UN4GTBL's Single Car makeover

[UN4GTBL]

About a couple of weeks ago, I finally started working on the garage. I had cleaned it up in the past, but what with the shed and basement projects that have been going on, it was just too much stuff, I couldn't even clean or work on my car in there any more.

Before I started:

The ~1200 lbs of stuff (literally - cost $76) that I took to the dump on Monday:

As of last night:

Nothing super fancy, but the van fits in there now without a problem, and I have already cleaned out my car and the van in there now.

Next step is to get my Dodge, Viper and Mopar flags back up, to finish off my closet project (will get the plywood used up on the side) and finish organizing my work bench at the back.

 

[rrudd2]

A clean slate! Congratulations!

Pictures when you're done, please...

 

[UN4GTBL]

A clean slate! Congratulations!

Pictures when you're done, please...

Thanks, will do for sure.

 

[Derrickwade]

Thats a nice start!

 

[UN4GTBL]

Thats a nice start!

Thanks, the biggest accomplishment was getting the rakes/shovels/etc off the wall, and into the shed. But that required fixing the shed floor first!

The bikes and mower are still there, but they are in the closet in the back corner, and this way I don't have to move my car to get them out like I did with the closet on the opposite corner

 

[UN4GTBL]

Finally got my Dodge, Viper & Mopar banners back up. They help hide the worst areas of the walls in the garage too!

 

[Laredo]

A trip to the dump is usually a great start - congrats!!

Looks like you have some room for some overhead shelving.

 

[JasonW]

Great start. Funny how just getting the vehicle back into the garage can feel like such an accomplishment.

 

[UN4GTBL]

A trip to the dump is usually a great start - congrats!!

Looks like you have some room for some overhead shelving.

Yeah, its a pretty high ceiling, but the rafters are such that putting any additional shelves wouldn't really be beneficial without being in the way I think.

I'm sure I could do another van load to the dump with what is in the ceiling alone.

Great start. Funny how just getting the vehicle back into the garage can feel like such an accomplishment.

Thanks

Used the garage 2 weekends ago to clay/polish/seal my car and this past weekend to start clay/polish/seal the van. Before this clean up, it wouldn't have been possible because I wouldn't be able to close the door with the van in there, now I can, easily.

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

Congratulations! Its just got to feel good to be able to use that space as it was intended. Tasks seem much less a chore when you have the dedicated space and organization to get them done.

As for your overhead storage, would one of those slick open rack systems (on pulleys) solve your rafter storage access? Most of the wire grid racks I've seen are light duty, but they sure make it easy for those Rubbermaid storage tubs to disappear from underfoot.

 

[ODIS]

Good 4 U, UN4GTBL! Your projects are coming together and will soon be....... UN4GTBL!

Hope you are having fun.

Ody.

 

[UN4GTBL]

Congratulations! Its just got to feel good to be able to use that space as it was intended. Tasks seem much less a chore when you have the dedicated space and organization to get them done.

As for your overhead storage, would one of those slick open rack systems (on pulleys) solve your rafter storage access? Most of the wire grid racks I've seen are light duty, but they sure make it easy for those Rubbermaid storage tubs to disappear from underfoot.

Thanks Omphaloskeptic!

Yeah its nice to have all the space available to me. I've got some more things cleaned out of the garage now, like the extra banquet table that was just resting against the bike closet doors.

Need to do another coat of sealer on both vehicles before it gets too cold again.

Next spring I'll probably tackle the ceiling. Its one of those out of sight out of mind things right now, and I'm swamped with other things to do for school, etc. I would like to build some shelves around the side walls, and then mount some more florescent lights on an angle under the shelves so I have some better lighting inside vehicles when they are in there to be cleaned.

Good 4 U, UN4GTBL! Your projects are coming together and will soon be....... UN4GTBL!

Hope you are having fun.

Ody.

Thanks Ody, its rather relaxing to have this behind me and to know that the garage is available to use for projects again!

I keep meaning to get some new pictures taken, but keep forgetting. I have a big DODGE wall vinyl coming, so maybe after installing that I can take some more.

 

[UN4GTBL]

Started off my weekend work early last week on Wednesday. Discovered I was down a fog light on my car

Took me a couple days to find a store with the right bulbs in stock for it

On Saturday I cleaned out my car finally and then put up my Dodge vinyl and a couple other things

And then did some general tidying up. Trying to get rid of my old winter tires as I got a great deal on some almost new ones on Kijiji a couple weeks ago.

