Just moved into a new home in December, and the wife gave me free reign of the Garage.  So, the walls have been painted, and I had the floors professionally epoxied.  Its a three car garage, and we currently have two cars.  We have minimal stuff to store in the garage since we have an unfinished basement, and since we moved from a townhome, we didn't have much in the way of lawn equipment.  Of course now that we're in a standard house, that will change.  As such, I want to get this setup now so that it doesn't turn into a cluttered mess.  So, I'm asking for assistance from the hive to help me lay this out.  

Here is the garage in all its glory as of today.  The walls need some touching up since some of the clear coat from the floor got splattered, but I am going to add baseboard to clean up where the drywall ends due to the builder not really caring how straight they finished it up....but you get the idea.

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Dimensionally, heres where we are:

Left wall to left side of staircase= 71" *now referenced as section A*

Right side of staircase to third bay "lip" = 131" *now referenced as section B*

Third bay lip to right wall = 110" *now referenced as section C*



The issue that I am running into is that stupid lip on the third bay where the apron is exposed.  If the wall was flat all the way across, it would be far easier to setup....just slap stuff against section B and C, and call it a day.  However, thats not the case.

Original thought:

1- Section A and left wall left bare - SUV goes on the left side, and leaving that section bare would allow me to back it in, open the tailgate, and make loading and unloading easy.
2- Section B gets storage cabinets and a small refrigerator.  From left to right, refrigerator, and two of these side by side.  The smaller car goes basically in front of these and would fit just fine with the 24" depth of the cabinets and fridge.
3- Section C would get 8 foot work bench, this cabinet under it, along with this cabinet..  Above the work bench against the wall, I would add fast track slatwall the width of the bench, and about 4 feet above it.  
4- Right wall of the garage gets three rows of fast track rails at varying heights to hang ladders, gardening tools, etc.  I was also thinking about mounting a tire rack to cleanly store the snow tires for the Audi.

The problem I am running into with section C is that the footing sticks out.  If I use the workbench linked, I can't slide it all the way against the wall and will have a 4 inch gap.  I can only imagine gun parts rolling backward and falling in that gap.  I do not know what to fill that gap in with.  However, since that bay will be empty for the near future, I think thats the best area to put the work bench.

Feedback on general layout?  Brand of items linked?  Something else I should consider?

Just the ladder gives it that classic "Minimalist " look

EDIT: Looks really nice by the way!

I installed 5 of these last winter, they were much better built then I thought they would be. Sears had them on sale after Christmas for $99 each. I use LED string lights for under cabinet lighting. I did not use the tracks for mounting that came with them, I had stringers on the wall already and just screwed them up.
wall cabinets

I was putting in some LED corn lights and just left it there

Thanks for the kind words!  Trying to keep it super clean, as I'd like to be able to use it for parties in the future....back the cars out and have some additional room for entertaining.

Hmmm...how about a stripper pole?

Build a wall with an entry door between double and single overhead door.
You have a gun room/shop now.

This is what I would do.

Gun room will be in the basement once time/funding permits

In the meantime I'll have my vise's mounted to the bench in the garage and do my gun wrenching in the garage, but in a year or so I plan on doing a legit gun room downstairs.  I'll still need that third bay for lawn equipment otherwise that would be awesome.

I'd like to try french cleats, seems like a good idea how to

you didn't give the length of the garage but I am a fan of nothing in front of the vehicle.  That is why I would recommend uppers only in space a,b, and c with the fridge at the corner between b and c this gives the front of the car to use the whole length of the garage, fitting under the upper cabinets.  also I would place the  bench facing the side wall to the left of the door in a. This way you could potentially park 3 if you needed too.  $.02

Either shorten the legs so they sit on top of the lip, fill in the gap with a 2x6 or 2x8 or set a shelf right on top of the gap and bolt it to the wall.

Your wife does not give you free rein on the garage. You're a man right? By default you get the garage. She gets the house. You don't dictate the inside of the house...She doesn't dictate the garage. It's the rules man!!

Seriously....nice space. Check out garagejournal.com for ideas. Protect your wallet though. They are worse there than here when it comes to spending your money for you.

True about the first part.  I phrased it poorly.  When we were in the old town home, I wanted to do a lot of upgrades to the garage.  Never did them, we knew we'd be moving and it wasn't worth the investment and I told her I'd wait until we upgraded *to a new home*.

So, we upgraded *to said new home*, then I questioned...again...if it was truly worth it to make the garage what I had always wanted.

My wife reminded me that we now had the opportunity to make the garage what I always dreamed of, with fresh concrete and a relatively empty garage, and when I waffled on spending the money, she said she recalled how much I wanted to do this to our old home, and figured it would be best if we did these upgrades with the joint account rather than putting the burden solely on me.  She lets me do what I want, any time, with my own money.  Guns, ammo, NVG's...never even questions it.  Its never a question, ever, and I'm lucky for it.  This time, she encouraged it, and said she'd kick in to make this happen.

Lucky guy I am.

If you aren't already a member, I recommend a venture over to Garage Journal, your bank will thank me.

I like L-shaped work benches so I put mine in a corner and built storage around and above the work surface (and below obvs).

Damn.  Wish I could have a cleaned out and pretty place like that.   I see you are also cursed with low ceilings where you can never have a lift.  
Go over to Garage Journal and look for the thread where the guy built a wall of work benches out of the HF 44" tool boxes.

while its clean i would add some over head lighting, at least one bay.
the other thing i would do is add a 220 outlet if you dont already have one.

Nice looking garage!

