term storage items, like coats, coolers and paints, will be stored in clear plastic containers so their contents can be easily viewed. With storage above, the space opens up allowing for a new arts and crafts area for the three Katz children. Outdoor toys will be placed into bins, bikes placed on racks and the parents' bikes will be suspended from the ceiling since they are not used as often. Old kitchen cabinets that were once used for storage will be replaced by lockers to store seasonal toys.

Now the work begins. A bare-studded wall was drywalled. Then all the walls were painted a light lilac. The floor and foundation to the garage were painted a darker purple. These colors where then accented by a dark cranberry trim. On an empty wall, chalkboard paint was used to create an area for the kids to draw. Around the newly painted chalkboard, metal trim was installed to give the kids places to hang their art. A paper towel holder was repurposed to hold a roll of craft paper completing the art center.

The old shelf that used to store Jon's tools has been replaced by a wall stoage system. This allows for flexibility in a storage system. Like tools were grouped together with the most used tools within reach. Lesser used tools were stored higher on the peg board keeping them out of the way, yet easy to get to when needed.

The Katz family learned gained valuable insight from there garage reorganization. Now they know where objects are stored saving them time. Their possessions are at their fingertips, where as before the garage was too full to be effective as a storage space. Most importantly they feel their kids are safer since tools properly stored and tools and toys have distinct zones.

(HGTV's Mission: Organization: Taking Back the Basement)