Pavlik
Member
I have been a long-time lurker who finally decided to join, record my progress here, and share things I learn along the way. Garage is 20'x20'.
2013
My wife and I finally took the plunge in 2013 and purchased a freshly built home that came with a 2-car garage. Initially I dreamed of it becoming my "man cave", but in reality it's a family space shared with the wifey and our 2 kids.
This was taken shortly after we moved in and I cleared enough boxes to park my car in there
First order of business was to purchase something to get the bins off the ground. To this day, 3 years later, I still don't like this hanging solution. But until I find a better way to store our Christmas decorations and other random things, this will have to do. The shelf came from Lowes and was one of the cheapest models available.
The first summer in the house I decided to get the walls painted. After looking through numerous garage threads on GJ I knew I wanted to do split color. Gray bottom and light top, it makes the low ceilings feel higher. Instead of the more common red dividing line I went with purple. Partially because it's wifey's favorite color and because I'm a UW Huskies fan/alumni. First came the primer...
Next were the two main colors. I used masking tape to cover the area that was going to be purple.
First lesson learned: don't leave masking tape for too long on unpainted walls. When peeling it off it removed some of the material with it. To this day I can still see the areas through the paint. Cabinet that I purchased from Ikea is in. You'd think being an accountant, I'd know how to measure the space and get the right amount of cabinets. I could've easily fit another on in the space. To my knowledge they’ve been discontinued, so I am stuck with just 3.
2014
Summer came, which meant more projects around the garage. I scored some white kitchen cabinets on Craigslist for $200! Our house has studs that are very far apart, to keep cabinets secure I used boards cut to the width of each cabinet. After 1 year of being loaded with things they haven’t moved an inch. I also tried to use a standard kitchen countertop, but it was too short, wrong color, and not level. So it was returned. I went another year staring at the empty space where the countertop would go.
After spending whole rainy winter manually opening and closing the garage it was time to get automatic opener. This was the first time ever I installed anything like that. It’s belt driven to keep the noise levels down.
The same summer I finally got around to painting the garage ceiling and went from MK6 GTI to MK7.
2015
Wife and I have been busy with repainting our house…which reminds me of modifying cars. I have told myself countless times that I will “just do wheels and suspension”…it never worked out that way. Our “just repaint the walls” has turned into painting baseboards white, which turned into having to get white doors…and while we are at it, replace linoleum bathroom floors with tile. I still managed to get one big item almost done in the garage: countertop.
This brings us to August, 2015. I wanted the countertop to span from the door all the way to the wall, providing plenty of space for my tools, small drawers, etc. Countertop consists of a wooden frame, layer of plywood, and oak hardwood floors. Developers must not be expecting people to use these garages for anything other than parking cars, so I am also adding another power outlet to the countertop so I don’t have to run extension cords when I want to use a grinder or a drill. Last finishing touch was to put a layer of Glaze Coat I purchased from Lowes. Lesson learned while putting glaze on the countertop: you should always fill all the cracks in the wood and even though it’s already been stained and sealed, another seal layer is a must. I ended up with areas where the glaze seeped into the cracks leaving mediocre surface. At some point I may put on another layer…or leave it as-is. Wife and I want to upgrade to a bigger house and one of my must-haves is a 3 or more car garage so I can finally get a dedicated project car to work on. Finally pictures of the countertop (with daughters Bug fitting snugly underneath it)…
Before Glaze Coat:
After Glaze Coat:
Below is the most up to date pano shot of the garage. Few items I haven’t witten in great detail about:
-Gladiator rack system used on the left side of the garage to hang my son’s skateboards and our helmets.
-Same system is used on the back left of the garage to hang our bikes. Unfortunately the ceiling is too low to put them above our cars.
-Truck cargo net and some hooks to hold sleds and other random items on the left side of the garage.
-Ball rack on the right side of the garage.
So what’s left?
1) Run the power to the countertop
2) Clean up the concrete floor...it has lots of paint overspray from the door fiasco (converting from wood to white)
3) Find places for all the random items laying along each wall
4) Use either brushed steel or diamond plate under the bike rack where bicycle tires touch the wall. Use the same material for the door where kids tend to kick it open.
5) Add satin glass shelf below the cabinet located next to the door to display some of my car show trophies.
6) Source out some motorsport wall art to hang on the walls…one of them will be used to hide the circuit breaker on the right side of the garage.
7) Upgrade the lights.
8) Floor…I am still looking at my options. As of right now it’s looking like it will either be RaceDeck or another similar tile system or epoxy.
Thank you for looking and reading! I welcome all suggestions and comments.
