I am a new person. Transformed! The fact that there aren’t more before/after shows for the “chronically disorganized” (me!) is a real missed TV opportunity. Now, I do give myself grace because the amount of stuff one has to have to do this job, run this company, and create so much design content so frequently is extreme (occupational hazard – just the way it is). And even with a team of people, it’s impossible to keep it organized unless you have what we now have – a dedicated space, with IKEA shelving and cabinets, labels, color-coded shelves, THE WORKS. Without systems, there is chaos!!!! And Houston, we now have systems. For those of you who want to jump to the reveal, you can watch our latest YouTube video right here. I couldn’t love it any more.
2019 – The BEFORE before
When we bought the property, this was the garage – full of potential and spiders/dampness. We always knew that one of the perks of buying the property with so many outbuildings would be that we could have prop storage within reach (crucial to running the business), but not when they looked like this…
She was in rough shape. A slab had been poured in the last 20 years (we think), but otherwise it was “vintage”. So my brother’s company, Afore, set to restore and repair it, using the existing footprint and structure (and slab). They reinforced the framing, scissoring where they needed to, replacing other boards, but we really tried to save money by using the original wood. We opted to get rid of the broken windows, choosing functional wall space over a weird fence view. We updated the simple electrical and panneled it all.
January 2025 – Construction Progress
As you can see, the four bays remained the same, just fixed for new garage doors. The two on the left would be furniture store, holiday, and “Henderson life stuff”, while the two on the right would be smaller props, tools, supplies – all the stuff that needed a true dedicated space. Brian’s truck would go on the far left (and to save money, we made it just a covered carport without a slab, electrical or garage doors, and just a corrugated roof).
Initially, we were going to leave the original ceiling (it was pretty!), but we ended up cladding over it just to keep it as clean, insulated, and simple as possible. We needed to add recessed lighting so the paneling covered up the wiring, and honestly, we just didn’t want to deal with spiders and the potentially ickiness ever again.
The Old Prop House – Carriage House
As a reminder, we had everything on shelving in the only “not-totally-damp” room in the carriage house. Things were not staying in great shape, and we needed to start restoring this house, so it was time to fix the garages so we could have safe, dry storage.
June 2025 – DONE!!!! And I’m So Happy
Garage Doors | Garage Paint Color | Garage Doors Paint Color | Sconces
Last week, I showed off the prettiest garage doors ever (by Clopay, installed by local company Ponderosa) that we are legit obsessed with. Head over to this post to read alllllllll about our doors and the color, etc.
Once open, those doors really create this indoor/outdoor workspace which we all love being in (besides the fact that there is spotty wifi out here – fixing that asap). It’s a huge garage, extremely functional and tidy, and I spend far more time in here than predicted.
The After After…My New Favorite Space
Shelving Units | Cabinets | Table (vintage) | Chairs (vintage) | Rug (vintage) | Bins
It’s so much space, and so organized with the right dedicated storage for every type of thing. We have three sides of storage – the shallow shelves on the left, the deep closed storage on the back, and then deep shelves on the right. I mapped it all out beforehand, and I think I did a fantastic job if I do say so myself!
In front of the PAX units (which I want to discuss more below), we have our old vintage kitchen table from LA that I have been hoarding, and my beloved Cherner chairs (which admittedly shouldn’t be in a garage, but they aren’t comfortable enough for our day-to-day chairs – so squeaky!). We use this table to pull props and pack them up, but also we have been meeting out here while the kids have been running feral all summer. It’s oddly peaceful and quiet out here. While it’s likely not our year-round “studio,” it’s reallly nice not to always work in my sunroom and have some separation (we are hybrid, so unless we are meeting or shooting, everyone does computer work from home).
Are The IKEA PAX Units Good Enough For Garage Shelves??
I saw a lot of comments after I posted about how we had installed the PAX units. A few of you mentioned they aren’t strong enough for true garage storage (based on your experience). So before you do what I did, do more research (than I did). So far we are fine, but as you can see, we do have some stacks of dishes which are rather heavy, and I think I’m going to disperse based on your advice. For the most part, what is in these units isn’t heavy, but if you have heavy bins of garage “stuff,” then based on the comments, you’d want to get the kitchen cabinetry from IKEA.
