Empty your garage of everything, yes everything
It's a lot easier to see what you want to keep and what you need to get rid of if you pull everything out of there. Obviously you'll want to do this on a pretty nice day so your belongings aren't exposed to the weather. Getting everything out and sorted is the best way to start and it'll give you an empty pallet to start with when you start putting things back. Label some boxes or just chalk some lines on your driveway (keep, sell, donate, trash, etc.) and start sorting. Please read the labels for proper disposal of paint, chemicals, batteries, etc.
Depending on the amout of belongings you have and whether you'll take the project further by installing shelving, slatwall, or calling a professional to install a storage system, you may want to possibly rent a dumpster and/or a POD (or similar) for some short-term storage.
Once your garage is empty and you've determined what you're going to continue to store in there, you can decide whether it needs some shelving or cabinets, or possibly a wall system to hang things. It's also a good time to patch any holes in the drywall and put a fresh coat of paint on the walls.
Make it look good
As I'm sure you already know, a fresh coat of paint will go a long way. It's up to you whether you want the interior of your garage to coordinate with your exterior, or to be a room all it's own. You can find plenty of color ideas at your local paint store to help make your garage a more inviting space. They should also be able to offer you some guidance with the type of paint you'll want to use (it will vary based on whether your drywall is finished or not). The one thing we really recommend is going with a high quality paint, it will ultimately save you time, money, and lots of frustration. We like Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore, and California Paints but there are plenty more high quality options out there.
If painting is not your idea of fun and you'd rather hire someone to do that job for you, your paint store should be able to help you with that as well.
What kind of storage do you need?
Hopefully once you've sorted everything out, you will be storing much less in your garage than you started with. If you still have big, lightweight, seasonal items that need to be stored in the garage, overhead systems work well, but if you need to store some of your day-to-day items, you might want to consider either some wall storage, a shelving unit, or a cabinet system. All of these systems can range from a couple hundred bucks to thousands of dollars and can get pretty elaborate, so now is probably a good time to decide how you want to proceed and set a solid budget. Are you ready to do it yourself or do you want to hire a pro to make it look like an extension of your home? You don't need to be a carpenter to put together a shelving unit or even a cabinet system, but you do need patience. Measure your space, determine what you'll need and anticipate some future items that may make their way out to the garage, and go shopping.
If you're considering hiring a pro, getting recommendations from friends and family is usually the best place to start. If you don't know anyone that's called in a pro for their garage organization project, an internet search followed by Angie's List and the BBB is the next best route.
