Upgrade & Organize Your Old Backyard Shed with 5 Easy Tips

If you’re short on garage space, a garden shed is a fantastic solution for storing your outdoor gardening and yard supplies. They can even be used commercially too, and are great for decluttering cramped warehouses or packed offices. Depending on your organizational needs, a backyard shed can be a simple four-walled structure or larger for more storage.

Sometimes it can be easy to throw things into a shed and forget about what’s in there, or you realize your organizational skills need some help. Upgrade your old garden shed with these 5 easy tips to utilize your space better and update your organization.

Seasonal Cleaning

Just like every other part of your home, your shed needs spring cleaning, too. Start with clearing out the clutter and sweeping the floor, removing cobwebs, and dusting shelves and tables. If your shed has windows, clean them inside and out, looking for any crevices that might need resealing.

Before you put all of your stuff back into the shed, try and organize it into three piles: keep, donate, and toss. Broken tools, dried out soil, and worn storage or organization pieces should be removed and replaced as needed.

Tip: Before you put everything away and seal up your shed for winter, do some maintenance cleaning in the fall months to make it easier to open up again in the springtime.

Improved Lighting

Even if your shed has windows, and you’ve just cleaned them, sheds can be dark and make it hard to find what you’re looking for without some illumination. Install solar powered lights into your shed to have bright lighting all year long without needing to hook up to a grid or worry about dangerous electrical installation.

Indoor solar lights with LEDs provide clear illumination, plus you can install it to provide light where you need it the most. Whether it's near your tools or over a workbench, having reliable lighting in your shed makes it easier to keep clean and find what you’re looking for faster.

Update Your Supplies

As mentioned earlier, updating your supplies on a yearly or bi-annual basis is important for having high-quality materials on hand. If you are an avid gardener, survey your inventory and determine whether you’re out of soil or you have a few too many broken tools that should be replaced.

While this might be a no-brainer, sheds can often be a catch-all for broken supplies and forgotten toys. Keeping it clutter-free means checking what you have and don’t have, and whether anything needs to be restored, upgraded, or replaced.

Modified Workspace

Install a workbench or table if you’re thinking about using your shed as a tinkering space separate from your house or garage. Mount bicycles on the wall during the wintertime to take advantage of all of your square footage, not just your floor space. Install heavy duty shelving to organize sports equipment, planters, nails and screws, paintbrushes, and other objects.

If you’re handy with tools, install a magnetic knife holder or tool organization stick to hold lightweight metal objects above a workbench. Pegboards are also great organizational tools to quickly see everything at once instead of throwing it all into a few drawers.

Reconsider Seasonal Storage

If you feel like your shed isn’t being used to its full capacity, consider using it for storage year-round. Sheds are great for storing firewood during the winter, hunting supplies in the fall, and lawnmowers during spring and summer. It all depends on your needs and how you want to utilize your conveniently available outdoor space.

About d.light

d.light develops solar powered lanterns and other solar products for cleaner camping experiences and supplying power to those off-grid who lack access to reliable energy. This for-profit, social impact enterprise’s solutions have helped more than 75 million people in over 60 countries worldwide.

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