 

[UN4GTBL]

A shot of the garage right after I sold my old set of tires.

(Don't mind all the junk up on the bench)

 

[e-tek]

I DO mind the junk on the bench! Get it off in case you have a project to do!!

Good job - gotta just love the minivan!

 

[UN4GTBL]

I DO mind the junk on the bench! Get it off in case you have a project to do!!

Good job - gotta just love the minivan!

Thanks!

The mess is all remains of projects and me breaking my own rule of always putting things away after.

Vacuum from when I cleaned out my Caliber and the van last weekend, the blue box is up there from when the old tires were sitting in the way, and the bins are new, to help me organize my wash towels, etc.

After my exam on Tuesday I plan on cleaning it up, and getting rid of the pictures that are laying against the wall in the back there (Behind the cardboard) as they don't belong in the garage anyways!

And yeah, we love our minivans!

 

[ODIS]

Good luck on your exams. The smart money is on rest the night before the test. Leave "cramming" to others.

Hope it all goes well!

Ody.

PS: Looking forward to seeing the new vinyl mural.

 

[UN4GTBL]

Good luck on your exams. The smart money is on rest the night before the test. Leave "cramming" to others.

Hope it all goes well!

Ody.

PS: Looking forward to seeing the new vinyl mural.

Thanks, yeah I think I learned that with my last exam...I slept a lot before the exam

The vinyl that I have is up...its the Dodge vinyl on the wall above the Mopar and SRT flags.

 

[marty_p]

Looking better and better, Boss!

 

[UN4GTBL]

Looking better and better, Boss!

Thanks!

 

[UN4GTBL]

UPDATE TIME!

So I decided that I was tired of opening and closing my garage door manually, so I picked up a garage door opener. The problem being is that the big shelf that spans the front of my garage, and goes over the garage door was just too low to install the opener's track, so I had to remove it all.

And the pile of stuff that was up there:

I decided to build two smaller shelves on the sides above the garage door instead, to allow room for the garage door opener track, and enough room so that I could still easily put stuff on the shelves.

Just before all this, I had built some new headlights for my car, so the garage was a mess. The new headlights:

So I cleaned it all up last night. How the garage is now:

I have some painting to do now, but that will have to wait for a couple weeks.

 

[UN4GTBL]

Ok, just to bring this back from the dead...

A few months ago, I took a Cherokee for a test drive, and of course had to see how it fit in my garage. Not 100% sold on it, but it's rather nice. I wish the rear didn't taper off as much to provide more head room in the rear and more cargo room in general.

And here I am, wishing my garage was deeper in this past summer:

Haven't gotten the painting done, as I bought a wall-mounted tire rack to store the set of tires I'm not currently (winter tires in summer, summer tires in winter) and I decided I wanted to re-build the work bench so that the table saw is in the corner, instead of in the middle of it. I also finally purchased some LED lights for under the cabinets over the work bench, as I found it too dark there when I'm standing there working at it, as I block the overhead light with my body. So need to install those maybe this weekend, and then start planning how to re-build the bench.

You can see the tire rack in this picture:

I can still work in the garage though!

EDIT: ^ Looks like I used my blurry cam for that shot lol

 

[dubber]

Haha. That's awesome. Never thought to take a test drive car home and test it in the garage. Genius! I'm always googling the exact dimensions of the car and then raiding my garage spec papers to try and figure it out.

Honestly though i'm really not a fan of the newly designed Cherokee. I love the classic Cherokee look that i think this has definitely lost. I do however really enjoy the new Grand Cherokee but the price is crazy in my mind.

 

[UN4GTBL]

Haha. That's awesome. Never thought to take a test drive car home and test it in the garage. Genius! I'm always googling the exact dimensions of the car and then raiding my garage spec papers to try and figure it out.

Honestly though i'm really not a fan of the newly designed Cherokee. I love the classic Cherokee look that i think this has definitely lost. I do however really enjoy the new Grand Cherokee but the price is crazy in my mind.

I've had a couple other cars and tested them for "fit". When I buy my first house I want a bigger garage, but for the mean time this is what I have.

