GrantT
Active member
So, like many threads on here, I've been lurking for sometime soaking in all the things that I'll never be able to have/achieve in my tiny space whilst picking up as many ideas as possible.
A bit of background to my garage, we've been in the house coming up for 8 years and in most of that time nearly the entire space was taken up with Mrs GrantT's '72 VW Bug. Then motorbikes happened. As any bike guy will tell you, one isn't enough, so then there was two motorbikes, 4 push bikes, a '72 Bug, my toolboxes and piles of other accumulated 'stuff' from years of battling with limited space and the rebuilding of the bug and the '73 VW van which lived on the drive.
This left me with this (excuse the crappy cellphone pics, I'm not trusted with a real camera in the garage):
As you can see it's a little 'tight' (understatement of the year?). I had to fold the mirror of the big Triumph in just to close the door.
After much negotiation with Mrs GrantT the Bug departed for storage in a rented garage. The van had also gone by this point so our 'stuff' collection was diminishing.
So I was left with this kind of space, mostly filled with the '50 Triumph bobber project (do you like my high tech bike stand? That's two mk2 Golf race wheels, you're impressed I know....):
However, the second law of garagedynamics tells us that stuff always flows from crowded spaces into empty spaces and it's building up again.
Some 'stuff' I can't complain about, a random middle of the day phone call from a friend saw this dropped off the same evening for nothing:
then a few weeks later another random call from the same friend saw this dropped off for a bargain £200 (or about $300):
So on to the plans....
We're having a new kitchen fitted in a few weeks so the old wall units will be donated to become floor units (depth is key here) either side of the lathe. The push bikes will stay wall mounted above the units until I can think of something better to do with them:
The drill press and small work bench will be on the other wall along with the current peg board:
On the back wall will stay the tool boxes but the current small under counter fridge will be replaced with a full height fridge-freezer as a concession to storing frozen food long term, and refreshing libation storage for those long evenings in the garage butchering metal in pursuit of getting the Triumph back on the road!
All new electrics are needed as I'm currently running everything off of a single double outlet, which means lots of plug juggling and extension leads! A new distribution board with plastic conduit running round the garage will be fitted with plenty of outlets. I've already fitted a couple of new lights, but it's still not bright enough so I'm probably going to fit a couple more when the electrics are replaced.
A wall paint and ceiling covering also need to be done, the bare rafters and roofing tar look isn't doing it for me!
Plenty of more ideas knocking around in my head but I'm sure they'll come out as it progresses! Initial progress is likely to be slow, we're off to the US for a couple of weeks in April and the new kitchen will swallow most of May but hopefully May/June will see the electrics and paint work complete and then on from there!
A bit of background to my garage, we've been in the house coming up for 8 years and in most of that time nearly the entire space was taken up with Mrs GrantT's '72 VW Bug. Then motorbikes happened. As any bike guy will tell you, one isn't enough, so then there was two motorbikes, 4 push bikes, a '72 Bug, my toolboxes and piles of other accumulated 'stuff' from years of battling with limited space and the rebuilding of the bug and the '73 VW van which lived on the drive.
This left me with this (excuse the crappy cellphone pics, I'm not trusted with a real camera in the garage):
As you can see it's a little 'tight' (understatement of the year?). I had to fold the mirror of the big Triumph in just to close the door.
After much negotiation with Mrs GrantT the Bug departed for storage in a rented garage. The van had also gone by this point so our 'stuff' collection was diminishing.
So I was left with this kind of space, mostly filled with the '50 Triumph bobber project (do you like my high tech bike stand? That's two mk2 Golf race wheels, you're impressed I know....):
However, the second law of garagedynamics tells us that stuff always flows from crowded spaces into empty spaces and it's building up again.
Some 'stuff' I can't complain about, a random middle of the day phone call from a friend saw this dropped off the same evening for nothing:
then a few weeks later another random call from the same friend saw this dropped off for a bargain £200 (or about $300):
So on to the plans....
We're having a new kitchen fitted in a few weeks so the old wall units will be donated to become floor units (depth is key here) either side of the lathe. The push bikes will stay wall mounted above the units until I can think of something better to do with them:
The drill press and small work bench will be on the other wall along with the current peg board:
On the back wall will stay the tool boxes but the current small under counter fridge will be replaced with a full height fridge-freezer as a concession to storing frozen food long term, and refreshing libation storage for those long evenings in the garage butchering metal in pursuit of getting the Triumph back on the road!
All new electrics are needed as I'm currently running everything off of a single double outlet, which means lots of plug juggling and extension leads! A new distribution board with plastic conduit running round the garage will be fitted with plenty of outlets. I've already fitted a couple of new lights, but it's still not bright enough so I'm probably going to fit a couple more when the electrics are replaced.
A wall paint and ceiling covering also need to be done, the bare rafters and roofing tar look isn't doing it for me!
Plenty of more ideas knocking around in my head but I'm sure they'll come out as it progresses! Initial progress is likely to be slow, we're off to the US for a couple of weeks in April and the new kitchen will swallow most of May but hopefully May/June will see the electrics and paint work complete and then on from there!