Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT New Digs, New Goals, and a Blank Canvas

[v6buick]

I managed to suffer the confines of a 19x20 attached garage for 11 years despite my desire to constantly up my automotive restoration and performance skills. The time finally came to say goodbye to that tiny space yesterday.



At this home a lot of great memories made and lessons learned, but the whole family is very excited for what's next.

Welcome to my new place! I still don't have a "big" garage, but the space I have suits my needs much better. I haven't measured, but I certainly won't have to park cars diagonally for major services anymore! Best of all, I'm nether restrained by <1/4 acre or an HOA anymore. V6buick headquarters now sits on 1.1 acres of nice flat land.

While the soft recessed lighting and tan walls make my car look super cool in these pictures, it's not going to fly for very long.

When I slide the car all the way over, I'm still left with enough space to park two more cars. It would be tight, but it's possible.


When I was just 23 and buying my last house, I was not patient enough to get the house and garage right before diving right back into cars. Now that I'm a bit wiser, I hope to get my space planned and finished up before I get much use out of it. Anyway, this is just a little teaser. I've been too busy assembling shelving uints, setting up aquariums, fixing little plumbing issues, and hanging TVs to even think about the garage. I'll get there, but the living quarters comes first!

 

[68400BIRD]

Looks like a great new place. Looking forward to more updates. Good Luck!!!!

 

[413dan]

Looks beautiful, especially the sunrise/set. Enjoy this new chapter with your loved ones. & don't forget, although it doesn't sound like you have, the "good times" aren't always sometime in our past, they're usually right now without us even knowing it. Keep up the great work brother!

 

[kaehlin]

Very nice, love the long porch and profile from the front. Will be following to see how you set it up!

 

[v6buick]

Thank you everyone! While moving is stressful, I agree that there are many great memories yet to be made. Even the move itself is something I can look back on with great pride.

Don't get me wrong, I don't ever want to do this again, but I'm pretty proud of myself for moving an entire party of three from one house to another with minimal help in just 8 days. It was a lot cheaper than hiring movers though and nothing was broken or scratched in the process.

 

[v6buick]

My luck has not been too great lately. For many reasons, I decided to spring for a brand new mower delivered to the house as opposed to borrowing a trailer to get a used one. Hre's my brand new Cub from Home Depot.

And here's my brand new Cub after attempting to move it under its own power!

Home Depot picked it up the next day and dropped off another one the day after that.

So here's my new new mower in action with my son who's a little scared of it.

....and here's that same mower a few minutes later becasue I ran over a boulder about the size of a canelope. The grass hadn't been touched for about a month before moving in, so I couldn't see it. As you can see, I hadn't even moved the pallet out of the driveway yet!

Luckily the blades were the only victim. After $75 and a quick trip to Tractor Supply, I was able to finish the mow. I'm quickly gaining reasons to build a shed though. With the move so fresh, the garage still has no room for my new beast. Soon!

Adding to my luck, I got home a bit later than usual, my wife was at a concert with her best friend, and I had to get the kid to bed. I figured I'd throw a quick pizza in the oven. After a minute or two of preheating I started smelling gas. I open the windows, let the house breathe for a while, close up, and give it another sniff. Nothing. I suspect that the switching valve on this range is no good. It's a brand new LG unit.

I'd hate to spend a bunch of money on a new one since this this thing is brand new. I also didn't buy it though, so a warranty may be tough to exercise. I may try to replace the valve myself. Just another little project I didn't need!

As for actual garage stuff, here's the current situation.


I'm going to miss my quiet insulated door, but I'm not replacing a brand new one. I'm going to try adding insulation to this one.

This is actually quite a bit improved since a few days ago. I can at least get to everything in here. I just need to figure out where it's all going to go!

 

[v6buick]

Maybe I'm overthinking it. Perhaps I just need to accept that things are going to change a few times before I get it exactly right, but my situation so far feels like a bit of a catch 22. I need a place to work, but I don't have one yet because I don't have a work shop to build stuff.

There's a lot of work that needs to be done around the house, and I need some sort of work space so I can build things, repair things, ect. I initially told myself that I was going to refrain from building a basement workshop, but I'm started to feel like I couldn't get around it. The garage is bigger than the old one, but completely griglocked with all the things I have in it. Plus, there's certain types of work that I don't want done near the cars. I don't really want said work to be done in a room that's not sealed from the finished side of the basement either, but we can improve this down the road.

This hard maple bench top was about to be thrown away by my employer. I almost left it at the old house as I technically wasn't allowed to bring it with me. I thought for sure I wouldn't reuse the frame either but here we are! Works great.

