Please show us your garage!

Never in a million years.

NEXT!

Not only would I never post a picture of my garage, but I'm a little afraid to go in there. It's the one part of the house that is my DH's to do with what he will. If I need to use a tool, I ask him to get it then put it in the hallway for him to put back.

I'll play! But I won't show you the lower/single garage. DH uses it for storage, but I'll show you what I did in part of the upper garage.

DH made a coat/hat hook out of left over trim. We use it for dog leashes and his caps. The plaques above are horse awards from France. DD2 bought me the laser cut horse picture three years ago. fyi, we live in a horse community.

Beneath the hooks, I have three stacked food bins for dog/cat food and the hinged Rubbermaid container for yard gloves, tools, water pitcher, pair of scissors, etc.

To the right of the step, I have a wood and metal chair so we have a place to put on shoes. The metal umbrella stand/flower bucket holds umbrellas and walking sticks.

The walls are covered with James Hardie panels (painted) and we used the same stained trim/baseboard that is in the rest of our home.

I wanted a pretty garage. :D

DH has a Rubbermaid container on his end of the garage for ant killer, etc. In the corner to the right of the chair, we have a corner pen in case we need to corral one of the dogs for some reason. DH bought pre-made chain link sections. One has a gate and it's great to have when we've needed.

I want to buy one of these to go between umbrella stand and dog pen. Will hold shoes, watering can, etc. It comes stained or painted in numerous colors:

Nope, not me either. Our garage has a fishing boat in it. with a chair in it. Ok, 5 wooden chairs ;) Weeeeell, I didnt have anywhere else to put them until I can fix them and use them or CL them. The woodshop is full of my CL finds.

We do use similar containers for the dog food, but they are in my laundry room.which is also a not ready for prime time.
Allison that is a nice garage! That shelving unit looks so attractive and practical.

My dh just put some huge shelving units up in our garage and he also has the usual tool boxes and work tables going on. I can try to remember to take pictures of the shelves later.

Allison, that is one stylish garage! I love how you carried your wood trim into that area also. The bins remind me of some stacking Pottery Barn wood bins I had for my daughter's toys a few years ago. Not so practical for that purpose, since all the little pieces seemed to get buried, but I didn't even think about using them for utility storage!

Thanks. I had a basement with laundry - actually, you can't call it that. It was a damp basement with washer/dryer stuck in one corner and concrete black walls at our last house. The garage/basement had a lot of crap stored. So when we built, I wanted a "pretty" laundry room and nothing can be stored in the upper garage. I should take a picture of DH lower garage/storage. OMGosh, it is awful. Organized, but awful! lol

The trim is about 3/4" off the floor so DH can still hose down the floor, which is nice. Our GC suggested the Hardie product. You can hose it off too.

Sundance Catalog has a chicken coop shelf also. I may get it instead. It's more rustic and about the same price. Picture on the main page looks kind high off the floor, but when you view other images, it looks better and gives a floor storage space underneath. The dimensions are almost the same too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sundance Catalog - Stackable chicken coop

Allison where is that green chicken coop from?? I have been looking for something like that.

New Mexico Catalog - Home page shows 20% off $200+ orders.

Here is a link that might be useful: 7156 Stackable Wooden Storage Bins

I do like the Sundance version. The extra height underneath would be nice to have for keeping dh's tall work boots. Pretty colors, too!

Thanks. I just ordered the Sundance version in buttermilk. I saw a photo of it on Apartment Therapy (lady was using it as her "pantry") that cinched it. I used a coupon code from Retailmenot.com and got 20% off, even though coupon date was no longer valid. :D

Our garage:
Over all look:

Well I guess Susie put us all to shame. LOL Susie, is your floor stamped concrete? Your garage is cleaner than my house!!!

We did our garage floor ourselves with concrete stain and 2 big stencils, we got at SW..did our driveway also yrs. ago, but hurricane tore it up, so had it re-surfaced in the stone pattern, by professionals. our gar. floor is holding up real well for us, it's been down about 11 yrs.
This is the reason why gar. is so nice, we have a workshop on the rear of our house, it even has AC, ceiling fan etc. and hubby keeps it neat!

No pictures. We have a large (4+ vehicle) garage. It's organized but not a *pretty* garage because work actually goes on there. My husband has a workshop in the back for his *toys* (metal working equipment). He's into machining and fabricating. We have a rubbery type baseboard. Our garage has a drain and we do use water in there. Large sink. I have rubbermaid cabinets at the front for garden supplies. Hubby has more cabinets, workbenches, bookshelves, etc. in the workshop area. We also have the wired shelving down one side with rubbermaid bins for less used supplies (his). We have a seperate heat pump for the garage.

