I'm only up to p.6 now, but I'm interested to see the second-half of the thread. Your experience and work is similar to mine. We did a complete re-model of our urban single-family detached dwelling. Part of this was a reconfiguration of the floorplan, and that involved the garage. Before it was only a car-and-a-half due to the prior owner having put a full bath where the 'other-half-car' went. My wife wanted a gourmet 'trophy kitchen,' including a pantry, we decided to combine the pantry w/a laundry room, as the house isn't that-big. So, the layout became a short hall leading to the garage, w/a laundry room/pantry on one side, and a full bath (shower, not a tub) on the opposite side. My wife says, "you can come-in from the garage, use the bath to clean-up, and step-across to the laundry to drop dirty clothes into the laundry." Actually, it does work well.
We bumped the front of the garage forward to the front property setback. The entire front of the garage is poured concrete, and it's got almost 1" rebar in it, and a lot of it. All four garage walls are CMU (block) as this is south FL, hurricane country, and termite central. Actually the Hurricane campus is a block-&-a-half down the street (U-Miami) which is the alma mater of my wife and the two kids. Mom & daughter are both EE's. Our son's undergrad degree is computer science, so he gets me the best deals when I tell him, "OK, I'm ready to upgrade my iPhone 4."
So, the garage got new single overhead doors. In the pic you can see the Liftmaster in the upper-left. The Liftmaster system I have on both doors, it's worked great, I haven't hooked up the remote lights supplied w/the units, because I have a shop light switch on the middle divider between the doors. I made good use of the install for the Liftmaster by having a high-lift track for the OH doors, and putting cleats on the side walls, and running 2 x 4's from side to side, above the OH doors, w/1/2" plywood sheets to make light-duty storage for bulky but light things.
The Liftmasters are quiet, out-of-the-way, and the installer who recommended Clopay OH doors in their highest spec because of the HVHZ (high-velocity hurricane zone) FL Building code requirements in coastal areas. They are double-walled, foam insulated, and have stout galvanized reinforcement to resist buckling and penetration (to test this, a P.E. acquaintance working for Miami-Dade County has an air cannon that fires a 2 x 4 at whatever building assembly is being tested, to check on its ability to resist penetration/failure). I don't have the time or help to try to do the install myself, and the guy did both doors, including the track, in one day. They also have OH-door-mounted solenoids that engage the track for positive locking shut. I'm including a shot of the Liftmaster, the OH door above-door lofts, and part of my workbench. I made the workbench using Craftsman framing, a lengthwise ripped 3/4" 4 x 8' sheet of plywood glued & screwed together, and topped by a 3/16 steel sheet.
Your shop round light is similar to what I came up with, I found a magnifying lamp and have it mounted on its swivel pin at one end of the workbench. I have an LED strip luminaire on the underside of a 30" Gladiator wall cabinet that provides lightiing by the bench grinder and that end of the workbench. Overhead lighting on the ceiling or suspended from it lights the rest of the workbench.
I had installed 4" sq electrical boxes, every 3' down the garage side walls, and electrical boxes on the enclosed garage end (connection to the dwelling), w/one between the OH doors, all are getting the single duplex outlets replaced w/a pair of duplex outlets. As part of a nearly-new entire home electrical upgrade (200 amp main branch circuit panel), I also got three 220 v circuits in the garage, one above the workbench for my Powermatic table saw, one above it for a new AC dedicated to the garage, and another on the common wall to the house for the compressor. You can never have too-many receptacles.
I also put in a 50' 3/8" air hose reel connected to my air compressor w/quick-disconnects, this is very useful to blow-out the shop after doing cutting or grinding, it prevents an accumulation of dust, and is quick and easy.
The Gladiator Track wall storage system works very well, the Craftsman Versa-Track I think it's called, actually has brackets that I like more-than the the Gladiator brand, the Craftsman ones have a cam-lock on one end that is much more-secure in-place on the wall. Like a 21st century pegboard, I like the stuff. It keeps stuff off the workbench yet easily accessible. Gladiator is a Whirlpool Corp. (Benton Harbor MI) brand.
Your cleaned-up space is much-more useful. Before the remodel, I could make little use of the garage space, and the wood garage door was termite-ridden, and not reliable, a danger in a hurricane zone. Now I just press the remote or use the keypad, and up it goes. It's my first door opener, yes, I've been deprived for far-too-long! A Millennial would never stand for that!
From a decision to make better use of space, to divesting myself of unneeded possessions, to building, the path my project took parallels yours. While I took some different routes to get similar results, the end result is much more-practical for my uses. I do most of the inside stuff myself, and my wife helps sometimes ("honey, hold this end") to make the 'man-cave' more practical, secure, and functional.
Now I'm gonna read the next half of your thread. You've done a great job of practical solutions.