Added an outlet at bench height, slapped up some peg board, and hung a kitchen light I salvaged from the old house. Sometimes I wonder why I save things and actually MOVE them from one house to another. Then this magic happens. I say it's not hoarding if you actually use it!

And what do you know? I used this bench the very next day. I guess a nice set of blinds are a luxury item now. The faux wood blinds at Menards look even cheaper than they cost and got returned immediatley. I was disappointed in the lack of options there. The ones at Walmart looked much better, and the over doubled cost reflected that. However, their design is flawed. You can install them as instructed and accept that the top couple slats will be forever banana shapped, and the mechanisms will never move freely. I opted to cut a relief in the center support so that the center strings can hang down unobstructed like they're supposed to.

This was really easy for me to figure out and remedy, but I honestly don't know how unhandy people get by in 2026. It seems like nothing is made with any meaningful QC or pride anymore. Products are made cheaper, and yet the prices keep going up. It's crazy!

Anyway, I'm trying to find a clever place to store my air compressor. Having air functional is going to be another game changer not only for use but gaining the space back! Since I have a huge attic with a strong floor above the garage, that's a strong contender. Putting it in the basement again does not sound as great to me becasue getting access to the garage from there will not be as simple as it was in the last house.

 

[v6buick]

After spending all kinds of time trying to overplan the garage I decided I needed more action. The only way to do everything "right" without doing things twice would be move everything to a storage unit while I paint walls and have the floor done. That's just not going to happen, so it was time to at least get all my things off the floor and into new homes.

Before getting into that I'm going to show you the fire pit I made because I'm so excited to finally have a place to burn all the scrap wood and cardboard I accumulated since the move!


This is going to be so nice once the weather starts to turn. Until then, I'm done with contributing to the heat problem!

Back to the garage. I found this 10ft row of cupbords with a countertop on marketplace. After an irritating marketplace encounter I got them home for $140. I wouldn't call it a good deal by any means, but they are almost exactly what I was looking for, so I can't be mad about it.

The white paint was a really poor DIY job, and white is not going to compliment my greasy fingers well anyway.

My wife and I tag teamed this and got them looking sharp over the weekend. I can't wait to fill them up!

In the middle of that project, I also found a great deal on a 56"x22" Milwaukee tool box at a discount store. It was lightly damaged in a very unnoticeable way and only $600 vs the $1000 on homedepot.com. I'm glad I hopped in the truck and booked it over there becasue it was displayed very proudly at the front of the store with a bunch of people eyeballing it.

I wanted a black box, but I'll live with red for that price. Time to build the bench I've been dreaming up for years.

Version 1.0 was extremely sturdy but way too tall. I probably would hav lived with it if it wasn't lfor lack of access to that outlet.

In V1.1 I replaced the 2x4"s that formed the upper perimeter and mounted the top to the wall with 2x2"s. This was very flimsy and wanting to crack, but once the top was installed it was as solid as a rock. That extra 2" made for a much more comfortable working height too.

This isn't done yet, but it's probably done for now. My small shop vac will live in the cubby next to the mini fridge. I'll add a shelf above that as well. I'd also like to add some plywood to the front of the whole thing just to make it look more finished. For now I need to keep it some what easy to remove becasue the floors aren't coated yet.

 

[captain14]

Do the bolts above the fridge represent where you’ll be mounting the vice?

Good scores and n the cabinets and toolbox.!

 

[v6buick]

Do the bolts above the fridge represent where you’ll be mounting the vice?

Good scores and n the cabinets and toolbox.!

Yes, and I think I got lucky on the placement of th fridge. I happened to recess it far enought that it should not be an inssue in most cases.

This bench top was my great-grandpa's. I estimate it to have been in his shop for about 55 years. He salvaged that maple from a closed bowling alley and put his vise in the same spot. Mine covers 2 of the three holes and I want to avoid putting more holes in it if I can! I don't intend to move again, so after 12 years of bouncing around on junky/temporary frames I'm hopeful that this is the last stop for another 50+ years.

 

[thammel]

You definitely need a shed!! Get or build at least a 12x16. You won't regret it! And I added foam board insulation to 2 of my garage doors. That plus some great stuff foam spray and caulk and the door will be nicely insulated. Congrats on the new place!! Now you need to build a detached garage and a shed!!

 

[v6buick]

You definitely need a shed!! Get or build at least a 12x16. You won't regret it! And I added foam board insulation to 2 of my garage doors. That plus some great stuff foam spray and caulk and the door will be nicely insulated. Congrats on the new place!! Now you need to build a detached garage and a shed!!

All of that will come with time!