All lawn equipment (mowers, tiller, shovels, etc. ) are kept in the basement, along with all my flower pots, potting soil, bales of pine straw LOL. I would never show a picture of out basement.

tina

I don't have a garage any longer. It is now a CL staging area. It is all either CL stuff I'm going to sell or CL stuff I plan to fix up and bring into my home at some point in time. It is quite embarrassing actually! ;0)

Wow you all have amazing garages :) I was just grateful to get my junk moved off the ground and away from my kids. I love those chicken coop starage bins and may have to splurge for one in the office/craft area.

I linked a picture of my garage even though it isn't as pretty as the others.

Here is a link that might be useful: my garage

xoxo, I think yours looks great so well organized.

My neighbor's across the street have a garage and when they open the door, I gasp. It's piled wall to wall, floor to ceiling with "stuff". Very neat piles mind you. Every once in a while the wife will have a garage sale to sell off her latest hobby supplies. They'll get the garage to where you can actually see into it. Then within weeks it's jam packed again.

We don't have a garage at this house, but will at the new house and I'm kind of dreading it since DH is a pack rat with his building supplies. He's brought things home to this house to stick in our small shed and over the years it all ended up in the garbage because he never went back for all those things he was "going to need" to build the new house. The new house was built and he never used a thing from the current shed to do it. So every garbage and trash day I take out one or two things to the curb and by the time we move, all his junk will have been thrown out. I warned him if he tries that at the new house, he'll be bringing it in one door and I'll be taking it out the other door. LOL Hia desk is packed with junk too that needs to be throw out. That's my next challenge.

My neighbor's across the street have a garage and when they open the door, I gasp. It's piled wall to wall, floor to ceiling with "stuff". Very neat piles mind you. Every once in a while the wife will have a garage sale to sell off her latest hobby supplies. They'll get the garage to where you can actually see into it. Then within weeks it's jam packed again.

Oh my, are you my neighbor???? ;>)

Seriously, our garage is a mess. We finally got it clean and then I got a bunch of free stuff from CL! Really, really great stuff from CL! Most of it needs a tad bit of work, then I'm going to sell it. What is sad is that we have a nice, huge basement where we could store it all but we have had so much rain that it is next to impossible to get around to the back of our house without sinking way down in all the mud and it just isn't feasible to try to carry it all through the house and down all those steps. So, our garage stays packed. One day it will be clean.....

Well I'll show you mine but to be fair...I have a very anal husband who throws things away. It sounds good to have someone who likes to keep things tidy, but it's annoying when I try to find a Christmas Decoration and find out it was tossed. grrrr! I love having garage cabinets though. We are trying to decide what to do with the floor next. Anyone have good experiences with the stuff from Home Depot you roll onto the floor?

The floor on my pics. lindybarts is done with H&C concrete stain bought at Home Depot, and gone over the top with H&C 23clear coat..it's down about 11 yrs. now was re-coated with clear coat once..

Oh Wow Susieq, that looks fabulous. I didn't know you could get that look with concrete stain...did you have to use a certain tool to get the design? I'm intrigued!

SusieQ, great job with the garage. Wow, your whole house must be super clean & organized.

My next door neighbor is like you. Her garage floor is painted gray-blue, the walls a pristine white, & she has her old cabinets from her kitchen installed there. You two would probably have a lot in common! You can eat off the floor in her garage, it is so clean & very tidy, like yours.

Your husband's work space is amazing too.

It's great that you both take such good care of your things! You must be very grateful for what you have...it shows! You must love your home...you even love your garage!

no scarlet I don't think so. LOL

OK Lindy, that's just a little too clean. Your DH sounds like my nephew. He still lives at home with his mom, my sister and he loves to throw her stuff away. She likes to go dumpster diving, so to speak, and if he sees the item around in the yard for more than a month, he pitches it. He's thrown out some really good things she's had. She told him if he does it again she's going to throw his bed out. LOL They go round and round.

Now, about your DH. Can I borrow him for a week?

What garage? I have a carriage house that is too small for a car. Dh has his foundry in there. Well it's not set up but it still is there, along with lots of other scary stuff. Black widows. Uh huh. Last time I checked, bamboo was growing inside.

Oh wow, I'm bowled over by these clean and pretty garages! Thank you so much for posting your pictures.

