We have a small one car garage. My fiance and I just moved last Dec and there are still some boxes in there what we need to tackle. I was searching thru it last weekend and I did notice that the previous owner had hung some nails into the wood walls. I have been using that to hang some tools. We plan on using the garage to store all of our yard stuff and bikes. My dream is to turn it into an outdoor kitchen.

We are really blessed with a two car garage, very practically occupying half of our walkout basement (tuck-under garages are very common here, they are so practical IMO). I am really going to miss it! We both really, really hate digging our cars out of snow and ice in the winter and burning ourselves to a crisp in the summer - the garage stays wonderfully cool so the cars stay cool as well. I also appreciate the additional security against car break-ins. Very few of the houses I'm seeing in our price range have even a tiny one car garage much less a two-car one that will fit our cars plus the yard tools; we would have to get a shed to put the lawnmower and suchlike stuff into and decent sheds that don't look trashy are pretty expensive. If we don't get a house with a basement I don't know what we'll do about DH's woodworking tools, he'll probably want to take over any garage we might have or want a shed of his own, our yard will be crammed with sheds!

Have a one car garage, down from two and can honestly say I miss the two car. When I moved in my son built a 10 X 12 shed for storage...part of the yard makeover, it was built as a log cabin.

The shed has become a major storage of life long possessions,
large power tools and some of my son's (who works on the road for months at a time) mechanic tools. Am using about half of it because I forget it has so much room for stuff in there. But considering the storage factor, it really can't be used for any working activities. Had hoped this would be the case. And, the transition from using a garage for storage (and a basement) to a shed messes a bit with my head. Partially because it is in the far corner of the yard, where items were once at close hand in a garage/basement. I keep putting things in the garage and then have to move them again.

I want my garage back for the car. Now that the warm weather is here that is one of the jobs ahead. In looking at smaller homes it was an issue finding a garage and am not sure I could do without. Not using it this winter was a pain.

And, am going to put another smaller shed out back, a funky one for all the garden stuff, with a sitting porch beside it in the shade. I have enough wood and panels from the log one to build this and am siding it with the cedar shingles leftover from putting on a new roof.

So, Johnmari....we both will have a "shed" yard. And, decent sheds are very hard to find without going into the 1,000s. Even building the one from scratch was expensive (to me), but certainly not as much as a garage.

Postum, the ladders hang on the back of shed..sort of out of the elements and can't be seen by anyone. Also, most of the left over wood is stacked back there. My patio furniture stayed on the patio for the winter with covers and a tarp, wasn't fond of looking at this arrangement. It takes some creativity to find the right place for all...has only been a couple of seasons in my smaller place, will get there.

My garage was built for Model T cars and is original to the house built in 1910. At some point the entrance was remodeled down to a single door. The floor is dirt and there is ivy growing through the back window, but it is made of old brick (like the house) and is rather charming, I think, plus it hold lots of gardening stuff.

We have a two car garage and a 3 shed yard LOL at Mari....
The garage holds my Explorer, the laundry equipment, household tools, broom closet "stuff", two biggish shelving units and the riding mower. A small room off the garage holds housepaint touch up stuff, yard tools, chain saws and massive amounts of birdseed(our birds are SPOILED rotten).
In the yard we have a largish woodworking shop for DH, another building with my craft/deco stuff and the equipment for making wreaths and flower arrangements. It also has a 6' square cedar closet for off season clothing.
We have a small "cute" shed for flower pots, fertilizer...etc.! and the motorcyle lives on the back porch!!! Life is grand!

We have no garage.......and our storage is limited, but because we don't need to maintain lawn, we don't need any tools. We have a nize laundry room that we store, our DD's bike, and we also have a walk-in-closet off the sunroom, where we store more of the toys,DVDs, and books etc.....

We have been here for the past two years and we are looking at homes, and in one home there is no garage....that said I feel I wouldn't be loosing anything since I never had it in the first place.

It is about decluttering and organizing.......if it hasn't been used for more than 6 mths (expect for holidays decor.)you will not going to use it. You have the option to sell it or give it away.

You got to work with what you have.

maria

We have no garage either. Postum, you sound like me with your talk of the crowded shed lol! We too have a shed/shop in which we could park a car in (after we clean out all of me and my husband's junk) lol. We're planning on doing that soon...have i said that before??

We have a decrepit, one-car garage in which we keep storm windows, an old lawnmower, etc.

We don't keep anything of value in it--not even bicycles--and we don't lock it.

When we bought the place, our home inspector--who lives a few blocks away--told us that garage burglaries were common in the area, and that we'd be better off leaving it unlocked.

