"average" 2 car garage. Lexington SC.

[AaronH87]

Well, im new to the site. Im glad i found it. There is so much modivation on here. anyways.
My wife and i bought our first house last april. We considered it our first anniversary gift to each other (we were married in april 2011) so this is MY first garage. (parents house had one but i was nothing special)

This was it when we moved in. Excuse the mess, becuase we had alot of unpacked stuff in the garage from the move.

and after a little cleaning up

we finally got around to paingint this weekend.

a few before pics.

throwin some paint on the walls. The color is called "Man Cave" .. i found it appropriate.

and this is where we stopped, I still have to trim stuff and finish the doors. but its already looking better.

I bought a couple flurecent fixtures to replace the standard bulb sockets.
I also still have to put stuff on the walls, and we are still temporarily storing alot of stuff out here untill we figure out where we want it.
I am gonna have cabinets on the wall that the aquariums are against. And not sure what to do with the other side. But ill figure it out.

any suggestions are welcomed. What do you think about the paint? too dark? remember that i still have alot of stuff to put on the walls that will hopefully break up the darkness of the color.

 

[JCQuick]

welcome to the site its a great place. my 1st home had a single car garage We lived there for 18 years. so yo8ur doing good with what you got

 

[AaronH87]

Thank you. We feel very blessed to be able to buy a house. There are so many less fortunate. When we got approved for a house loan, my one thing on my wish list was a garage. I wanted a 2 car but would have been happy with any garage. So I feel very lucky to be able to start with a 2 car garage.

 

[55cadillacking]

Paint is the perfect way to start. I have a double and LOVE it! Getting non-essentials out of there looks to be your next hurdle. After that, sky (and budget) is the limit! Have fun.

 

[Honest Bob]

I spy a WRX!!

 

[larry_g]

Things are looking great there. The gray is looking good. I would have one concern though and that is the water softener and brine tank. Adding salt to the system often has a bit of salt dust floating off and with the tool box right there I would be concerned about rust. Salt and metal do not play well together so be careful.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[AaronH87]

I spy a WRX!!

Yes you do it may not be a porsche or a viper, but it's my pride and joy right now

Things are looking great there. The gray is looking good. I would have one concern though and that is the water softener and brine tank. Adding salt to the system often has a bit of salt dust floating off and with the tool box right there I would be concerned about rust. Salt and metal do not play well together so be careful.

lg
no neat sig line

Thanks for the advice. The softener is not currently on right now because I have no idea how to use it lol... But I didnt even think about the salt issue. I was considering installing a utility sink where the tool box is and having the tools on another wall (if I can have a sink that close to the panel

 

[Jack Olsen]

I like the color. And by actually getting the walls painted, you outdistanced 99% of all garage owners right out of the starting blocks.

In your shoes (and heck, I was in your shoes when I got my two-car, just a lot older than you), I would think about storage. Does your neighborhood allow for a small shed on the property? Are you able to build some cabinets up high to get stuff off of the floor? Plans for a workbench? (And if I haven't lost you yet, maybe epoxy or tiles on the floor?) The more you get done now, the less inertia you'll be fighting as the place fills up. If you can make it functional from day one, it'll be less likely to drift toward the state of all your neighbors' garages (which is generally just an oversized storage area).

The fridge looks a lot better in black, by the way. And the fact that your wife is participating means -- in this guy's opinion -- the two of you are going to have a long and happy marriage.

 

[ConcreteAce]

Thanks for the advice. The softener is not currently on right now because I have no idea how to use it lol... But I didnt even think about the salt issue. I was considering installing a utility sink where the tool box is and having the tools on another wall (if I can have a sink that close to the panel

I second what was said about the softener. My father in law parked his 34 ford hot rod in his and didnt think about it, a while later the thousands of dollars worth of billet parts all clouded over. needless to say the softener found a new home outside. Garage looks great by the way!

 

[AaronH87]

Thanks man. Yes the neighborhood does allow sheds, and I want one to store the lawn mower and all other yard care stuff, which will free up a lot of space. That bookshelf is put there to keep the mess somewhat organized untill I can afford cabinets. I really want cabinets. I plan on having the wall that the aquariums are sitting against to have the cabinets and work bench maybe? I will also have another 8' of wall on the otherwise that I don't have plans for (next to fridge and arcade machine)

I am 100% going to epoxy the floor. I want to use epoxy-coat, it just cost about $300 so I'm having to save up for it.

