22x22 attached garage remodel

[K5/TBSS]

The beginning of yet another money pit... For a while I thought the garage only HOUSED the money pits; now I'm realizing it can be a money pit itself! I purchased my first home last October which had the biggest selling feature I was looking for. A nice sized 2 car garage. Over the winter I basically just kept it organized and functional - but now I'm ready to clean it up; and make it my own. I've been talking with an associate at Racedeck and will most likely be purchasing flooring from them within the next month. I'm thinking about going with a simple black/alloy checker pattern. I would like to have a border, but with the closet and stairs in the front, I'm not sure how it'd work... I plan on matching the walls with the alloy before laying the flooring, and paint the trim in black. Definitely looking for opinions here. I WILL be hanging all new lights - currently only have two little bulbs... What do you guys think? I was wanting to do all the trim, doors, cabinets, and work benches in black. Here's what I have to work with:

The extra "closet" was just an addon the PO added and houses the water heater. It's not fastened to the floor very securely, and actually "sways" when you open and shut the door. Open to suggestions here to anchor it to the ground...

Yeeeah... Still trying to figure out what to do here.

The PO also had some structural issues and hired a company to come in and resupport the roof. This will take some cleaning up...

Thanks for looking! Please offer any advise towards the concerns I had! Stay tuned!!!

 

[HSpencer]

A good potential garage. I think my first move would be to evaluate the structural work, and if I was satisfied it will not need anymore, I would case out the installed support beam. (It would look good cased with either sheet rock or wood).
Then I would look carefully at the drywall, and repair the cracks in that. If keeping the cabinets over the stereo, I would sand and paint those, as well as the two man doors. Then I would power wash the floor a couple times (Simple Green high strength). I would next fully inspect the garage door and see if it works to satisfaction and seals, and does not need any adjustments. At this point I would roll or spray the walls with a clean white paint. I would probably lose or replace the screen door into the house. I might consider a nice glass storm door for that.
Then once everything was up to point, I would drag out a chair and a cup of coffee and decide how you want to make the place "yours" as you said in your post. I think from the photos you have a nice place to do that.
Let us see the progress, we enjoy seeing how things come along!! And thanks for posting.

 

[Dan_inthewind]

Great place to start out. Mine is a foot shorter than yours but I have it very functional. Hate to bring up spending money but a shed about 8X12 would make a world of difference and give you a spot for all those buckets and garden tools. Any room for a shed? Cheap build if you do it yourself and it could be built right there on your garage floor.

Good luck!

 

[K5/TBSS]

Haha... Actually I have an 8x12 shed! I built it myself at my rental house that I just moved out of, as it had NO outdoor storage at all. It houses my ATV, cherry picker, engine stand, tons of engine parts, and a few odds and ends. I could move the things out there, the buckets are taking up some pretty useful space.

 

[55cadillacking]

I would drag out a chair and a cup of coffee and decide how you want to make the place "yours"

That's the key. I made most of my decisions prior to ever discovering this forum. For that, I'm quite glad because I would have one heck of a time making design choices now given the wealth of amazing garages featured on GJ. That said, you have lots of design inspiration on tap if you need it.

A black/alloy checkered pattern is quite a striking design, but don't rule out a border just because you have a closet intruding into your space. You could just push the border closer to the center of the garage. I'm sure you are playing around with numerous scenarios, and you'll find the one that "speaks" to you the most.

You have already received some great advice from members, and I'm sure even more is coming your way, but in the end, do what you think you will like to work in and live in on a daily basis. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with as you progress in your "garage journey".

 

[K5/TBSS]

Thanks guys... I actually have even more of an advantage. I have access to SolidWorks which is a 3D design program - so I'm actually in the process of mocking up a replica of my garage.. I figured it'd be a good way to do different themes and colors.

Racedeck is sending me a color chip set to find some colors to match my walls/trim with... Stay tuned!

 

[dubber]

Great bones for a fun project without a doubt. If you paint some Black trim and accents and accompany that with Race Deck flooring you will be golden.

Is that "closet" useful to potentially hide more odds and ends then just the water heater? It not it may be more headache then useful.

Check out my thread as i have incorporated black trim and pieces throughout and Race Deck flooring will be put in Saturday afternoon. I went with Black, Red and graphite.

Check Rick's floor colours, it helped me make my decision as i chose the graphite over the alloy.

 

[K5/TBSS]

Great bones for a fun project without a doubt. If you paint some Black trim and accents and accompany that with Race Deck flooring you will be golden.

Is that "closet" useful to potentially hide more odds and ends then just the water heater? It not it may be more headache then useful.

Check out my thread as i have incorporated black trim and pieces throughout and Race Deck flooring will be put in Saturday afternoon. I went with Black, Red and graphite.

Check Rick's floor colours, it helped me make my decision as i chose the graphite over the alloy.

I love your garage man! Very very good use of space.

The closet is pretty useful... I keep quite a few odds and ends in there. The shelving needs rebuild in it, I'm just still trying to figure out how to anchor it to the ground.

 

[dubber]

I'm definitely in to see this progress. Good luck and don't give up! Keep the thread updated with pics so we can all enjoy!

 

[kyle@hcb]

Congrats on the house (garage)! Good luck with the project. In for more pics

 

[K5/TBSS]

Small little update...

The first thing I wanted to do was get the lighting right so I could SEE what I was actually working with, and colors for the floor, walls, etc. would be reflecting off the light that I'll actually be using.

I picked up 3 T8 fixtures - 8' long. My girlfriend actually works for an online division of a "Lowe's" type reseller, so she got them for a good deal... I couldn't get 12 bulbs though, so it's only 1/3 of the lighting until Friday.

New lights going in.

First set up and lit.

And the beast that received a full paint correction this past weekend...

The other two sets are in (they run parallel to the length of the garage, about 5 feet inside the wall on both sides) but like I said, no bulbs yet... More pics coming this weekend...

Still, just one set makes an amazing difference. This is my buddy working on his quad a few weeks ago - just to give you an idea of what the lighting was like... 2 small halogen bulbs is all I had.

And what I have now. I'd say once I add the rest of the bulbs, the white walls won't be able to stay around long. Paint booth lighting FTW!

 

[BellyUpFish]

Nice SS. It came down to the SS and an H3 for me on my last purchase.

 

[Thruxton]

On the curtain wall around the water heater: I would keep it, it makes things (esp. the water heater) stay cleaner, and provides a wall to hang stuff on. If it is rock over studs, with a simple sill at the bottom, you can simply pop in a couple of power fasteners through the sill into the concrete floor, job done.

 

[K5/TBSS]

^^^ I think that's exactly what I plan on doing.

 

[dubber]

SS looks clean, wolf in sheep's clothing haha. Extra lighting sure makes a world of a difference. Keep it up!