garage
Boots and clothing The laundry, the entrance of the house or the area under the stairs are all great places to put a sports-equipment cupboard; items will be easy for you or the kids to find and return, and you won’t have to drag gear through the house, leaving a trail of dirt behind you. The owners of this house have taken it one step further by colour-coding their children’s sports lockers, so there’s no excuse for anything to get jumbled up.
Golf clubs Who ever said your built-ins were just for clothes and shoes? If you’re a keen golfer and don’t want to waste time looking for your clubs, hats and other necessities in different spots all over the house, it might make practical sense to allocate an entire section or two of your built-in robe for storing golf necessities instead, as the homeowners have done here.
Wire drawers and pull-out baskets are perfect for keeping smaller items, such as balls and tubes of sunblock, visible and accessible, and mean no more wasting time searching for lost items in those precious minutes before the big game. Baskets can also be used to store small clothing items too, such as ski gloves and scarves – just the thing for winter sport season. A cupboard or shelving unit in the laundry or mudroom means dirty sports clothes can be discarded straight into the washing machine rather than traipsed through the house. A darker, climate-controlled environment will also help equipment last longer as extreme temperatures and direct sunlight can cause warping and fading.
Racquets, bats and balls If you have armloads of bags, racquets and other equipment to store in a cupboard, you can maximise the space by configuring it to suit the items’ exact dimensions. In this example, the owners have allocated plenty of vertical space for lacrosse sticks, a row of hooks up top for backpacks, and open shelving for towels and sleeping bags. Buying or making a custom sports cupboard or shelving unit will help compartmentalise the specific equipment you use and the clothing and shoes you wear. It makes things easier to find and limits the damage that can be caused by tossing everything haphazardly in together. If you do have a large collection of one type of equipment, such as tennis racquets, then keeping them where they’re all visible might make you more likely to use them regularly. Encourage them to keep their sports gear organised – and find everything in an instant – by providing them with their own open locker, specially configured to accommodate everything from sports jackets and racquets to footwear.
If you’re going to lean your board against a single wall, choose a corner so it doesn’t tip over. Or better yet, buy or make some wall-mounted surf racks from soft foam, steel, aluminium, wood or plastic/PVC. Adriano Pupilli Architects designed this storage wall for the entrance of a two-bedroom apartment in Manly, NSW. It keeps multiple surfboards, skateboards and pairs of running shoes off the floor and against the wall. Made from sustainably sourced plywood, the digitally fabricated wall is much like a pegboard with a series of holes where lightweight hooks, shelves and compartments can be inserted and moved around as needed.
Surfboards Surfboards should always be kept indoors where they’re away from the elements, extreme heat and temperature changes, as the owners of these boards clearly know. This will ensure they maintain their structural integrity and lamination. You can limit how much sea and sand you bring into the house by keeping surfboards as close as possible to the front or back door. Choosing a low-traffic spot means you’ll reduce the chance of boards being knocked over. You should also avoid stacking them as this may get wax on the underside of the boards and damage those at the bottom of
7. Go portable This bike stand would suit owners who have a constantly evolving space. Yes, the stand makes it easy to store your bike, but the real genius lies in it being portable. You can shift it around depending on which area of your home is the most open and convenient at the time
Q