Good attention to detail with the fridge. I'm very happy with it being black now. I used the rustolium appliance paint I bought from lowes and I couldn't have been more pleased with the results. Looks like it came from the factory black.
My wife has been very enthusiastic to help. She knows how much I've wanted my dream garage and this is my chance to make it happen. No one said a dream garage has to be huge, this is perfect for me

The next big plan is to epoxy-coat the floors, it's just a matter of $. I'm 25, newly married for about 1.5 years, just bought a house 4.5 month ago, I'm a full time firefighter (doesn't pay a ton) and my wife works at the local hospital. So we focus a lot on our bills right now.

 

[AaronH87]

Is there any tips or tricks to avoid the salt dust? Besides just being careful? I don't want anything to start rusting. Maybe building some kind of vented enclosure around the water heater and softener?

 

[billyM]

Good looking garage, and a partner-in-crime that will help you tidy it up never hurts.

You were asking about the darkness of the walls and what you could do to get a little more light throw. The dark walls are great for hiding rubs and "use", but does eat up the light.

What I did was to simply up to a certain point, leaving the top 2ft white in both my basement and detached garages. It aids light reflection considerably more than I expected, and seriously, how often are you going to rub or bump the walls above 6ft?

(You can see photos in my sig links if you're curious to see it in action.)

--billyM

 

[AaronH87]

Thanks. I'll look into it. I did buy a gallon of light grey too(for trim and whatever else). It only took 1.5 gallons to paint the whole garage in "man cave" so the light grey would cover a lot

 

[the_saint]

I spy a WRX!!

Nice Subaru! haha noticed the same thing

 

[AaronH87]

Thanks

 

[Weekend_warrior]

Nice start! You a good helper as well! Do install a sink if you can. I would have loved to had a place to clean up before going inside in my current home.

I bought my first home about 15 years ago with a 2 car garage. The whole house is finally finished except a for a few small external projects. The one space that has not changed much is the space I wanted to change the most, the garage. Good on you for starting it first. After 12 years I can say there there is not a room in my house that has not been been touched! Though I didn't do much to the garage I did some. On to the next one soon.

Have fun with yours a be glad that your doing the garage first! The next garage will be a little nicer for me I hope. Maybe I will learn something from you and fix it up first!

 

[cdd1]

I'll just echo what a few others have said--with the darker walls, make sure that you err on the side of having more light than less light.

Theres' a great article linked somewhere on here (don't have it handy but search should uncover) that helps you calculate the fixtures you'll need to appropriately light your space.

Congrats on the home and the helper!

 

[AaronH87]

Thanks fellas,

I really wanted to focus on the garage first mainly because it's a work space, and I will need it to work on various projects around the house, so why not have the garage set up the right way from the beginning.

I'm really hoping to have the floors coated by the end of the year, and start with cabinets and a work bench after that

 

[AaronH87]

small update. I had purchased two 48" fluorescent fixtures from lowes.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_271069-1353...ue&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo=

I installed them today, sorta...

from this

to this

These specific fixtures are plug in. They cut on and off by a pull chord.
i wanted to at least hang the fixtures and see how they look before i cut the plug off and hard wire them into the existing light fixture. So that is why you see them pluged in with an extension chord.
as you can see, these fixtures hang from the ceiling.

SO this is my issue. Im not sure how i feel about the dead space above the fixtures. there is a large shadowed area for the top 1 foot of the garage. Is there any options to fix this, or is my best bet to just return these to lowes and purchase some flush mounted fixtures.

 

[AaronH87]

also, i will post that last post in the light section.

 

[AaronH87]

after looking at them and thinking about it, im just going to return these and get flush mounted lights. I dont want to cut and wire these in. i want to do it right. flush mounted fixtures will solve all my issues.

 

[55cadillacking]

i want to do it right

Truer words have never been spoken.

 

[AaronH87]

yea, i just wasnt thinking when i went shopping... oh well, i started thinking clearely soon after starting messing with them.

 

[55cadillacking]

When I first started with my garage, I was so pumped to see it finished that I made a few rash decisions along the way. In hindsight, I laugh about the little "mistakes" I made, but they all led me to where I am now. Lighting is critical though, you will never regret going the distance to light your space.

