"Tricking-Out" the Garage

What do you give a man who has few wants but is having a BIG birthday?  A garage make-over!  

When one of our garage doors stopped working, we decided it was time to replace them. The old ones were not insulated; one was dented, and they were the low-end, builder's-grade doors from the get-go.

                            

Once we decided to replace the doors, we started looking at various types. We wanted to find doors that would compliment the barn in our backyard. 

We found a wonderful local company, Signal Garage Doors, that sells carriage-style doors with a traditional profile, lots of detail, and a great R-value.

I think these doors

do a great job matching the barn doors.

Next we emptied the garage--no small task as I had a couple of racks of clothing waiting for a garage sale, a number of boxes of photos I had not sorted after our flood displacement, lots of gardening equipment in buckets, and a bookcase stuffed with tools, paint, insect sprays...

What we didn't throw out was taken to the barn until the project's completion. (Full disclosure: My husband moved the boxes of photos to the basement where they still await my attention.)

Next, we swept out the space and had the walls painted Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter. 

Then we had another local company, Commonwealth Garage Flooring, epoxy the floor. The topcoat  makes the floor "shine like the top of the Chrysler Building".

Once the walls were mark-free and floors were squeaky clean, we "tricked-out" the space with garage-organizing products. At Walmart, we found oil-catch pans for underneath our cars.

 They turned out to be the perfect size for our garbage cans and recycle bin as well.

Then at Target, I found a tray for keeping our wet snow boots and dirty work shoes.

For Father's Day, I wanted to complete the garage redo by getting my husband a tool cart. After much on-line research and in-person looking, we settled on one from Harbor Freight. At a local store, we spied an un-boxed cart at a huge discount!

Ever the optimist, I was ready to buy it on the spot. My husband, being the practical one, wasn't sure if it would fit in the back of my small station wagon. It took three strong young men and an hydraulic lift to heft it into the car. With the wheels off, it just fit. We headed home feeling quite happy.

Not far down the road, we both began to wonder how were we going to get it out of the car by ourselves. Maybe I would be driving around with a huge, red tool cart in the back of my car until we had some strong and willing guests who could help. Oh dear...

However, once home, my husband came up with a solution: use a heavy piece of plywood as a ramp. So, he carefully nudged the 250-pound cart out of the back of the station wagon and onto the makeshift slide. Then, making sure our feet were clear of the cart in case the whole thing collapsed, we carefully slid the hunkin'-big box down the slope. Fortunately, it made a graceful descent. Finally, we turned it on its end and reattached the wheels. Whew…disaster avoided.

 Lastly, we installed more hangers for rakes and brooms and organized the corner cupboard. What a feeling of accomplishment.

I so enjoyed doing this for my husband. He so faithfully keeps our yard "as neat as a pin." He comes by this clean-gene honestly. His grandma had the cleanest garage in a county known for Dutch-cleanliness. She "wiped-down" the garage walls every spring and fall. Truly, you could eat off her garage floor. Now our garage would rival hers. The real trick will be keeping it this way. ;)