Tatyana Kim
Photos by Olga Kim
Today’s project is what frequently stays hidden from the eye. It is all about functionality and storage space – the garage. As a general rule, whatever can go up, shall go up. In our case, the biggest space is taken by an automobile, a motorbike, and spare tires. Two bicycles went on a stand molded into the floor and the ceiling, but the shelfs is what we will cover in today’s post – they all went up onto the walls.
What is stored in the garage is a vast variation of size, weight, and purpose. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to modify the shelf setup quickly and easily? Our project has that luxury with Czech company Element System in place.
It all starts with vertical bars, that are perforated for screws and beams. There are two ways to align the bars: the easier one is to put a horizontal rail first and then hang and secure the vertical ones along (EASY); but since we have a digital laser to level them, we go with the other option (CLASSIC).
The bars come in different length – from 0.5m to 2m with 500mm difference variations. We combined 1m and 1,5m: all of them are fixed 1,5m from the floor level, making more space for maneuvering the car or the motorcycle; but upper ends are set around permanent items on the wall, like pipes, lamps, and slide rails of the garage gates.
All accessories come in metal or white colors, and shelves have a few variations of width and depth. We chose all white 800mm wide parts. There is a manual with clear instructions how to measure the widths for the bars on the wall, much easier than it seems.
Once these bars are secured on the wall, all the heavy lifting is done. Now is the time for hanging beams and then put shelfs on them. There are many options: wine rack, net basket, net shelf, wardrobe rack, sliding basket, tools organizer, and regular metal shelves.
The tool organizer is a highly customizable item by itself in our project. There is plenty of hooks, hangers, boxes to choose from. The tool rack itself hangs on the same bars as everything else.
All in all, this project took only a few hours to implement, but it will serve in so many ways and can adjust for so many purposes. Everything that goes onto the bars is easy to move and remove. Moreover, each shelf can hold as much as 30kg each, so there is a place for all your heavy tools and spare parts.
