Uplifting Shed Storage

Ok, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m a hoarder. And if there was ever evidence of this, it’s in my shed.

Exhibit A.

I know as soon as I dispose of something, I’ll find a use for it. So I place it haphazardly in the shed. Then when it comes time to find something I know I kept, I have to move everything else around before I can locate it. That’s why I decided it was time to add some storage by way of an overhead shelf!

And might I add that this shed addition was backed 100 percent by my husband, who also agrees I’m a hoarder.

Exhibit B.

These were saved/stored/hoarded after we finished our first project as husband and wife. This beauty of a poker table.

We had 8 plywood corners from rounding out the poker table. And i just knew we could use them down the road. Once we were ready to add this shelf, we were glad to use them as supports.

Since there is already a cabinet hanging on the wall, we were planning to set the shelf on top of it. And then we would only need supports for the right half of the wall. I thought it lined up with the beam going across the middle of that wall, which would have been perfect. But upon further preparation, I noticed the top of the cabinet was slightly above the beam.

So we had to do it the slightly harder way. It required us to notch the plywood pieces to tuck against the beam and still be screwed into the vertical beams that are flush with the horizontal ones.

But that wasn’t really that hard. Just an extra step in the process. Once our three pieces were cut, we secured them to the side of the vertical beams using 3 screws each.

We shaved an inch or two off of a 10 foot shelf board and set it on top of the cabinet and homemade shelf cleats. Since we weren’t planning on putting anything fragile or heavy on the shelf, we didn’t think it was necessary to secure the shelf to the cleats. But if we change out what we keep there in the future, we definitely will!

Bada bing, bada boom, the shelf was ready for miscellaneous boxes like from my sewing machine and my preserved wedding dress. Oh and a barstool holding leftover foam from our poker table project too.

And looking down from the high and lofty shelf, the floor is a little clearer. Although I’ll admit there is probably still some purging I should do.

After a few weeks of having my smile-inducing shelf installed in the shed, I found a few other small things to do to further organize my hoarding habit.

I picked up some coated plant hooks at the home center and screwed them in to hold my hand-me-down extension cords.

At some point in the past there was already a shelf between the studs along the back wall of the shed. I’m pretty sure I removed it, but left the supports. So when I was analyzing the surplus of paint cans I realized I could put most or all of the smaller quart-sized cans there.

I dug through my scrap wood pile and found one that was wide enough and slightly longer than needed. With a swipe of the cordless circular saw, it was ready for “installation.” And I say installation with quotations since I just set the board on the supports with no screws or nails.

And lastly I added a shelf above the existing paint can storage station.

I cut a leftover 2×4 and screwed in two supports like the existing ones from the quart-sized paint shelf. And used another piece of scrap lumber on top of them. It was too close to the beam above to hold quarts, so I relocated the paint and stain samples to this small space.

And boy does it feel good. Even sitting on the couch inside I feel some sense of relief knowing the shed is slightly more organized and functional! Has anyone else done a small organization project recently? Do you feel as relieved and excited as I do? Please comment below, I’d love to hear from you!