Allison, I love those chicken coop units! You must be very excited about your order.

Susieq, you didn't have to use a saw and cut grooves? What kind of prep work did you have to do before you stained that floor? It's beautiful!

Why can't we just do stick-down vinyl tiles on our garage floors? My dad painted his floor grey, but then laid "tracks" out of vinyl tiles that were to help my mom park the car. He also hung a tennis ball from the ceiling and she was to stop the car when that ball hit her window. lol! Anyway, the floor seemed to hold up.

I think I'll feel more like cleaning the garage when I pick out a color scheme for it. I guess pink floral is out?

Nothing much to show on a picture, but everything is hanging on the wall which saves quite some space. Now also found a way to get rid of the car rooftop box, you can see here how:

Here is a link that might be useful: How to store a car rooftop box

The garage floor was done in that pattern (there are several) with 2 big heavy plastic stencils we ordered at SW Paint Store, it is generally sprayed on, not the easiest job, but hubby and I did it, at the time we also did our entire driveway and walk, but that was destroyed in a hurricane and has since been re-done, garage is still nice, after 11 yrs or so.( concrete should always be cleaned good with TSP, rinsed and dry before staining) And yes our whole house is clean and organized, we're both neat freaks! and are happy this way for now 47 yrs. I use the workshop as much as he does, I paint all my statues out there(cabs, store the paints), and garden materials there also. And yes we love our home, this being our last build,(for retirement) plus we had lot's of imput in the design as well, and did all our own landscape/plainting etc.(our lady builder,sent people by to see our home rather then the models..LOL) thanks for the nice comments!

Guido, that's a good article for anyone who has a car top box.

Susie thanks for the info. 11 years is a long time for the floor to hold up well. Good job! I need inspiration from folks like you. I'm trying to do some spring cleaning right now to tackle my pack-rattiness. I listed some stuff in CL yesterday. Trouble is, the ads drift around the corner so fast. Out of ten items I'm trying to sell, I only got a response on one so far. :/

We don't like to take photo's inside because it scares the dogs.

{{!gwi}}

Ok and yes, this is my garage...
{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

Iggy, you've got a fridge (freezer?) in your garage? And a table? Do you have parties out there? Your shelves are a lot neater than mine. :)

Everyone, I found some storage unite here, that are good price... look at the top one, then scroll down (then sideways) to look at their other storage options. Colorful, cute, and good prices...

Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon storage units

LOL Yes oceanna, that's about the only useful thing we have iin our garage (the fridge and freezer). It was the one appliance we kept from the kitchen remodel. I need to move it over to where the table sits in that picture and then it will be surrounded with cabinetry for storage. That's my next project...see that was the "tidy" picture of the garage from when we first started our remodel 3 years ago....it's gone far downhill LOL The curtains are gone, (don't ya'll have curtains in the garage?) and the contractors have all brought in huge piles of goober to add to the mess. You can barely walk through and as we speak, I have movers packing up more stuff to go in the garage!

So next week the master closet gets gutted and then the week after I start on the garage. I'll have to post a before and after picture...it's gonna be HORRIBLE LOL but so nice when I get it done. We have had to park our cars outside for three winters now and swear we're not doing it again!! (And for those who think that's whimpy...remember it's -20 quite often and I have to scrap a foot of snow off of a frozenn car with a 3 year old on my hip...to go to the store in the winter...garages are important here!!)

Two years ago, when DH failed to put our vacation in early May on his calender at work and I was on vacation Alone.......I had him throw out a bunch of his stuff and I cleaned the garage, moving stuff out and vacuuming the drywall and upper areas that I could reach. A LOT of spiders met their demise in my Shop Vac! He has rafters in the ceiling for our extra chairs, camping equipment, and boxes of stuff he stores for my sister. We still have way too much. Anyway, after cleaning, I primed and then painted to match the Coleman cabinets he bought at Lowes and installed a few months before. I used a grey that was on the same strip as Armory Green from Walmart. I used the much darker Armory for both doors. (I wanted a light grey for the walls so that more smushed spiders wouldn't show!)
Then, I bought the Rubbermade hook system for our yard tools and camp chairs and bikes. In this pic you can see the semi-done garage. He still has a way to go in his own organization and cleanup but at least it's manageable now.

And the shield back antique chairs I bought off craigslist that same summer (2007) you see in the right side of pic, are now in the rafters.......still not recovered.

Here's the Rubbermaid Fast Track System and my Sam's Club steel shelving on left.

