Organizing And Purging Our Attic

Our attic above our garage has been a mess pretty much since we moved in. Luckily we don’t need to go in there very often, but when we do it’s always been a hassle to get stuff. That’s why one of the projects we’ve been wanting to do was to do a very basic renovation for the attic above our hallway in order to make it more usable. And after I was inspired by Julia Marcum from Chris Loves Julia organizing her attic space I knew I could definitely make mine look better just with a few items.

Previously it was dimly lit, there was almost no room to walk around, and the boards that had been put down were thin and weak. There was also a huge antennae blocking most of the space. Before we did anything else, that’s what we had to fix first. Before anything else, I pulled out the old lightbulb, and replaced it with this, which helped SO MUCH to brighten the area up and make everything easier to see. If you have an attic with not much lighting, I really recommend that light.

before

after

As with most projects, the first main part, and my favorite part, was the demo. I ripped out all the stuff we didn’t want up there anymore, including the antennae. Also, I pulled out all the old boards that were only ½” thick and pretty old. I could walk on them mostly fine, but my husband is 200 lbs and the boards were bending quite a bit under his weight. Also there were just a bunch of random wires going from the antennae to nowhere, so pulling those out also helped clean the area up a lot.

Once we cleared out everything and had a clear idea of what we were working with, my husband measured the space and purchased seven ¾” OSB panels, each measuring 4’x8’. That covers most of the area, gives us tons of room to walk around, and is way more secure than what was up there. He just put them all in place and put 2-3 nails in each board to keep them from shifting around.

Storage

I ordered this storage rack from Lowes, and these storage boxes that fit in them perfectly. After moving all the stuff from the garage attic to the hallways attic, I moved the stuff from the old boxes to the new ones, got rid of some of the things I was never gonna use, and viola! Now our attic is way more usable!

In the future I plan on getting more shelves and boxes, and finishing up the OSB floor. This whole project only took a few days, and cost about $300. Our attic is fairly small, so plan accordingly. Organizing the attic was a game-changer. It brought a clean vibe to my attic and garage where all the junk was put, and finding forgotten items made me realize I was due for some purging. Clearing out the clutter not only made this space more functional but also gave my home a better look. Now, I’m all about simplicity and order, feeling accomplished and loving the refreshed space.