Put up some good LED lighting. 

It has been my experience that any flat & level surface will collect junk....and lots of it.
I'm big on shelves, drawers and cabinets.
Unless you need a massive heavy welding bench that needs to be anchored then make one that can roll around and have a place where it fits under shelves. Keeping open floor space can be a struggle.
Heres a video of the mobile tool bases I'm working towards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TTnb3TyH5Y

Best luck with your projects..

Put everything on casters. Good casters, so it's all easy to move around.

It's the best thing I ever did. All my shelves etc can be pushed around to accommodate whatever it is I'm getting into.

Finally got around to doing the trim.  Caulked all the gaps, got it taped, and will do my touch up painting tomorrow AM...another coat on the trim and of course the walls where I got slopping with the caulk....which was everywhere.  Pretty happy with how its coming along.

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Also, found this guy at home depot, got it for 350, floor model with only one minor scratch.

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Ordering up some storage cabinets tomorrow, probably a work bench and some other odds and ends!

It's already starting to look cluttered !




Put a couch in there.

I have a couch in my garage and it is my favorite place to hang out.

Run hot and cold water lines to the garage with shut offs inside as well for freeze protection.  

Run 220 even if you think you'll never use it.

Depending on if the above are even doable will help decide your layout.

stop fooling around and spend some serious coin.  
here's some help:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

if you thought ARFCOM BRD was expensive, you haven't been on GJ long enough...

ar-jedi

Do you have a Sam's club nearby?  They currently carry the seville line of garage storage/workbenches/cabinets/carts etc that are surprisingly well made for the price.  All of the reviews for the stuff mention that it is much better quality than anticipated.  I was skeptical so I went into the store to check it out and was thoroughly impressed.  This stuff, especially the workbenches, is far far better quality than the similar stuff I was seeing at the other big box stores.


here

Looks good, whats the paint color name?

Paint color is march wind.

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Little more progress made!  About half way there.

That rack on the right sure is pretty, but it eats up a whole lot of space. All that shit but the ladder could fit in one of those cabinets you have to the left.  I'm dying for more wall space for cabinets.   Of course I have so much old shit piled up, I can probably find some with some creative cleaning out.    

I have a stairwell leading up into the house.  I'm about to build a pull out rack system 24" deep X 40" wide where I can store coolers, tools and lawn chairs and will have a couple of drawers.  The rest of the area will be for a table and band saw on wheels I can roll out.

Very true about the wall space. Reason I did it....

The wall is very close to do the edge of the garage door, IE, within 6 inches.  If I did cabinets there, I'd never get a car in.  So, its kind of wasted space unless I use a rack system like that.  I also had that system installed in the old home, and all those clips/hooks were sitting in a box.  Had about 150 dollar work of hooks, so I figured I'd put them to good use

I do have 3 28x28 wall cabinets that are getting mounted on the wall where the coolers are.  Ordering a workbench today, which will go below it....and still going to do the fast-track gear wall from home depot between the cabinets and the work bench.

I can also put a large floor cabinet to the left of the stairwell if needed, but I don't feel that will be necessary, and will give the wife the ability to back the SUV in and open the hatch.

Ahh, OK. Makes sense now.
Come up with a way to tie those tools to the wall with bungee cords.  You don't want a tool accidentally falling off and hitting your car.   I use to store my 8' ladder on wall hooks on a wall like that until I painted my '66 GT Fastback that sits next to them.  Ladder went out and under the porch.  My wife freaked that she had to go where bugs might be to get the ladder.  I told her that was easier than her trying to man handle an 8' ladder over my restored car.  Would you prefer a scare from a little bug, or me beat your ass for fucking up my restored car??

Got the wall cabinets mounted today with a little assistance from GD.  I set them against that right most section, but slid them a little to the left.  This will allow me to have about a foot or so space from the right wall, and since I am going to have a vise mounted all the way right, I figured having some extra room to rotate it may make sense, so from that little lip, I set the track 6 1/2"....and on the right about 10 1/2" from the wall...which actually makes them perfectly centered relative to the garage door.

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I need to go to lowes and order my work bench, but aside from that and the slatwall to fill the gap, I'm basically done!

lol wut?  

He's just getting started...he just doesn't know that yet!

now then, let's roll a flashbang in and see what happens... http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

No please dont

I have to keep this within reason......

One of these can be fun. The 80% receivers are sold separately!

I'd consider putting a camera up in there OP.
My wife thought I was crazy to mount one in the back of the garage facing the door, but it's been very handy.

Nice looking garage. Get yourself a beer fridge and a TV.

ETA: If you don't mind, what did that floor job run you? I'm looking at doing something similar. 

Beer fridge is going right between the left most floor cabinet and the door to the house  Just need to order it up, probably will do that when I get the bench ordered (tomorrow or thursday).

TV, I'm debating, mostly on where I'd put it and what I'd do with it.  Wouldn't be tough to do, but I'm trying to determine if I'd use it enough to justify it.  Since it gets cold here, It would be used only 3 seasons, so we shall see.

Floor was 2550 OTD, three car garage about 30x20.  Not sure if the company I used is national, but they're called "Floor Guard".  They actually had an issue with flake coverage on the first coating, so they came in and did a second for free.  Great customer support, and I literally have a double layer expoxy floor, so I can't complain.  One email with some photos and no other questions were asked, they took care of it.

BTW, I love the floor.  Absolutely worth the cost.

Thanks for the replies guys.
I'll look into that floor application.

Great looking garage OP, now get it all dirty and oily.