Shane's Attached Two-Car (plus a motorcycle) Garage

shaner3721 · Aug 30, 2016

Hey All,

I've been lurking on here for years, but I have finally decided it is time to post up my garage project.

A little over a year ago we purchased our first house and I had some pretty lofty dreams for the garage (as we all do on here), but other house projects and life took over and have stopped me from making the garage I want. I've finally decided to try and improve the storage, cleanliness and look of my garage to make it super functional and aesthetically pleasing. Here we go!

First, a picture of the front of the house. It looks quite a bit different with some changes we have made, but this will give you a good idea of the size and location of the garage.

And here's a picture of what the garage looked like when we first moved in:

My least favorite feature: The post in the center of the garage!
My most favorite feature: Heater in the corner so I can work on my toys all winter!

A few more pictures of the space:

The biggest concern when we first moved in was a lot of the wiring in the garage. Everything was stapled to the outside of the drywall and the garage door opener was plugged into an UN-GROUNDED extension cord and run across the ceiling and down the wall to an outlet! I promptly ran power up to the ceiling and installed a proper outlet for the garage door opener. Then I hid all the other wires in the drywall.

After all the power was cleaned up I rearranged and added some cabinets and moved all the pin board to go above the workbench.

At that point I painted the cabinets blue and hung a bunch of flags and posters I had laying around and called it good... Over the past year I have done a few minor changes such as removing all the old hangers and nails around the walls, added additional storage in the rafters and just organized/cleaned the space up.

Now it's time to truly transform my garage into what I want it to be. Here's my very basic list so far:

Get new cabinets/storage setup
Paint walls white
Coat the floor
Improve organization and cleanliness

I'm already working on the cabinet/storage part. I just picked up a set of free kitchen uppers yesterday and sanded them down and painted the bases. Please ignore the mess that is my garage!

Once I get the cabinets all hung (hopefully tonight), I am planning to patch, sand and paint the walls a nice bright white to help clean up the look. The goal is then to store everything in the cabinets or up in the small rafter space I have (aside from wheeled items that belong on the ground and some workbench stuff).

Looking forward to tracking my progress here and hopefully providing some insight and ideas for others! More to come soon.

-Shane

rattle_snake · Aug 30, 2016

Glad you are able to prioritize you garage now. A little paint will go a long way. I also try to have everything in cabinets for a cleaner look and cleaner tools. Good luck. Like the wheel hose/cord hangers.

shaner3721 · Aug 30, 2016

rattle_snake said:
Glad you are able to prioritize you garage now. A little paint will go a long way. I also try to have everything in cabinets for a cleaner look and cleaner tools. Good luck. Like the wheel hose/cord hangers.

Thanks, Justin! Much appreciated.

I really enjoy your custom fabrication in your spaces and am actually planning to setup my compressor with a reel setup like yours. Thanks for the inspiration!

bowhuntr311 · Aug 30, 2016

Nice... You got some work in front of you. Paint your bench to match your cabinets. Fresh paint will make it seem like a whole new place.

2fat2fly · Aug 30, 2016

I like the layout of your garage and I think it will be a really nice place when you get it done.

shaner3721 · Aug 31, 2016

Thanks for the comments! Keep the ideas and opinions flowing!

I got a few things done tonight. Picked up some conduit and cleaned up the wiring running to the heater setup:

Next, I got all but the last 'new' cabinet hung. The final one will go on the right side where some pin board is now.

Last, I pulled the ugly old blue cabinets down. It already looks better!

Next steps are finishing up the last cabinet and then organizing everything.

Thanks for following along!
Shane

1/2 Cup · Aug 31, 2016

You have a lovely home and garage, looking forward to following your progress.
Thank you for sharing.

Regards

shaner3721 · Sep 5, 2016

Got a bit of time to work on the garage today. I was able to install the last cabinet and start organizing. I then tore down the workbench, reinforced it with some crossbeams and got half of it reinstalled. I also added some shelves for the mini fridge and stereo.

