Start with the room you have
Most of what follows assumes a garage, because that is usually the room going spare; a shed or a spare bedroom works the same way, minus the door. The question that settles the layout is whether the car still goes in. That one answer decides whether the storage has to go overhead and on the walls, or whether the floor is yours to use.
Two measurements are worth taking before anything is bought. The height under the open door track, not under the ceiling: an up-and-over or sectional door sweeps through the space it hangs in, and that sweep is the ceiling as far as a rack is concerned. And the wall you intend to load — masonry will hold whatever you hang off it, plasterboard on its own will not, whatever the fixings pack claims.
Then the two things nobody counts until they are a problem: sockets and cold. A garage often has one socket and one fitting on the ceiling, which covers a light and a charger and not much else — anything past that is an electrician’s job rather than a job for an extension lead left permanently plugged in. And a room too cold to sit in stops being used in October. We do not sell heating or insulation, and it is still the first money worth spending if the space is unheated.
The order of work
Any of these can be done on its own. Done in this order, each one makes the next easier, and nothing you have just finished gets pulled apart by the step after it.
- 1Measure, and decide what the room is forWork out what stays in the room — the car, the bikes, the freezer — and mark where their doors open. What is left is the space you are actually kitting out, and it is usually a good deal smaller than the floor plan suggests.
- 2Get the floor clearEverything on the floor goes up: overhead racks in the dead space above the bonnet, shelving down one wall, bins and drawers for the loose fixings. Racks bolt into ceiling joists and shelving wants a flat dry wall, so find the joists and mark them before you buy to a span.
- 3Light it in two layersOne fitting in the middle of the ceiling puts you between the light and the work, so the shadow you are peering into is your own. Fit the ceiling layer first to make the room usable, then add one light you can move and put where you are looking.
- 4Build the surface you work atA bench, or folding brackets and a top you supply where a fixed bench would cost you the parking. Set the height off your own wrist with your arms hanging rather than copying a figure, and put the tools you reach for hourly on the wall behind it at arm’s length.
- 5Make the corner you sit inThe half that gets skipped. A room that is only a workshop gets used like a workshop — a seat, a surface at elbow height and somewhere to put a glass down is what changes its job. Darts need a clear throw and a wall you do not mind marking.
- 6Decorate lastSigns, open shelves and the tray by the door go up once the room works. It is also the cheapest step to change your mind about, which is a reason to live with the layout for a week or two first.
If you cannot drill into the walls
A rented garage, a leasehold block, or a single-skin wall you would rather not open up. Most of the room can still be done, and it is worth knowing early which parts cannot.
Freestanding shelving takes the weight without touching a wall — load the bottom tiers first so it cannot get top-heavy — and bins and drawers sit on it. A clamp-on vice grips the bench and comes off again. Rechargeable magnetic lights stick to anything steel and charge over USB, and a fold-out panel light screws straight into the lampholder already up there — so the whole lighting layer can be done with no wiring and no fixings at all.
What genuinely cannot: overhead racking and wall-hung storage. Both hang a load over your head or over a car, and both belong in joists or masonry. There is no adhesive or tension-fit version of that job worth trusting.