My car-and-a-half garage is what made me decide to buy this tiny house (well, that and a finished basement). Lots of space for car (no ice and snow on it, YAYYY!!) and plenty storage - it came equipped with someone's old kitchen cabinets and has wood rafters with lots of hooks. Amazing how fast you fill the space, though.

We designed/built our small house just for us, for our lifestyle. YES, we have a garage, and it's more like a garage you would find in a big house. I've always wanted a big rear-attached garage with extra high/extra wide doors totally hid from the street. Nobody builds a small house like this, and its the main reason we went the owner/builder route. I also built a 12' x 12' storage "barn" with a loft, for my garden tractor and all implements.

I have a small one car garage and a small storage shed. The shed houses the lawn mower, yard tools and summer tires. The garage is lined with boxes of junk I've yet to unpack since I moved about a year ago. I'm seriously thinking of just tossing everything out. One end has floor to ceiling shelves that I haven't managed to fill up yet. There's enough room for a workbench and a chest freezer. I can't park my car in it because that's where I keep the ATV with a snowplow on it.

No garage but on our 1/4 acre we have our little under 700 sq ft cottage, a workshop, a small barn, a storage building, and two sheds, we call it our compound. The barn has a huge awning type roof out from it that we park the vehicles under when there is not a pile of stuff under there like there is right now. LOL. We are working on getting rid of junk inside and out, becoming better organized and it feels great. I have several gardens on the property also. There is no room for anything else, except a few more plants. : -)

FlowerLady

I have a one car garage but wish I had a two car garage despite only having one car since I like to store a lot of things in my garage like my four trash cans (for recycables and all the trash I create with my home office) and my soda and water purchases (like to stock up.... I offer water bottles and soda to my clients). I do love having a garage since when it snows outside, my car is safe and I do not have to waste time cleaning the snow off of it.

You call it a garage, I call it a storage unit. We have a one car garage that has not seen a car. Some day we would like to expand and add another bay. Liz

No garage here. Basement is accessible only from the interior of house, and narrow enclosed steps prevent the storage of larger items. We have a small shed that is absolutely packed with yard care stuff, and in the winter it is home to our patio furniture as well. It even has held bicycles and our makeshift scaffolding. It is such a pain to have limited storage, but it forces us to only keep things we really need and use. I would love to have a garage of any size. Living in the woods, no matter how well we maintain the large older trees, there are always small branches that fall and put dings in my car . . .

Tina

No garage here. There is a small storage shed that came with the property that I've lined with freestanding shelves and store painting supplies, some power tools and miscellaneous garden stuff. Still, the shed is very small and there is no room for the riding mower, garden tiller, and shovels, rakes, and hoes which I keep (outside) in a galvanized trash can with holes drilled in the bottom so rain can drain out. We try and cover the engine on the tiller and mower to protect it from the rain, but I sure wish we had a storage barn/shed/garage - something! It's very frustrating because I have no storage place to keep pots, hand tools, bagged potting soil, twine, tags, and all the many miscellaneous items that accumulate as a gardener with 2 acres to play in. No basements in this part of Texas either (due to soil issues or depth to bedrock), so our first rule is: think very, very carefully before you buy anything that might need storage. We keep discussing moving so am reluctant to put another building on the property but, if we stay here much longer, I'll build a pole barn. A pole barn is a 3-sided building that is open to the front and has a slanted roof and is a very common structure in rural areas. Used in the past for storing hay, tractors, or shelter for livestock, but can be handy for keeping mowers and other equipment out of the weather as well.

Rosie - thanks for the tip about storing tools in garbage cans with holes drilled in them - I will try this out! I can never find the darn pitchfork when I need it.

I'm lucky that I have no harsh weather to deal with here. I remember too well chipping my car out of a block of ice when I lived in Boston - never again!

Three car garage with out 16oosq foot house. Although it is actually a two car garage and a 1 car size storage area.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rod & DJs House Building Adventure

Sometime in the early 1900's a PO built our 1 car gaarage - it's accessible from the alley. In the 1980's, another PO added a 1 car carport on the side and it's roof has leaked for the 2 yrs we've been in our house. The garage has settled and it's now the lowest point in the area so when snow melts or hard rains fall, water flows toward our garage but not the carport which is higher. As a result, the wood supports at ground level are rotting and we've raised everything off the floor (except my car). Last year, we got bids for a new 2 1/4 car garage, but decided not to act so we could save more - when the time for a new one really came, we could pay cash. Well, a few weeks ago, after a heavy snow and then rains, we found 3" standing water in the garage. We've requested updated bids and also got one new bid for good measure. We'll be signing a contract for a new 2+ car garage this week. DH uses the garage as his workshop, I store all my gardening stuff. The trick during building will be to find a home for all the current garage "stuff" - guess I shift around basement "stuff" for the duration of the project. I'll be thrilled when a new garage is up and running! It's going to be new "vintage" garage!

