Your Garagenous Zone - Innovative Ideas for the Garage

Bob's Story: an Introduction

"Our garage is a mess. Someday we'll organize the garage." Those words have been uttered often by well-meaning homeowners. You're not alone if your garage is full of clutter while your car is relegated to the driveway. Bob's story may sound familiar. But being mired in a garage full of clutter is a reversible condition. There is a better way.

Resolving the Landfill Mentality in the Garage

One spouse desires a clean and organized garage. The other spouse prefers the status quo. Play the Garage Scavenger Hunt game with the spouse-in-denial, and see how much time is wasted looking for objects that exist in the garage. Author Bill West shows how to overcome this epidemic of Garagenous Clutteritis.

The Garagenous Zone� Model: Objectives for a Functional & Organized Garage

Learn the nine objectives that serve as your guide in creating a garage that is functional and organized. For example, 'categorize before you organize' identifies areas or zones to make it easier to know where things can be located. Another objective is 'organize to visualize,' because when you can see an object is can be found with ease. Another example is 'if it's on the floor, it's time to store.' Avoid dancing around garage clutter for good.

Reinventing the Garage: How to Create the Garagenous Zone® Model

West wastes no time showing how to put the objectives into action from floor to ceiling and wall-to-wall. He shows how to build an ergonomically-designed workbench to avoid lower back strain while working on a project. These innovative ideas place you on the path to achieve more use you may never thought possible in the garage.

A Case Study in Reinventing the Garage

Take a real family who has mountains of clutter and see how this garage is transformed into a remarkable space for the entire family! Three of the four children live at home, and each member of the Carter family is involved in a multitude of sporting and outdoor activities. You'll be amazed how all of the gear is stored and how this 'new' garage appears.

The Garage Door and Openers: The Largest Entry into the Home

Discover what to look for in buying a garage door or door opener. There are differences. You will also learn about how one company has reinvented the garage door opener that is amazing.

Quick Tips & Product Ideas for the Well-Appointed Garage

Dozens of ideas and cool products stimulate your imagination as to how you can make the garage into more than a dumpster attached to your house. Put a TV on a wall swivel and the treadmill in the garage. Now you have a fitness center at home. How about bike storage? Check out this innovative product that allows you to lift your bikes to the ceiling on a pulley system with the push of a button. Tired of that darkened room known as the garage? Instead of the single light bulb, buy track lighting to brighten the space and make it more inviting to use.

Feng Shui for the Garage: Practical Applications for Everyday Living

Nationally known Feng Shui expert Gary Hendrickson outlines how this ancient Chinese art and science is applied in the garage to make it more feng-tional. Follow his advice to elevate energy in the largest and most underutilized room in the home.

Architectural Design Concepts for the Garage when Building a New Home

Before you build, consider these innovative ideas from leading architects to design a home's front elevation without the protrusion of garage doors, learn how 'flex' space was created in the 'Home of the Future' that will sure to inspire, and discover how a vexing problem of designing around large RVs don't have to ruin good home design.

Interior Feature Ideas for the Garage when Remodeling or Building a New Home

Whether renovating or building new, these ideas make the garage perfect for year-around enjoyment. Thinking of heating the garage? There's one idea that's preferable over the conventional method. Do you need more electrical power in the garage? Check the ideas to upgrade the power supply and avoid overloading circuits.

Bonus Ideas: Going beyond the Garage

Some of the innovative ideas from the garage have been put to use in other areas of the house. See how storage can be expanded in the laundry room and the master bedroom closet with a unique wall organizing system. You'll be pleasantly surprised too how you can soften the look of those garage doors from the front of the home with another idea that appears in this chapter.

Famous Garages: The Incubator of American industry

We have to have a little fun. Discover what national corporations got their start in the garage. There are some fun surprises here. It shows how innovative thinking is possible even when it comes from the humble garage.

Garage Trivia

Okay, so we have to have more than a little fun. Here are a few tidbits of information that might come in handy at the next cocktail party when there is a lull in the conversation and everyone is waiting for the last batch of Swedish meatballs to simmer in the fondue pot.

A Century of Historical Trends in the American Garage

The evolution of the garage can be identified by five major trends over the course of the last 100 years. This chapter illustrates how the sixth major trend is about to emerge. No longer is there evolution in the garage; it's a revolution in the garage against worn-out notions and how garage space can better serve the homeowner.

My 2020 Vision of the Garage for the Future

The author does not have perfect vision. He does have distinct ideas as to how the garage will look by the year 2020 based on his years of researching the subject. You may be surprised what driving force will further the emergence of garages becoming more 'civilized' in what is known as the 'final frontier' in our homes to be organized. The garage remodeling and organizing business can be the perfect opportunity for entrepreneurs. Local, regional, and national companies are forming throughout the country ready to capture this new category in the home improvement arena.