Been lurking for some time getting ideas...and you guys have PLENTY of great ideas! Thank you very much!! 
So, here is the story...and the pics will bear out the truth...
The house is about 11 years old, custom built...really decent place out in horse country in central Michigan (I grew up in Michigan and moved back after retiring from the USAF). I bought the house in Jul '07.
The garage (I see the new thread on the dislike for 'Man Cave' and I sort of concur so I am calling it what it is, a garage. Clever, I know...) has pretty much been a catch all for junk...and my wife's hay overflow storage...what can I say, I love her and she saved a bunch of $$ on the hay but didn't have room in the barn (shed extension I built for her to store hay) to store it when she bought it in the late summer when hay prices were about to skyrocket. But, I digress...
I like to work on my bike (bikes...I just got a 2nd one...yee haw!!) during the winter off-season doing mods and just tinkering. Had one of the propane patio heaters but it never really suited me and took up too much space. So, when I got the wild hair to redo the garage when I stumbled across GJ, I decided to buy a gas heater and make the place habitable even during the coldest parts of winter. But finding GJ (when I googled 'garage paint ideas' was both a great find and a costly one!! I found some of the best ideas and will be using them for most every change I make. In particular, I LOVED XcYZ's Garage renovation and will pretty much emulate that...with some minor differences, but for the most part, I'm shamelessly COPYING...especially the soffit storage...and the counter tops for workbenches, the lighting...and, of course, the floor color...love how that looks!! Haven't made up my mind yet which paint I will go with...I have about 950 sf of floor to paint and will do it myself to help keep costs down...I have to redo my deck in the spring so that limits my budget somewhat.
A few years ago my wife and I painted the floor with the cheap HD beige epoxy. I thought I liked it but it always looks dingy so I am going with a much better full-solids epoxy come spring when it warms up.
In the mean time, I will be patching holes and cleaning up the place and then painting the walls and installing cabinets and soffit storage. I promised my wife I wouldn't start until after Christmas so as to not spend all the Christmas $$ on the garage reno.
First major step will be to get that Reznor installed...that is one area this forum really helped me. I will pay a plumber to install the gas line (tap into black pipe in basement and run it up the wall into the bonus room above garage. I will hang it and cut a vent in (horizontal - can't bring myself to cutting into the roof
).
Once Christmas is past and the heater is in, I can then start painting the walls, installing lights, and building soffit storage. Then I will clean up some used metal cabinets I bought off craigslist (they are in my enclosed trailer waiting for me to get the place heated). In some of the pics, you can see my PVC framework for my 10x10 paint booth I made and will use to paint all the stuff I need to paint.
I promise to post lots of pictures as this is the decent thing to do since I got so much motivation and ideas from all of your pics.
I know this has been long-winded but since I haven't really started yet I thought I would give you the background as to what the catalyst was for me making the journey.
All I have for now is the ugly 'BEFORE' pictures...so here you go.
And for the record, any and ALL ideas and opinions are welcome. You guys may just have a better idea or save me from a mistake or two. I know I will be asking LOTS of questions...so stay tuned! Show starts in about 3 weeks...here is the preview of what I call the 'ugliness'...
Anyone still reading this?
This pics shows my pride and joy...M109 LE. It also shows how bad the garage is...and yes, I AM ashamed of myself!!
As you can see from this photo, all the hay is now moved out into the hay barn. You can just see the front of my new addition to the stable (Kawasaki Concours) which I will use for the longer trips.
PVC paint booth frame in the foreground...
Ugly pegboard is down...moving it to the basement workshop.
Prepping small basement workshop to hang newly removed garage pegboard. I don't really care about the unsightly thing being in the basement.
This is the used Reznor natural gas heater I bought off craigslist...in this photo it was still hanging in the owner's house whom I bought it from. This purchase saved me a bunch of $$ and I got to see it working so I knew it was good!
So, here is the story...and the pics will bear out the truth...
The house is about 11 years old, custom built...really decent place out in horse country in central Michigan (I grew up in Michigan and moved back after retiring from the USAF). I bought the house in Jul '07.
The garage (I see the new thread on the dislike for 'Man Cave' and I sort of concur so I am calling it what it is, a garage. Clever, I know...
) has pretty much been a catch all for junk...and my wife's hay overflow storage...what can I say, I love her and she saved a bunch of $$ on the hay but didn't have room in the barn (shed extension I built for her to store hay) to store it when she bought it in the late summer when hay prices were about to skyrocket. But, I digress...I like to work on my bike (bikes...I just got a 2nd one...yee haw!!) during the winter off-season doing mods and just tinkering. Had one of the propane patio heaters but it never really suited me and took up too much space. So, when I got the wild hair to redo the garage when I stumbled across GJ, I decided to buy a gas heater and make the place habitable even during the coldest parts of winter. But finding GJ (when I googled 'garage paint ideas' was both a great find and a costly one!! I found some of the best ideas and will be using them for most every change I make. In particular, I LOVED XcYZ's Garage renovation and will pretty much emulate that...with some minor differences, but for the most part, I'm shamelessly COPYING...especially the soffit storage...and the counter tops for workbenches, the lighting...and, of course, the floor color...love how that looks!! Haven't made up my mind yet which paint I will go with...I have about 950 sf of floor to paint and will do it myself to help keep costs down...I have to redo my deck in the spring so that limits my budget somewhat.
A few years ago my wife and I painted the floor with the cheap HD beige epoxy. I thought I liked it but it always looks dingy so I am going with a much better full-solids epoxy come spring when it warms up.
In the mean time, I will be patching holes and cleaning up the place and then painting the walls and installing cabinets and soffit storage. I promised my wife I wouldn't start until after Christmas so as to not spend all the Christmas $$ on the garage reno.
First major step will be to get that Reznor installed...that is one area this forum really helped me. I will pay a plumber to install the gas line (tap into black pipe in basement and run it up the wall into the bonus room above garage. I will hang it and cut a vent in (horizontal - can't bring myself to cutting into the roof
).Once Christmas is past and the heater is in, I can then start painting the walls, installing lights, and building soffit storage. Then I will clean up some used metal cabinets I bought off craigslist (they are in my enclosed trailer waiting for me to get the place heated). In some of the pics, you can see my PVC framework for my 10x10 paint booth I made and will use to paint all the stuff I need to paint.
I promise to post lots of pictures as this is the decent thing to do since I got so much motivation and ideas from all of your pics.
I know this has been long-winded but since I haven't really started yet I thought I would give you the background as to what the catalyst was for me making the journey.
All I have for now is the ugly 'BEFORE' pictures...so here you go.
And for the record, any and ALL ideas and opinions are welcome. You guys may just have a better idea or save me from a mistake or two. I know I will be asking LOTS of questions...so stay tuned! Show starts in about 3 weeks...here is the preview of what I call the 'ugliness'...
Anyone still reading this?
This pics shows my pride and joy...M109 LE. It also shows how bad the garage is...and yes, I AM ashamed of myself!!
As you can see from this photo, all the hay is now moved out into the hay barn. You can just see the front of my new addition to the stable (Kawasaki Concours) which I will use for the longer trips.
PVC paint booth frame in the foreground...
Ugly pegboard is down...moving it to the basement workshop.
Prepping small basement workshop to hang newly removed garage pegboard. I don't really care about the unsightly thing being in the basement.
This is the used Reznor natural gas heater I bought off craigslist...in this photo it was still hanging in the owner's house whom I bought it from. This purchase saved me a bunch of $$ and I got to see it working so I knew it was good!
). So, I think I will enclose the space where my tool box is to the left of the stairs.
