An Outdoorsman's Dream Garage

The story below was brought to us by our Elfa "cousins" in Sweden. Enjoy!

Tom Nylund is an influencer and outdoor enthusiast from Helsinki with a YouTube channel that focuses on mountain biking, running, and skiing. He needed a garage where he could store all his bulky equipment, perform repairs, and shoot videos. When the opportunity arose for Tom to rent a garage opposite his house for his exclusive use, he collaborated with Elfa Sweden on a storage solution tailored to meet his needs.

"I used to keep all my things in the family's storage room, but it was really cramped and difficult to find my gear," Tom notes. "My system was based on storing things in plastic boxes with lids, writing the contents on a strip of tape, and sticking it onto the box." Although this system worked for a while, it still presented a problem. The boxes were all stacked on one another, which meant it was a hassle every time he needed to get something from one of the boxes on the bottom.

Tom says the storage system he envisioned had two primary inspirations: McLaren's Formula 1 garage, and the TV show Mythbusters. "I needed an open wall to use as a background for filming, strong shelves that could hold heavy boxes, and a flexible system that would let me move things around quickly and store my gear according to the season," he explains. "It was also important to be able to hang my bikes on the wall because they cannot be stacked on top of one another as that damages them."

After carefully measuring the garage space, Tom turned to Elfa's storage experts for their professional input. They suggested ideas such as bracket posts for ski storage, shoe racks, mesh drawers for glove storage, steel work surfaces that wipe down easily, and utility pegboards to hang his tools in a manner that would make them easily accessible.

For Tom, the end result was a functional, well organized storage heaven. "The results are amazing, and have saved me a lot of time and frustration!" he raves, praising Elfa's flexibility and ease-of-use. "With this system, I don't need supporting posts between the shelves, which is great because some of my gear is quite wide. It takes no time at all to lift my bikes down from Elfa's special bike hooks. It's extremely practical and doesn't take many minutes to adjust anything in here."

He also notes that, for someone with a lifestyle as active his, the ability to move quickly is extremely satisfying. "When I'm pressed for time, I'll take a whole drawer or whatever I need from the garage and put it in the car," explains Tom. "It is much easier to have helmets, gloves, and protective gear ready in a large plastic box or wire basket that I can lift out and then put back later."

Now, Tom has plenty of space to spend time doing the things he loves most, and he appreciates how Elfa has brought structure to his work space. "There is a saying that 'order brings peace to the soul,' and I have to admit that it's true," he says. "I like it so much that I can spend hours at a time--sometimes whole days--in here."