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.