Our garage has two doors, making it a tight squeeze to park. But we do park one car on the right side, and the left could be used if I didn't have a complete dining set sitting over there just out of photo range.

Red

OMG, I'm having serious garage envy!

Allison, yours is wonderful. Love the chicken coop storage pieces. I spotted your chile ristras, too!

Susieq: gosh, I don't think I've ever seen a garage so neat and clean. Very nice!

Lindybarts, a garage without clutter? Be still my heart! Lucky you!

Red, those are the Coleman cabs I'm lusting after for our garage! Are you happy with yours? They look great!

Will I show you pics of mine? Not in a New York minute! I've never even taken a pic of mine . . . errr, Ours.

If it were just mine, it would be a cross between all of the great ones shown here. But, DH considers it HIS domain, and as a result, it's a mess. It's a 3-car garage, but the third bay area (closest to the house) is a dedicated work shop for DH (that you risk life and limb to wade through!) and a large cedar closet where we store our out-of-season clothes, our luggage, most of our bins of seasonal decs and some of my craft supplies. This closet is nice and organized because I'm "allowed" ;^P to take care of that part. It opens into my one area in our garage, which is where the door into our house is. It's nice but not "decorated", though. There, I also have an upright freezer, a second refrigerator and two tall, open storage shelf units for extra paper towels, cans of soda, etc, etc. I have a bin for our dogs' food and two very large covered plastic trash bins there, too. This is where I empty our food and non-food trash from our waste baskets during the week. Out here in the mountains, trash containers outside your garage attract bears and coyotes, so ours are kept inside until trash day!

We have three small windows and 4 skylights in our garage. That idea was mine when we had this place built and I love how light it stays in there during the day. Around the garage's perimeter are mismatched open shelf units filled with boxes of camping and snorkeling gear, kids toys I'm saving, gardening stuff, etc. There are three (mismatched)tall cabs to hold paint and sports equiptment but, it's nowhere near as nice as Red's, Allison's, Lindy's or SusieQ's.

As I said, I'm having a serious case of garage envy looking at your great, organized, uncluttered garages!
Lynn

I don't have curtains in the garage, Iggy, but I want some. They say burglars look in your garage windows and if they like what they see, they break in. You're not alone in the messy garage department!

Red, you are absolutely the first and only person I've ever seen say she picked her wall color to hide smushed spiders. Hahahahahaha! You did a fabulous job on your garage, girl.

Lynn, can you make them less mismatched by painting them all the same color?

Here are some garage makeover pics I found...

I think this is one of those epoxy floors that are kind of tricky to do yourself, but can be a DIY...

Love this lime green...

Curtains to hide shelving mess, great idea!

Love the checkerboard floors. But if they're hard to keep clean in the kitchen, how would they be in the garage?

This red floor is concrete paint. Cheaper, but won't last as long as some of these other treatments.

Who knew there were screen garage doors for people who work in their garages?

Another expensive floor...

Cheery color...

Yes this kitchen really is in the garage...

Pretty metal floor tiles...

Creative colorful floor...

Another snazzy floor...

How to turn a one-car garage into a two car garage with an elevator lift...

Interesting pad to park on...

Wow floors sure make a difference, don't they?

Garages sure look better if you do something good with the floor, don't they?

See any ideas you like?

I can't believe what nice looking garages everyone has! Oceanna, thanks for coming up with so many great inspiration pics. We can always count on you for drool worthy pics. I think I need to leave this thread up on the screen so DH can get in gear.

Yes, thanks Oceanna for all the great ideas. We got quotes on the floor to do it professionally and I couldn't believe how expensive it was. So....here we sit, trying to think of DIY ways to make it look nice and we are not very, um...do it yourselves kinda people! LOL!! Maybe the concrete paint though...I might be able to manage that one. My neighbor has the garage elevator...that's nuts isn't it! ;c)

L

Note: All this organization was basically free! An office building my husband demo'd gave us their like new cabinets. The ledge under them holds coffee cans full of screws & nails of ALL sizes. Above, a 32' ladder is hung by pegs.
{{!gwi}}
The peg board holds hand tools(it was salvaged from a trash pile on a job site). The Sears tool chest holds power tools, knifes & such. Cost was $45. There's a piece of stainless steel used as a table top, also salvage.
{{!gwi}}

Oceanna is right about burglars looking in garage windows to see if anyone's home and to see what's stored in there. I've had frosted film on mine since the day we moved in. Should've had the wondows frosted from the get-go, though.

