For many people, the garage serves two purposes: house the cars and store boxes and other odds and ends. When Halloween is over and New Year’s has passed, holiday decorations go back in boxes and into the garage until next year.
What you may not realise is that you’re not truly utilising your garage to its full potential. Many garages have a lot of extra space that isn’t put to good use, which leads to clutter and more time spent looking for items. So how can you revamp your garage and take advantage of all the space it has to offer?
Read on for some interior design ideas and get inspired to make your garage the best it can be.
Storage Solutions
The best way to stay organised is to make it easier to put things away after you’re done using them. That way, you’ll follow through, rather than leaving your tools or other equipment lying around where they might get lost.
In addition to your cars, you probably keep boxes and other lawn equipment and vehicles in your garage. Bulky lawn mowers and bicycles can take up a lot of space. While you might not be able to build a shed in the backyard, you can cover one wall or part of a wall of your garage with a peg board.
This is a great space saver option, and all you need is extra hooks of various sizes. With larger peg boards and hooks, you can hang bicycles, hoses and other large, loose pieces of equipment, getting them out of the way and in a convenient place where you can find them again.
Steel shelves, cabinets and shoe racks can also eliminate clutter. Shelves will hold large, heavy boxes while cabinets kept up high can keep harmful chemical solutions like weed killers and bleach cleaners away from children. Shoe racks keep dirt outside of your home and stop mountains of shoes from blocking the door from the garage to the home.
Adapt a Theme
Car lovers and mechanics often consider their garages their own little slice of heaven. By incorporating other hobbies and themes, a garage can transform from a block of concrete to a fun place to spend time. There are hundreds of themes you can adopt, but here are a few to get you going:
Car Lover’s Dream: Garage sales and junk yards are the best places to find vintage pieces of old cars. Hang up framed photos of your favorite cars along with posters from car shows, events and races to pay tribute to the cars you dream of owning. IMG 003: Garage with car pictures and decorations
1950s Drive-In: Red, chrome and black-and-white checkered floors make up the color scheme of this classic look. Decorate with vintage advertisements for rest stops and burger joints and photos from old diners. For a more local feel, you might be able to find old photographs of your town on the Internet and be able to frame them.
Workbench Heaven: Invest in a sturdy workbench and include all of the cabinets to go along with it. Chose the colors you want and the matching tool chests to house all of your important tools. You’ll never waste time rummaging through tool boxes when every tool has its proper place.
Flower Power: For the gardener in the family, give the garage a floral theme using fake or real plants. This is also a good place to store outside accessories, such as bird baths, patio furniture and lawn ornaments during the winter months. Decorate with lots of greens, blues and yellows and give your potted plants somewhere safe for the winter.
Pool Party: If you have a pool in your backyard, then you probably have a lot of equipment to keep it clean, and you need a good, dry place to store it all. Chose cabinets and shelves in shades of blue and use the peg board to hang up hoses and cleaning nets. Well-placed cabinets can keep dangerous pool chemicals away from children.
Revamp and Reuse
If you’re thinking about getting rid of one or more of your cars or utilising street parking, the garage quickly becomes a blank canvas. You now have an extra space to use at your disposal, and there are a lot of cool ways to redo this space.
The garage is often one of the best places to get work done or relax. Many homeowners convert part of their garages into home offices to give them a quiet place to work and concentrate. Others use their garage for recreational purposes. Putting in a game or an exercise room provides you with a special space just for unwinding. This also saves you the trouble of going to a gym or fitness club.
Other homeowners like to turn their garages into a guest bedroom with an adjoining bathroom. If you plan on taking in older relatives or friends in between homes, this option gives them privacy and keeps traffic in the home moving, especially for people with early morning schedules or kids getting ready for school.
For homeowners looking to earn a little extra cash, you can also convert the garage into a separate apartment. If you have an attic above, you can enlarge the roof for more space. This will mean that you will have to install another bathroom and kitchen area, which can be very expensive depending on how much rewiring has to be done in the home. Make sure your home is zoned for rental properties and hire a good contractor to help you with the renovations as they will be extensive.
No matter what your budget is, there are tons of cool ways to decorate your garage and get more use out of it. Storage bins and shelves are a great way to get boxes off the ground and out of the way. Fun themes will make your garage more inviting and a pleasant place to hang out during the warm months. Of course, you can always reinvent your garage into something more useful to your lifestyle if you so chose.
Speak with a contractor about what you’d like to do and get to work!