Alright, so the garage. It was a complete disaster zone. Shovels, rakes, brooms, you name it – just leaning against walls, tangled up, basically an accident waiting to happen. I’d been putting off building some kind of shovel rack for what feels like forever.
How I Tackled This Thing
So, I finally decided, enough is enough. I grabbed some scrap wood I had lying around. Mostly 2x4s, a few odd bits. Didn’t really draw up any fancy plans, just sort of visualized it in my head. You know, keep it simple.
My fancy tool list for this one was pretty basic:
- A saw (my trusty old hand saw, nothing fancy)
- A drill
- Some screws
- A measuring tape (which I used, sort of)
First, I figured out a decent length for the main backer board that would go on the wall. Cut that. Then I started thinking about the pieces that would actually hold the shovels, the little arms or slots. I needed to space them out enough for the shovel heads and handles.
Now, here’s the thing, the real reason this dumb little shovel rack even got made, and why the garage was such a pigsty to begin with.
See, about a year ago, I had this grand vision. I was going to build the ultimate garage storage system. I’m talking custom cabinets, drawers with those smooth roller things, pegboards perfectly organized, maybe even some LED strip lighting. I watched hours of videos online, got all pumped up. Bought a load of new plywood, fancy brackets, all sorts of stuff I probably didn’t need. I spent weeks out there, measuring, cutting, trying to assemble this beast.
And what happened? It was a total flop. A disaster. I messed up some key measurements early on, and it just snowballed. Things weren’t square, drawers wouldn’t fit right, the whole structure was wobbly. It was like one of those complicated projects at a big company where nothing talks to each other and everyone’s just making their own little bit, hoping it fits. It didn’t. I got so frustrated I just gave up. Pushed all the half-finished cabinets and piles of expensive wood into a corner. It actually made the garage more cluttered. So, yeah, shovels and rakes just got dumped wherever because my “solution” had become a bigger problem. That pile of wasted wood and effort just sat there, mocking me every time I walked in. Honestly, it killed my motivation to do any workshop stuff for months.
So, this shovel rack? This was me saying, “Forget all that complicated nonsense.” I needed something that just worked. No overthinking. I cut some shorter pieces of 2×4 for the dividers, the bits the shovels would slot into. Didn’t even measure them super carefully, just eyeballed it to make sure they were roughly the same. Drilled some pilot holes, then screwed these pieces onto the backer board. Made sure they were solid enough not to snap off when a heavy shovel was leaned in.
Then I found some decent studs in the garage wall, and hoisted the whole thing up. Drilled it straight into the studs. Gave it a good wiggle. Seemed sturdy enough.
And The Grand Finale…
And that was pretty much it. Hung up the shovels, the rakes, even a broom. They’re off the floor. They’re not tangled. I can actually walk past them without tripping. It’s not going to win any design awards, that’s for sure. It’s rough. I didn’t even paint it. But you know what? It works. And it took me maybe an hour, tops. After that whole cabinet nightmare, getting this simple rack built felt like a massive win. Sometimes basic is just plain better.