 

[AaronH87]

ha, yea... thats all it was... i was buying out of excitment so i just picked out a fixture that i thought that looked good and said "ill make it work" instead of thinking how to do it right the first time.

 

[AaronH87]

do you all think that the walls are too dark? should i look into two toning the garage with a lighter grey upper half? i see it alot on here and it doesnt seem to look too bad. maybe i should just wait to see how it looks with the new lights i get tomorrow. and maybe once i get the cabinets (whenever that will be) it will lighten it up enough.

 

[michakaveli]

Nice job! My garage looks similar as we moved into our new place in Elgin, just on the other side of Columbia from you.

 

[michakaveli]

do you all think that the walls are too dark? should i look into two toning the garage with a lighter grey upper half? i see it alot on here and it doesnt seem to look too bad. maybe i should just wait to see how it looks with the new lights i get tomorrow. and maybe once i get the cabinets (whenever that will be) it will lighten it up enough.

It all depends what you are going for.. and need the garage space to be... I detail cars out of my garage, so the lighter color, the better.

 

[AaronH87]

well, i want it to be a "functional" garage when i need it to be. we dont park in it, but my driveway is at an incline, so when i need to work on a car, i need to work on it in the level garage. But i also want it to be somewhat of a man cave/hang out. which is why i have the fridge, arcade machine (which doubles as a tv), basket ball machine ( its folded up in a cabinet and pulls out when you want to play) so i guess im kinda going for a mix between a work place and game room/sports bar-ish (if that makes ANY sense?)

 

[AaronH87]

I just returned the fixtures and got two 8' fixtures. Totaling eight 48" t-8 bulbs. Should be decent light...

http://m.lowes.com/mt/www.lowes.com/pd_163723-337-8TSNF-232-UNV-EB81-U_0__?productId=3181905





Wow. That's a lot of 8s... Haha

 

[AaronH87]

looks like i need to hurry up and get this garage finished. We just found out we have our first little one on the way.

 

[crazytrain]

Nice Garage and Congrats on the little one. Kids are great, I have three and they are fun to be around. They just grow up to damn fast.

 

[AaronH87]

Well I got the new fluorescents up and I'm happy with them this time. Very bright and foot light coverage.

Comparison of before and after

Both lights installed

2 fixtures that hold four 48" T-8s. (total of 8 bulbs) With the daylight bulbs. I'm happy with it. I'm considering adding some recessed lights around the peremeter of the ceiling for accent lighting and when I want softer lighting in the garage when the bright fluorescents aren't needed (hanging out, darts, arcade)

 

[AaronH87]

after a couple days, im still happy with these

 

[55cadillacking]

I'm considering adding some recessed lights around the peremeter of the ceiling for accent lighting and when I want softer lighting in the garage when the bright fluorescents aren't needed (hanging out, darts, arcade)

I was publicly ridiculed (wife, family) when I suggested this when our house was being constructed. Man, I wish I had of pushed the point. Go for it!

 

[AaronH87]

I love how recessed lights look in a garage. If I could afford to use only recessed lights, I would. But I think they make a garage look so good.

 

[autobon7]

I love how recessed lights look in a garage. If I could afford to use only recessed lights, I would. But I think they make a garage look so good.

Totally agree

 

[OctoMan]

Nice work! I bought my house in 05 and bought an MGB to put in the garage and I'm still working on getting more storage and get things off the floor and centeralizing my three tool boxes.

 

[richtersrodz]

In my first house, I wired in recessed (can) lights in the garage. I was going for that showroom look, that I never achieved, before we moved. What I did...

Took tape measure and measured out the floor, and put a tape "x" on the concrete floor, where it equally positioned 6 lights. It's easier to measure and put marks on the floor, than trying to do this over your head on the ceiling. Then took a string with a bolt/nut/weight tied to end and touched it to the ceiling, hanging to the floor, to mark on the ceiling, where the X was on the floor. Then cut my holes. I think you can get "can" lights for less than $20 each at HD/Lowes. Then just go above the garage attic space and wire them all together. I tied them into the already ugly bulb that the builder installed. They lit that garage up like daylight, in the middle of the night. Plus, no hanging lights...

Part where I messed up.. I didn't take in account opening the garage doors. I installed two of my lights behind the doors when they opened. So if the doors were opened, you lost two lights..

Good luck..

 

[Jawn]

do you all think that the walls are too dark?

I say no.

Nice garage.

Nice scoob.