Hoping to get the rest of the workbench reinstalled tomorrow and then I'll organize everything. Haven't decided what I'm going to do for a workbench top yet.

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shaner3721 · Sep 5, 2016

Completed some more work today. Got the rest of the workbench reinstalled/leveled. Put up the last pinboard and got some organizing done. Here's where it's at now:

shaner3721 · Sep 12, 2016

Spent a little time cleaning up the other side and starting to plan it out. I modded some left over cabinets I had and am planning on getting a door as a top for them soon. Any suggestions for how to level them? The floor slopes downward toward the front of the garage so I'm thinking about mounting the cabinets flush with the top edge of the concrete. Thoughts? Ideas?

-Shane

1/2 Cup · Sep 12, 2016

Done well Shane. :thumbup:

IMHO, just keep the cabinets level at the top, irrespective of your floor and fix to the wall then just add some base boards to suit.

All the best with it.. :thumbup:

shaner3721 · Sep 12, 2016

Thanks, 1/2 Cup!

I appreciate the thoughts on the cabinets. Didn't even think of the idea of adding baseboards or a molding to the bottom. Definitely going to look into that and it should help me decide the height of where I mount the cabinets!

-Shane

1/2 Cup · Sep 12, 2016

shaner3721 said:
Thanks, 1/2 Cup!

I appreciate the thoughts on the cabinets. Didn't even think of the idea of adding baseboards or a molding to the bottom. Definitely going to look into that and it should help me decide the height of where I mount the cabinets!

-Shane

Happy to help :thumbup:

shaner3721 · Sep 18, 2016

Got some work in the garage done today.

Got a desk top for the top of the workbench.

Mocked everything up:

Then I sprayed the cabinets, anchored them to the concrete and glued the top on:

Let me know what you think!

Shane

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1/2 Cup · Sep 18, 2016

Shane, you have hit the nail on the head, done well. :thumbup:

Regards

shaner3721 · Sep 22, 2016

Alright, I need some opinions!

I've got wires galore running advertise the ceiling for all these lights the PO put up and I've also got some garage sensor and opener and sprinkler system wires running on the right wall.

I'd rather not bury them because that's a ton of work and would be a headache if I ever replace the garage door opener or sprinkler setup.

Any recommendations for how to clean this mess up? Some sort of conduit of something?

shaner3721 · Sep 22, 2016

Right now, I'm thinking of something like this:

wasfast · Sep 22, 2016

One reason they are so visible is they don't follow the existing edges. Run the garage wires along the stem wall at the bottom of the wall, then up along the door jamb trim. Run multiple together instead of separately.

shaner3721 · Sep 23, 2016

Ended up going with the wire covers I linked to earlier.

Got some of the wiring for the ceiling lights done and then cleaned up the house-side wall with wiring for the garage door opener buttons and sprinkler system controls:

Here's a quick pano of where I'm at today:

And a shot with all the ladies tucked in for the night!

That's all for now. Gotta get a few more wire covers to finish up all the lights and door opener wiring. Then I'll mud and paint the walls and get the cabinet doors hung.

-Shane

1/2 Cup · Sep 23, 2016

Shane, that tidies things up nicely.. :thumbup:

Regards

rmckee · Sep 23, 2016

I can appreciate the sentiment towards the post in the middle of the garage... not my favorite feature, but I'd rather have it than have the upstairs collapse down! Good progress so far.

shaner3721 · Oct 17, 2016

Not a huge update, but a lot has happened. I was able to pull everything out of the garage over the past weekend and get a ton of mudding and taping done on the drywall. I got the cabinet doors finally hung as well. Hoping to paint the garage tonight so I'll have a more exciting photo or two soon!

Here's a quick shot of the cabinets with doors:

shaner3721 · Oct 23, 2016

Got the walls painted yesterday, finally.

