Alabama 24x30 makeover -- The MR2 house

[wyowrx]

After discussing with a friend, I thought I would post this website I followed for my soffit cabinets, with some modifications, as originally posted by another member:

http://www.familyhandyman.com/DIY-Projects/Home-Organization/Garage-Storage/installing-large-garage-cabinets

 

[Fuz16]

Jack,

Thanks for the link, the tour, and the ride in the 2zz rotrex. You're the best!!!!

 

[wyowrx]

Thanks Fred. Can't wait to see pics of your garage and your turbo MR-S. And BTW, what a great pair of young men you have raised... Looking forward to autox'ing with them.

 

[wyowrx]

Framed out my work bench. 80" solid core doors ripped to 28" wide. Top of work bench is 41". Used the scrap from the doors as a strip along the backside of the bench with lag screws into the wall. I will enclose and use sliding doors on the fronts and I'll be putting in some plywood bottom shelves. The drill press will go at the end where the pre-fab bench is. I left a gap to walk into for using the drill press. Planning to put a small strip of peg board above the work bench and between the soffit and the cabinets for cordless tools and little odds and ends. Getting close to being done with the major woodworking (except for the area under the stairs.

 

[Mat Mobile]

Great beginning. I will keep following your thread.

 

[DarkMonohue]

Another AW11 addict here, following along.

 

[wyowrx]

Made a little progress. My plan is to paint the overhead cabinet framing/shell black and the doors a metallic silver. The sides and doors for the workbench are also planned for the same color scheme. Please let me know your thoughts.

Finished putting the sliders on the front of the workbench and other cabinet. Just need to let it dry now. Also put some sides on the little toolchest hang down thingy.

And here's the capstone addition for the side of the workbench:

 

[wyowrx]

Ok, so my neighbor suggested black for the cabinet frame and ends and red for the doors (sort of like Tig's baldhead collection). The workbench would follow the same color pattern. Any thoughts on the look of this when painted on plywood?

In the end the garage is going to have two 20x30" posters that feature red cars and I have the craftsman tool chest, so it should be complimentary. I hate painting twice, so your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[DarkMonohue]

Personally, I prefer lighter, subtler colors. The shop itself should not be too hard on the eye. I want to focus on the car, or whatever else I am working on, and not be too distracted by excessive contrast or especially vivid tones coming from the background.

Feel free to disregard that, though. Just one stranger's uninformed opinion!

 

[n2ocamaro]

Ok, so my neighbor suggested black for the cabinet frame and ends and red for the doors (sort of like Tig's baldhead collection). The workbench would follow the same color pattern. Any thoughts on the look of this when painted on plywood?

In the end the garage is going to have two 20x30" posters that feature red cars and I have the craftsman tool chest, so it should be complimentary. I hate painting twice, so your thoughts would be appreciated.

I am doing the red/black color scheme only because most of my stuff is red/black already. My walls will be 2 tone gray. I am doing the soffit cabinets on my back wall and decided just recently to do black frames and red doors.

 

[wyowrx]

Personally, I prefer lighter, subtler colors. The shop itself should not be too hard on the eye. I want to focus on the car, or whatever else I am working on, and not be too distracted by excessive contrast or especially vivid tones coming from the background.

Feel free to disregard that, though. Just one stranger's uninformed opinion!

Thanks for the reply. I see it as there are two types of garages; Jack Olsens', and traditional "man cave". I'm shooting for a mix between the two. I want subtle colors, but I also want posters and such. Never thought it would be such a tough decision... I agree on the subtle colors, just can't figure out what they should be...

 

[wyowrx]

I am doing the red/black color scheme only because most of my stuff is red/black already. My walls will be 2 tone gray. I am doing the soffit cabinets on my back wall and decided just recently to do black frames and red doors.

I'm a couple weeks away from painting, so I will definitely be following your thread.

Jack

 

[wyowrx]

Made some more progress. Got the doors on the other wall and workbench installed. They still need paint, but these pics should give an idea of where I'm headed. I appreciate all comments, positive and negative, so let them fly!!

 

[wyowrx]

 

[Fuz16]

Jack,

The garage is looking GREAT!!!!

 

[mdistel]

Nice job, thanks for sharing. I've got a bunch of new ideas for my garage project that I'm starting. The work bench and cabinets look great.

BTW, my first car was an 89 MR2 and a few years later I found a mint 85 MR2 and couldn't resist purchasing. Both are long gone but not forgotten. I'd really like to find a nice 94/95 model.

Mark

 

[Pynikal]

my buddies got a 725whp 2nd gen 2. it is quite scary......

garage looks great man!

 

[wyowrx]

Thanks for all the comments. Been strapped down with daddy duty... Have a couple of days off this week, so hopefully I can knock a few things out this week.

Got the first layer of mud on the drywall over the stairs. This is just a start. Need to figure out what to do on both ends to make it look clean.

Primered the workbench tops. Plan to paint them with aluminum color rustoleum.

This is what I used based on home depot suggestions:

And here is my inspector!!

 

[wyowrx]

Put a first coat on the workbench tops. The primer was such a pain that I ruled it out for the cabinet doors. I was close to going with a latex paint color to avoid the primer, but decided to try the paint out on the doors without the primer. The doors sucked up the paint really well. Painted one just to try it out. Need another two coats on the workbench and one more on the doors. I think with black trim these should look pretty good...