Curtains (to hide boxes and stuff) look great, but does anyone else but me think "dustcatcher" and "spider hider" when they see curtains in a garage? Out here, it would be "spider, centipede and scorpian hider"!

Oceannna, your inspiration pics are wonderful. Love those red cabs especially, as most garages are so dull looking . . . mine included. The screen door is kind of neat, but I wonder how long they'd last.

You know, many ideas posted here inspire me to try them myself. This is not one of them, though. I think it would be an effort in futility to try and talk DH into perking up our garage. They do look wonderful, though (sigh!). The most I can hope for is for him to agree to some cabs like Red's, although our garage will never look so nice!
Lynn

I see that you can really spruce up your garage now a days. I know that the Phantom Screen company has a screen for the garage doors,just touch the remote and it goes up and down, what next. There's another company that specializes in everything for the garage, I love the way the floors are done, they're a little high in price,but well worth it.

Here is a link that might be useful: every thing for the garage

Those fancy garages look nice, but how would they do in severe winter weather with tons of salt, ice and snow dragged in on the car?

Laxsuper, thanks for letting me know you enjoyed the pics. :o)

Yeah, maybe some of you gals can get your DHs inspired if you show them this thread! I'm on my own with my garage. And quite frankly, I dunno why I can't have a bit of feminine decor in there. I don't mean pink and flowers, but gee whiz. I keep looking for the decor I want and haven't found it yet. I think Susieq's is the best so far. It's at least got color that isn't grey. I know a lot of you love grey, but I sure don't. I live in grey western WA and we're sick of it out here.

Lindy, I'm so glad I could inspire you! Don't those floors make a big difference? My findings agree with you... those tile/mat floors cost an arm and a leg. Couldn't you two do stain and stencil like Susieq? If you google it you'll find there's all kinds of beautiful looks to that stain. Yeah, that elevator is weird and I'll bet it cost a lot. Any idea what he paid? Men and their toys!

Nicole, your cabs are gorgeous, and FREE is my favorite price. Unfortunately for some of us, you need a DH and a truck to get anything like that, and we have neither (and to be honest, want neither - lol).

Lynn, frosted film is a very good idea... let in the light, keep out the snoops. How about the faux stained window film? Even prettier. Eeeeeeew on spiders and spider traps! You just made me shiver hard all over. I really love the red cabs, too, and the red on the floors. Can you paint your cabs red?

Show him these pictures and see if it lights a flame under his fanny. If that doesn't work, show the pics to the guy next door on both sides. I'll betcha if the guy next door does it, your DH will want to do it... and I mean that to everyone. It's always a game of "mine is bigger/better than yours" with the guys, isn't it? hahaha

Lacombe, oh yeah -- it's a big fat industry now, with new companies sprung up all over in the last few years. The pix at your link are gorgeous. But where's the feminine touch? Who sez garages are just for men?

Marie, those fancy floors hold up well from what I've read online in chat groups and so on (from real people, not just sellers). Naturally, the rubber matt ones are great, but $$$ woo woo. I think concrete stain would be fine with your salt. We don't have salted roads here. We just slip n slide. True.

I'm still looking for garages with more of a woman's touch and sense of color. Why not?

Oh these are so nice. Some look like they would cost more than my kitchen. LOL I love those wall track systems that hold just about anything you can imagine. I definitely want to get that system for ours.

Love that double car, one on top the other.

I forgot to ask, does anyone have the screen door? I would love to consider that for the half of the garage that will be the cats sleeping quarters. It would be great to be able to open the door and let them enjoy looking out front. They will be in the back yard and not have any eye access to the front of the house so this would be a nice adventure to be able to look out front.

This rental house has a one car garage and since most homes here in Phoenix do not have basements, a lot of people, including me, use the garage for storage and not for the car. Plus there was not another good place for the cat litter. In the last rental house there was a laundry room with a exterior door where I kept the cat litter. But here the garage is the best place for the cat litter. I actually reorganized the garage on Mother's Day. I must have had a lot of energy that day.

Oh these are so nice. Some look like they would cost more than my kitchen.

I know! I think some of them are very expensive -- esp. the ones with the wall-to-wall trac systems and the fancy rubbery tile floors. Some of those pics are from web sites of business that sell that stuff. Would your kitties climb those screens, maybe?

I hadn't even thought about garages being used for kitties. Here we want our cars in them so we don't have to run through the rain and mud between car and house. But I remember in So. Cal they have a lot more carports than we do here.