12 Shed Storage Ideas to Organize Your Space At Last

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By T. Lacoma, Family Handyman

Don't let your shed become disorganized or overrun with junk! Instead, turn it into a well-lit, useful space that has everything you need at hand. We'll show you how it's done with the best shed storage ideas and projects to finally use your shed to its full potential.

Set Up Large, All-Purpose Hooks

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Large hooks are inexpensive, take up very little space and work great for organizing large tools and hoses. They are also great for hanging power cords, rope, bungee cords, buckets and much more. Large hooks make use of your shed wall space and free up precious floor space.

Install a Large Tool Hanger By the Door

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Specifically, a broom and mop holder can be incredibly useful when mounted by the shed door. You can use it to hold your rakes, shovels and many other long-handle types of garden tools within an arm's reach. Plus, there's no need to drill holes in all of your handles. Why not make it easy on yourself?

Opt for Tough Racks

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Gorilla Racks are heavy-duty shelves with plenty of built-in advantages for storage shed organization. You can adjust their height, pick various sizes depending on how much space you have, and stack nearly anything on them without worrying about weight. If your shed lacks shelving and you need a little extra space for organization, these racks are exactly what you need. Note, however, that they do tend to require a level floor, so they may not be the best choice for a dirt floor.

Use a Magnetic Bar for Smaller Tools

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Peg boards and other traditional methods of organizing tools still work, but we suggest upgrading to a magnetic tool bar. They make it much easier to replace tools once you are done, and you don't have to worry as much about placement or hanging. Plus, they are very easy to install almost anywhere in your shed!

Have a Garden Hod Ready to Go

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A garden hod is a work basket with a simple handle. They are ideal for cutting and rinsing vegetables from your garden, or carrying new plants and bulbs along with the tools you need for the project. Basically, it's a handy garden tote for whatever project you have in mind. Make space for a hod right inside your shed, and prep it with the tools and items you will be using for your next project.

Put Your Old Containers to Work Again

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Do you have old planters or baskets that no longer hold plants? Storing them is a good idea, but why not both store them and put them to work? Use these planters to hold common shed goods, such as extra mulch or potting soil, birdseed, fertilizer, packets of garden seeds and more.

Set Up a Calendar Space

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Calendars are becoming increasingly popular for sheds for a couple of reasons. First, large, durable calendars with enough room to make notes on are a great way to plan out your landscaping projects or just weekly/monthly tasks that you want to remember. Second, it's a great way to list out the proper planting/cultivating/harvesting times for all the plants that you want to grow throughout the year, which can be challenging to keep straight. With a big enough annual calendar, you can even tape seed packets to the appropriate dates for planting to save more time.

Add Small Shelves for Additional Items

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A few hanging shelves can be an excellent addition to your shed for organizing small items. You can use these small shelves for many purposes such as storing gloves, keys and other items that don't really fit anywhere else. Above the work surface is an excellent spot for these catch-all shelves for more storage shed organization.

Pallets Can Be Your Friend

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Pallets usually come along with large landscaping projects, and if you have a big yard you may have an annoying annual influx of pallets that have to be broken down and thrown away. But you can make use of a couple of pallets in your tool storage shed by standing them on end against a wall and storing long-handled garden tools and other awkward items behind them.

Build a Fold-Down Table for Plant Prep

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In a perfect world, every shed would have a large, sturdy bench to do quick potting and prep work, or to hold hobby-related tools. But in reality, few sheds actually have this much room. If you would love a work space but a permanent bench is out of the question, try building a fold-down table instead (you can also buy fold-down tables at home improvement stores). It saves on space and gives you the work surface you need. Just make sure it is attached to a strong wall.

Need More Space? Add Another Shed!

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A problem many homeowners eventually run into is that their shed becomes crowded with different types of stored items—gardening implements are hung next to ski poles and inner tubes rest next lawnmowers. This can make organization very difficult and cause a lot of space problems. One of the best solutions is to build a separate shed to store like items. You can find a variety of shed kits if you don't want to build one from scratch.

Remember, You Don't Need to Keep Everything

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On an annual basis, go through your shed and throw away everything you really don't need to store. Sheds tend to accumulate some items that shouldn't be kept around and that take up way too much space. Take chicken wire, for example. It's not worth the effort to store, and it costs very little to replace it later on. Don't let an automatic store everything mentality ruin your shed's usefulness! And be sure to purge once in a while to maintain your storage shed organization.