Cheers,
Shane

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shaner3721 · Oct 23, 2016

Added some awesome artwork that my wife painted for me!

-Shane

s_blaylock · Oct 23, 2016

Nice place! I really like the signs you just put up too, your wife did a great job!

shaner3721 · Oct 24, 2016

s_blaylock said:
Nice place! I really like the signs you just put up too, your wife did a great job!

Thanks, Scott! You've got an awesome garage and fantastic Jeep to go along with it!

shaner3721 · Oct 24, 2016

Just ordered one of these so that I can get my pedal bike up into the 'rafters' and out of the way completely. I'll have to build some sort of level shelf up there to mount this too so that is the next mini project in the garage.

I'm also planning to move our old tv out to the garage soon, so that's super exciting!

Third thing on the list is a magnet whiteboard space so I'll hopefully be painting that on one of the walls soon too!

Thanks for looking,
Shane

1/2 Cup · Oct 24, 2016

The art work adds a real personal touch, well done. :thumbup:

PECVD2 · Oct 24, 2016

Nice looking place Shane. I am gonna steal that Saab sign idea from you and make one for my wife (huge Saab fan) and I love the craft lagers from upslope. I recently had top self Mexican style lager from them at the the brew fest in Durango....I am taking both of my insulated growlers with me as soon as I find it on tap near by

shaner3721 · Oct 24, 2016

PECVD2 said:
Nice looking place Shane. I am gonna steal that Saab sign idea from you and make one for my wife (huge Saab fan) and I love the craft lagers from upslope. I recently had top self Mexican style lager from them at the the brew fest in Durango....I am taking both of my insulated growlers with me as soon as I find it on tap near by

Happy to provide the idea! What kind of Saab's do you or your wife have?!

Can't get enough of Upslope's beer... The brewery here in Boulder is a fun place too. They make a Blood Orange Saison as a fall seasonal that I love, so I've been getting quite a bit of Upslope cases lately!

-Shane

PECVD2 · Oct 24, 2016

shaner3721 said:
Happy to provide the idea! What kind of Saab's do you or your wife have?!

Can't get enough of Upslope's beer... The brewery here in Boulder is a fun place too. They make a Blood Orange Saison as a fall seasonal that I love, so I've been getting quite a bit of Upslope cases lately!

-Shane

These days the wife is rolling in a Saab(GM) 9-7x, it is more GM than Saab and in fact I personally think the only Saab feature is the ignition switch in the center console LOL. She does have her eye in an early 70's 96 as a woman who moved into the neighborhood is driving one around and has sparked her interests in one.

I am going to visit total wine this week to see what Upslope they are carrying these days.
Do you have a Saab?

shaner3721 · Oct 24, 2016

PECVD2 said:
These days the wife is rolling in a Saab(GM) 9-7x, it is more GM than Saab and in fact I personally think the only Saab feature is the ignition switch in the center console LOL. She does have her eye in an early 70's 96 as a woman who moved into the neighborhood is driving one around and has sparked her interests in one.

I am going to visit total wine this week to see what Upslope they are carrying these days.

Do you have a Saab?

My father actually drives a 9-7x. Not to bad for a GM branded Saab!

I do have a Saab (ng900), but it's currently torn down to the bare metal and the heart is rolling around my garage:

Said heart (pictured above) should push 400 ponies when I get everything put back together!

-Shane

shaner3721 · Oct 24, 2016

Decided on a location and hung the ladder up tonight:

Also started on the setup for the bike hoist. More to come on that later.

-Shane

shaner3721 · Oct 31, 2016

Got my new bike hoist last week and finally had a chance to install it yesterday. Crummy pics because it's an awkward space, but I'm thrilled with how it turned out and how well the bike is hidden now!

Also bought a new TV for the house so now I have an older 32" to put in the garage. Ordered a wall mount for it last night.

-Shane

Shane's Attached Two-Car (plus a motorcycle) Garage

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