This is our tabletop cabinet as you can see, pared down and super organized. The labels are my boss!!!
Vertical Drawer Organizer | Horizontal Drawer Organizers
In the other prop house, these were stacked in a bookshelf and were a total disaster. Here they are stacked perfectly and dust/spider-free. I bought the IKEA organizers for inside that work fine for the flatware.
On the left is oversized art and mirrors (which I organized in that cute little wall-mounted art organizer).
More IKEA Shelving!
This is my favorite wall – so many pretty things that we pull for shoots, rotate in and out of my house, and I think I have a story about every single thing (not saying it’s healthy, just giving the facts). Most of this is vintage or one-of-a-kind (with a decent amount of really useful Anthro, CB2, and Target mixed in here).
I had so much fun organizing everything by color – forcing Marlee and Gretchen into a personal show-and-tell monologue about each thing that had a story. Yes, I’m a hoarder of pretty things, and I accept this full accountability (I also purge a lot – and trust me, you want to be friends with “purging Emily”).
I’m glad that most of you are likely design enthusiasts and aren’t judging but instead admiring (but it’s ok if you don’t get it, too!)
Let me be clear, this is post-purge. As in this is the stuff that made the cut, either because I use it a lot, or it’s somehow special to me, or it’s new and I haven’t found its permanent home yet.
On the other side is “Lamp Land,” which houses (you guessed it) all the lighting, as well as art and fabric.
How can a photo of shelves of stuff make me so happy???? I guess I see years of collecting (dopamine burst after dopamine burst) mixed with excitement for future projects.
Now that I can see everything clearly, I can really place them in future projects (that I know of). I’ve gotten pretty great and knowing what I should keep versus what I really don’t think I need to store any longer. All of this made the cut.
Lamps, baskets, small inside pots, and large vessels – everything has a place, and it’s visually so clear.
On the bottom row lie row after row of fabric bins that I bought specifically to fit in here side by side, and with a vinyl window to show me what is inside. Admittedly, they look squished, but they do the job assigned to them so well and can fit a LOT.
Art Dividers | Art Dividers with Wheels
I’m pretty obsessed with these art dividers (pot lid organizers work, too). I bought these from Amazon, with the larger rolling ones here and the smaller art dividers here. These make me feel on top of the world, TBH, and I’m so excited that my art will stop getting damaged by being thrown around.
How smart are these rolling art carts? Very specific to my needs (not an every garage staple), but they work so well for our needs. We keep them in front of the door, which we aren’t really using (we might in the winter) because the garage doors open so easily and quickly.
It’s such a dream. And a big shout out to the Clopay garage doors that open and close so quietly and, as you can see below, honestly look pretty lovely when closed (the windows help a lot).
We’ve been leaving the doors open while we are in here, and it really stays cool (no direct sun, north facing) and is just so nice to get away from the free rein kids running around our property all summer.
It’s also fantastic that cars can pull right up to it, so even in the winter we have very little excuse to not put things away (but we can also just stack everything on the table if we are in a hurry – a dedicated staging spot).
We put in a cadet heater that is behind the art, leaning on the floor, so we’ll see if we use it in the winter. I think at minimum I’ll set it to keep it 50 degrees so that it doesn’t get too cold in here and warp the art.
That white door leads to the other garage, which is full of samples of something I’m very excited to show you, but can’t yet. So more to come from that garage soon…
A huge thanks to my team for helping me with this. I know that it’s technically part of their job, but reorganizing your boss’s life (while also shooting a YouTube series about it) is definitely both hard work and very personal. And thanks to my brother’s company, Afore, for making these garages so beautiful, safe, dry, and polished. They are such a dream. Now go watch the fun/fast YouTube to see the full tour (including what is in the other cabinets).
*Photos by Kaitlin Green
View the original article and our Inspiration here
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