We have a one-car garage that is part of the house. It is under the kitchen and adjacent to the basement. The earlier owners' cars entered it by driving down an asphalt driveway in the side yard, and turning around to park the the car in the garage. We use the garage as a shed and the turnaround as a patio.

You know your a Redneck when - your garage is about the same size as your house. The original garage was a 1920's 1 car glorified tool shed. In 1992, "Garagezilla" was built.
Garagezilla is a 3 car extra deep building with full accessible 1/2 story above. It was built in a style to match the house so it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, hip roof with a dormer. It's also at the back of the lot so it looks in scale from a street view, sort of like a carriage house. Garagezilla has been a dance floor, rec room, tool shed, mega storage, staging area,work shop, fitness room, hideout, Dr. Evil lair, Batcave and sometimes, I actually park my car in it. My house is about 1800 sf, Garagezilla is about 1500sf which includes the second floor.
With sometimes up to 6 guys living in my house, Garagezilla has been a sanity saver.

We designed our small house (1,720 sq ft) for a specific lifestyle, which necessitated a large rear-attached garage, plus attic storage, plus a 10' x 12' storage barn (with loft). It's the only way we could proceed with downsizing. We just transported the first load of furniture and stuff:

momcat, I did a driveby on one house up for sale that was a 950sf house built in (IIRC) approx 1920ish with two outbuildings - one a large barn that dwarfed the house (hayloft door and the whole works, so it had obviously once been a working barn), the other a SIX bay garage. Now THAT was a redneck property... but not unexpected, since the property was about ten miles from three big racetracks (2 stock-car and 2 dragway).

(I also drove by a four bedroom house that was only 900-some square feet. Bedrooms for Lilliputians, perhaps?)

When we bought our home, the one car garaged was close up and added space to our home. I would love to have a garage but honestly I just don't miss what I never had! I swear by those plastic covers you put on your windshields when the weatherman calls for snow. No, its not a garage but its better then nothing!

Well, we didn't have a garage or carport when we got our little house, but since it is built on a hillside, we dug out underneath of it replacing all the posts and floorjoists as we went back (they needed it), poured a concrete floor and now we have a "carport". We put the truck in there and took a picture of it and that was the last time there's been any cars in that carport!

There is an old double his-n-her outhouse in the back yard we use as a storage shed, there is also an old shower house which is now used as a shed. The old shower house next to our little house is now our bathhouse and attached with a very short - five feet wide - breezeway. There's also two small chicken coops up in the back and the remains of another shower house which may become a small shed.

If there was some way to access the back of our lot with a road, we'd probably build a carport or garage back there, but there's no room alongside the house for a road.

We have a garage built for model T's like Teresa's! :) It is a one car and the only modern car I can think of that might fit would be one of those new minis... but even that would be doubtful. Also, the space alloted for our driveway is so narrow that you cannot completely open the car doors. You just sort of slide out, hoping for the best and holding your breath. Gotta love 1920's houses! Thank goodness ours is charming. :)

We have a 1934 12' by 16' garage behind our 1915 house. The garage is in a low part of the property and subject to occasional flooding. To deal with that I put in a raised floor made of pressure treated joists and 2x4 redwood decking I salvaged from neighbor's deck. In the garage we have three motorcycles, six bicycles, a small workbench and all of our gardening equipment.

The old driveway for our garage was in an easement through a neighboring property. The easement was abandoned by a previous owner of our property so the garage has only a narrow path to the front of the property and the street - just wide enough for a motorcycle or a lawnmower. That's why we call it a shed, rather than a garage.

I also have a garagezilla. Our house is 1180 sq feet and our garage is 1080 sq feet. We loooooove it. The reason we built it was for several reasons. First we live in a 1970's raised ranch where half of your basement is a 1 car garage. The only problem is that neither my husbands truck, or my van would fit into it because they were to tall. Also my DH said that if I let him have it built he would let me finish out the entire basement which gives me an extra 400-500 sq feet of space...yea! And last but not least we have an unsually large lot, so even with garagezilla we still have a fairly good size yard. Couldn't live without it. Another hidden benefit of the garagezilla is the drivewayzilla that came with it. My kids love having a huge place to ride on their bikes and trikes. Couldn't live without it, kinda makes me forget that our house is only 1180 sq feet.

My fiance wishes he had the "Garagezilla". We have a 2 car garage and a 10 x 15 shed we just built in place of the old rusted out 1970's 8 x 8 metal shed.

The shed is home to about 20 mopeds and a few shelves.