 

[wyowrx]

I was really unsure how this color combo would work out, especially painted on wood, but now I'm really happy with how it is looking. The paint takes 24 hours to dry before you can recoat, so it is slow going. Once I'm done, I'll break out my good camera to try and really capture the overall look (been using my cell phone...)

 

[takeiteasy]

I like what you've done! I also wanted to get a metallic paint for my cupboard doors too. Interested to see your 'good' pictures. Did you consider filling the wood grain in the 2x4 frames to give it a smooth finish? I've been playing with the idea myself.

 

[wyowrx]

I like what you've done! I also wanted to get a metallic paint for my cupboard doors too. Interested to see your 'good' pictures. Did you consider filling the wood grain in the 2x4 frames to give it a smooth finish? I've been playing with the idea myself.

Thanks Steve. You're thread was actually one of the posts that pointed me in the overhead storage direction. I did putty the screw heads as much as possible to keep it fairly smooth. I think sanding would help, but my end joints and seams are not too perfect so I didn't take it that extra step. I used satin black and you really have to look hard to see the grain. I'll wait on the 'good' pics until the garage is clean!

 

[wyowrx]

Put the doors in and the workbench tops on. And... mounted my bottle opener! Almost done with this corner.

View from the entry door.

 

[wyowrx]

Some of my garage art. 1985 Hot Rod magazine article comparing the MR2 to the Fiero and a dealership brochure. I was 12 back then and loved the Fieros... but then I saw the light

 

[wyowrx]

Feel free to make fun of me for posting this, but I think it's pretty neat. I was going to buy one of the magnetic metal boxes to hold my latex gloves, but instead I did the following. Bought a 25 lb pull magnet from HF, inserted magnet at the bottom of a box of latex gloves, attached to workbench...

 

[crazytrain]

Thats actually a pretty good idea and cheap too. With yor DIY skills you could make a wooden box for the box of gloves to slide into and attach a few rare earth magnets to the back then it could be painted to match your tool box or work bench. Great job on the garage!

 

[stangman39]

I've been debating about the eventual size to make my garage someday! Was thinking 24x30 like yours but then noticed your lift. Ideally I'd like to be able to have a lift and also be able to pull a car next to the lift. W/MR2s you probably can but not old Stangs I'll be playing with.

 

[964nut]

Wonderful,... truely inspiring.

Great looking rides as well. I am contemplating in building a late model Spyder for autocross purpposes. It is the lighest car on the market, with great potential.

 

[wyowrx]

Thats actually a pretty good idea and cheap too. With yor DIY skills you could make a wooden box for the box of gloves to slide into and attach a few rare earth magnets to the back then it could be painted to match your tool box or work bench. Great job on the garage!

Thanks for the kind words. The problem with the box, is that I buy different size boxes all the time. This way I can use any kind of box. I really didn't like taking up horizontal space with the gloves, so I think this will work out.

 

[wyowrx]

I've been debating about the eventual size to make my garage someday! Was thinking 24x30 like yours but then noticed your lift. Ideally I'd like to be able to have a lift and also be able to pull a car next to the lift. W/MR2s you probably can but not old Stangs I'll be playing with.

The current pictures are a little deceiving. I set the lift in the garage when I had all my tools on the left side. Now that I have overhead storage and moved the benches to the right, the lift will move two feet to the left. I will take pics as soon as the lift is moved from the outside.

Jack

 

[wyowrx]

Wonderful,... truely inspiring.

Great looking rides as well. I am contemplating in building a late model Spyder for autocross purpposes. It is the lighest car on the market, with great potential.

Thank you sir, you are too kind. I absolutely love the MR2 platform. My old '86 was such a blast in autox. The 2000 is insane with the power. After being out of racing for 5 years, its multiplied the difficulty. The ultimate would be a Spyder with the 2GRFE. It's been done, and Rogue motorsports has pretty much made it an everyday swap in the UK. The only issues are the tight fit, drive by wire, and immobilizer...

 

[wyowrx]

Here's a pic of my "accent" wall. MR-S and Formula 1 posters. You can also see my painted file cabinet which is now my paint can storage. Second shot is of my just turned 3 helper.

 

[Motown 454]

Nice job they look great.

 

[wyowrx]

I found that I was using my sawhorses way too much and that I needed a mobile bench separate from my chop saw bench. Getting real close to cleaning and taking a beauty shot. Made this bench out of scrap and 4 harbor freight casters. She's stout and ready for a vice.

Also added a drop light above the work bench, as I found it was just a smidge dark in that corner.

 

[wyowrx]

Minus the flooring, I think I'm ready to go back to wrenching!

Tape measure is open to 63" which is just wider than my 85 MR2. So, I could easily fit two cars in the garage:

 

[Fuz16]

Looks great.

I may stop by the week of Thanksgiving

 

[Ksullivan]

Your garage is turning out real nice! Looks clean, nice score on those solid core door slabs for $30.

 

[wyowrx]

Looks great.

I may stop by the week of Thanksgiving

That would be great.

 

[mrlenny]

Here's a pic of my "accent" wall. MR-S and Formula 1 posters. You can also see my painted file cabinet which is now my paint can storage. Second shot is of my just turned 3 helper.

Can you take a picture of the inside of the filing cabinet to show how you're storing paint? Thanks

 

[Kevin54]

Did you alter the rafters to open it up or what did you do to gain heighth in the garage for the lift?