2013
My wife and I finally took the plunge in 2013 and purchased a freshly built home that came with a 2-car garage. Initially I dreamed of it becoming my "man cave", but in reality it's a family space shared with the wifey and our 2 kids.
This was taken shortly after we moved in and I cleared enough boxes to park my car in there
First order of business was to purchase something to get the bins off the ground. To this day, 3 years later, I still don't like this hanging solution. But until I find a better way to store our Christmas decorations and other random things, this will have to do. The shelf came from Lowes and was one of the cheapest models available.
The first summer in the house I decided to get the walls painted. After looking through numerous garage threads on GJ I knew I wanted to do split color. Gray bottom and light top, it makes the low ceilings feel higher. Instead of the more common red dividing line I went with purple. Partially because it's wifey's favorite color and because I'm a UW Huskies fan/alumni. First came the primer...
Next were the two main colors. I used masking tape to cover the area that was going to be purple.
First lesson learned: don't leave masking tape for too long on unpainted walls. When peeling it off it removed some of the material with it. To this day I can still see the areas through the paint. Cabinet that I purchased from Ikea is in. You'd think being an accountant, I'd know how to measure the space and get the right amount of cabinets. I could've easily fit another on in the space. To my knowledge they’ve been discontinued, so I am stuck with just 3.
2014
Summer came, which meant more projects around the garage. I scored some white kitchen cabinets on Craigslist for $200! Our house has studs that are very far apart, to keep cabinets secure I used boards cut to the width of each cabinet. After 1 year of being loaded with things they haven’t moved an inch. I also tried to use a standard kitchen countertop, but it was too short, wrong color, and not level. So it was returned. I went another year staring at the empty space where the countertop would go.
After spending whole rainy winter manually opening and closing the garage it was time to get automatic opener. This was the first time ever I installed anything like that. It’s belt driven to keep the noise levels down.
The same summer I finally got around to painting the garage ceiling and went from MK6 GTI to MK7.
2015
Wife and I have been busy with repainting our house…which reminds me of modifying cars. I have told myself countless times that I will “just do wheels and suspension”…it never worked out that way. Our “just repaint the walls” has turned into painting baseboards white, which turned into having to get white doors…and while we are at it, replace linoleum bathroom floors with tile. I still managed to get one big item almost done in the garage: countertop.
This brings us to August, 2015. I wanted the countertop to span from the door all the way to the wall, providing plenty of space for my tools, small drawers, etc. Countertop consists of a wooden frame, layer of plywood, and oak hardwood floors. Developers must not be expecting people to use these garages for anything other than parking cars, so I am also adding another power outlet to the countertop so I don’t have to run extension cords when I want to use a grinder or a drill. Last finishing touch was to put a layer of Glaze Coat I purchased from Lowes. Lesson learned while putting glaze on the countertop: you should always fill all the cracks in the wood and even though it’s already been stained and sealed, another seal layer is a must. I ended up with areas where the glaze seeped into the cracks leaving mediocre surface. At some point I may put on another layer…or leave it as-is. Wife and I want to upgrade to a bigger house and one of my must-haves is a 3 or more car garage so I can finally get a dedicated project car to work on. Finally pictures of the countertop (with daughters Bug fitting snugly underneath it)…
Before Glaze Coat:
After Glaze Coat:
Below is the most up to date pano shot of the garage. Few items I haven’t witten in great detail about:
-Gladiator rack system used on the left side of the garage to hang my son’s skateboards and our helmets.
-Same system is used on the back left of the garage to hang our bikes. Unfortunately the ceiling is too low to put them above our cars.
-Truck cargo net and some hooks to hold sleds and other random items on the left side of the garage.
-Ball rack on the right side of the garage.
So what’s left?
1) Run the power to the countertop
2) Clean up the concrete floor...it has lots of paint overspray from the door fiasco (converting from wood to white)
3) Find places for all the random items laying along each wall
4) Use either brushed steel or diamond plate under the bike rack where bicycle tires touch the wall. Use the same material for the door where kids tend to kick it open.
5) Add satin glass shelf below the cabinet located next to the door to display some of my car show trophies.
6) Source out some motorsport wall art to hang on the walls…one of them will be used to hide the circuit breaker on the right side of the garage.
7) Upgrade the lights.
8) Floor…I am still looking at my options. As of right now it’s looking like it will either be RaceDeck or another similar tile system or epoxy.
Thank you for looking and reading! I welcome all suggestions and comments.
Last edited:
, but I'm leaning towards just removing the paint...finish on the cabinets prevents good bonding, so this paint can probably be removed with just a finger nail.