Right now the garage is used for storage while we're remodeling. It has all the kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, sinks, appliances, everything. Once the house is done then it's gunna be the "workshop". Maybe when everything is all set up in there, there will be room for the 1962 Buik Riviera. That's my fiance's baby. Even though my 1960 Ford Falcon is way cooler, IMO. But there's deffinately no way, even empty all our cars, new and old, would fit in there.

Maybe one day we'll build a "garagezilla" in the backyard and turn the current one into a master suite.

Nope, no garage. We just put in a 6x8 shed that holds the bikes, kids' toys, and lawn equipment. It's a bit crowded, but it's enough. We didn't want to give up any more of our small yard to storage. We're in the northeast where yards are little.

We currently have a detached two-car garage and a full basement. The basement in this 1925 home is accessed by twisty interior stairs, or one outside door that opens into the dog pen. So, although there is tons of room down there, DH doesn't like to use it. It's a hassle to get things in and out, so tools wind up in the garage and scattered around the house. I've managed to maintain room for my car in the garage, but the other side is full of junk, as well as the lawn care stuff that I agree, it would be a hasle to get it in and out of the basement.

At the new house we've got a two-car carport (integrated into the house, which is a '50s Eichler-style) and then a separate "barn" that is about 20' x 20' with a full upstairs loft area. I think I'm going to like the arrangement. The carport will have to stay fairly neat because it is on view as you come into the house. The daily drivers can park there and stay out of the sun and rain (no snow here). And the rest of the "junk" can stay in the barn, which will also be DH's workshop.

The house has no basement, which is good. We have always had basements in the past and have grand ideas about using them as workshop, storage, etc., but they just wind up being repositories for junk as my house slowly starts to accumulate drills, tool boxes and sanders stashed here and there. "But I don't want to have to go down to the basement to get them . . ."

At the new place, DH can walk 25 paces from the front door and be in his own barn/workshop with tool benches, lights and a concrete floor. No more whining about inconvenience! And with it all right there, it won't get dragged out of its "inconvenient" place and get set up in the carport or driveway . . . or dining room. At least I hope not!

There is actually another small shed that holds trash cans and what-not, but it is not fully enclosed. I can see hanging the rakes and shovels in there to keep them out of DH's way.

Oh, for a garage! It would make a world of diffrence for us. We have a shed, but it lacks a door (just fully open on the front), so it's not good for much except to invite people to take things from it. ;)

The grubby stuff is split between the shed, the attic, and a rented storage unit (which we got after several theft problems).

I have a detached garage. It's half enclosed garage, with a garage door and half a carport. The car lives in the carport and all my stuff lives in the garage. The garage has a lost area on both sides. I don't know what I'd do without that garage. My basement is really small, less than half the size of the first floor of the house. I wish it were bigger and had fewer spiders.

No garage so store gardening/yard equipment in unfinished walk-out basement. Would love not having to clear snow and ice off of cars but wouldn't want an attached one because my husband thinks they're unsafe (carbon monoxide if someone doesn't turn the car off). My neighbors have an unattached garage and it cuts them off from their large backyard. So I wouldn't want one of those either!

I have a detached 2-car garage, pretty close to the house, off the back kitchen stairs. It's old as the house (1915), I worry one day it may fall down not that it shows signs of it mind you - but the floor of it has seen better days. I almost never keep the car inside unless we're expecting really terrible weather. It's mostly for storage of gardening stuff, patio furniture in the winter, right now I have leftover firewood inside, and some other odds and ends. We try very hard NOT to let it get too cluttered.

Thankfully we also have a basement, but we don't keep much down their either. We're definitely not pack rats.

We have a 2 car attached garage and we love it! We live in Wisconsin and never had a garage before moving to this condo. It is great to not need to scrape off the car on winter mornings and it also provides storage for garbage, recycling, grill, lawn tools, etc.

Okay, for those with a tall privacy fence mostly wooden, I saw a nice solution to storing some gardening items. Using the fence as the back of the structure, put a sort of closet on the front, enclosing the ends plus doors on front to let you access the whole interior. Might even be screen doors if security is not an issue, just keeping out the critters? Hang your shovels and rakes and small tools on the back wall. Put a shed roof over it so that it does not show to the neighbors. Closets are about 2 feet deep generally, might have to cheat a little on that to roll your gas push lawnmower into one end of it, but it can work.

I saw this in a publication about sheds, and thought about Marti and her shallow depth western buildings, she made part of her area into a boardwalk with a tiny shallow porch and I loved it.

But this shed/leanto on the fence can go as long as your fence line will allow....or until you run out of lumber. :)

No garage here. But the builders did add on a cave-like storage area to the front of the house. It has a door that operates electrically to withdraw into the ceiling area of the space. The location at the top of the driveway makes an easy drop-off and pick-up point. I am hoping to use it as a staging area for Craigslist sales this fall.

Here is a link that might be useful: storage cave