Our garage + new workout room
When we set out to organize our garage this past summer, we knew we were in for a big project! It had become a dumping zone for everything from old furniture, staging and styling supplies and retired ski clothes to tools, sporting equipment, paint … you get the picture. We have a three car garage that had no room for cars (!) and the things that were in there were really really hard to find. So, we decided it was time to make the space more functional and organized.
Since we needed a dedicated area for working out, we chose to convert the third bay to a place for our Peloton and weights. And, if we organized the other two bays, we could finally park out cars INSIDE the garage ? Wouldn’t that be nice?? Especially during the winter months, when getting into a freezing cold car covered in snow is really not fun!
Here are a few things we learned in the process …
1. Sort 2. Purge 3. Organize! First, we literally sorted EVERYTHING in our garage. We laid everything out in groupings on the floor so we could assess what we had. Then, we were able to decide what we wanted to keep, and what was no longer needed. We created a donate pile, and Derrick loaded everything into bins to take to Goodwill. I can’t tell you how freeing this process was! Once we were left with the things we knew we needed and would actually use, it was time to organize. Finally, we placed the items that remained into bins, and labelled each bin for easy access. We wanted to be sure things got put away where they belonged.
Once the garage was cleared out, it was definitely easier to paint all the walls. What a difference this made! We decided that painting the garage a dark color would give it an industrial yet cool vibe, like in the photo below. We painted the walls, ceiling and backside of garage doors in Benjamin Moore’s “Wrought Iron” in a matte finish (which hides all the cracks and dings). Everyone absolutely loves it! Derrick sprayed it on everywhere, including all the pipes and conduits, so they now just kind of recede into the space.
CLOUZ HOUZ TIP: If you haven’t used something in 6 months or more, you most likely won’t use again. Our advice: cut ties now from all the clutter and free yourself of all these extra things you don’t need!
One of the biggest game changers for the garage was refinishing the floor. We looked into so many options for what to do with it! We considered everything from Swisstrax (which we had in a previous home), to paint, to epoxy. Derrick and I chose an epoxy floor that he was able to paint himself. I’d suggest you give yourself at least 4 days to go this route, including drying and curing time between each step.
Check out our “Garage Makeover” highlight on Instagram @clouz_houz where we show the step-by-step process in detail!
A comprehensive list of the items we found to be useful for this project is below. This includes shelving, bins, flooring and more. We hope you find some inspiration as you put your home back together after the holidays and find yourself in the organizing and cleaning mood! We love our new and improved garage space! It’s tidy, organized AND we have a place we can retreat to for a good sweat. Bring on 2023 resolutions for more self care ?