Yeah, it's definitely...interesting...like I said, I wish it wasn't as "new" and more like the original Cherokee. I do like it in person better, especially the Trailhawk. I do like it because of what it is...a bigger, better, nicer, faster version of my Caliber. I mean the 3.2 + 9-speed is pretty good, the interior is awesome, and the features are also really nice.

 

[55cadillacking]

The Cherokee's styling took some getting used to, but it has really grown on me. I agree, the Trailhawk offers a lot of bang for the buck. My buddy is really contemplating picking one up. I hope he does.

 

[UN4GTBL]

The Cherokee's styling took some getting used to, but it has really grown on me. I agree, the Trailhawk offers a lot of bang for the buck. My buddy is really contemplating picking one up. I hope he does.

Yeah, the TrailHawk makes the front a little bit more "normal" looking. That's the model I'd buy if I buy one.

 

[dubber]

Its those Red Tow hooks! Same thing with the 10th anniversary Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.

I even painted my tow hook red and installed it for awhile. Cost nothing but loved the added touch to the front.

 

[UN4GTBL]

Its those Red Tow hooks! Same thing with the 10th anniversary Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.

I even painted my tow hook red and installed it for awhile. Cost nothing but loved the added touch to the front.

True, all the little touches make ALL the difference!

 

[Hopalong604]

Wow your garage is bigger than it looks. The Cherokee looks small inside the garage. You have plenty of ceiling height too! Very nice.

 

[HSpencer]

Very nice work so far on your one car! Just a little more cosmetics and your place is ready to rock! Good idea on cutting out that overhead shelving to fit the door opener in.
Nice place and good transformation. Base boards and paint and it is getting good to go.

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

 

[UN4GTBL]

Wow your garage is bigger than it looks. The Cherokee looks small inside the garage. You have plenty of ceiling height too! Very nice.

Yeah, it's about 10 x 20, so decent for a single car garage, the open ceiling is the big benefit, as all the stuff (that we really don't need) can be stored in the ceiling and away from my car. Unfortunately, the one downside of the door opener is that it takes away some of the height available for moving things around, especially plywood sheets, etc

The Cherokee is rather short as it turns out, decent width though. Our Grand Caravan fits with about an inch or two front & back to spare.

Very nice work so far on your one car! Just a little more cosmetics and your place is ready to rock! Good idea on cutting out that overhead shelving to fit the door opener in.
Nice place and good transformation. Base boards and paint and it is getting good to go.

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

Thanks!

Yes, I need to touch up the paint from when I moved the overhead shelf. Hopefully I can make time for that if summer ever arrives here. I've wanted to do baseboards for a while, just because the bottom of the drywall isn't done nicely at all. But I don't want to use wood as it will only rot probably, and I'd like to do something with the floor. I like those big rubber mats, but can't find one in a 10x20 size, just 9x20 or 15x20.

The other hesitation with paint, is I want to reconfigure the work bench as I mentioned above, and wanted to do all the painting at once (I don't like painting), so hopefully whent he weather warms up I can tackle that. I'm going to put some doors in front of the table saw just to clean it up, and maybe switch out the upper cabinet doors for something cleaner looking and then paint everything.

 

[UN4GTBL]

I cleaned the garage up this afternoon after I got back from the gym

(The green bin will be going back into the cabinet in the backyard shortly)

I also added some LED lights above my work bench:

And I hung my vacuum up next to my tires to get it off the floor

I can't wait to get started on re-building my work bench, but I've realized that I need to get more storage room for all my tools. So I'm going to wait and see if the bottom chest of my set goes on sale any time soon, and then re-build the bench around it. I'd love to get a nice big chest, but just don't have the space for it right now.

 

[UN4GTBL]

While waiting around for paint to dry for another project, I decided to put a cover on the new LED lights I installed above my work bench:

Before:

After:

 

[quasi_accurate]

Nice lights! Any plans for the walls or floor?

 

[UN4GTBL]

Nice lights! Any plans for the walls or floor?

Thanks, it's so much nicer to have them there when working at the bench.

I need to do some touchups on the walls in the grey, as well as paint the work bench & cabinets. I'm trying to decide on a colour for a stripe on the wall as well. Probably go blue or black or red, or a combo or blue/black or red/black.

The floor will probably stay as it is. When I get my own place I'll probably do something then.

 

[UN4GTBL]

Bought a new toy box today:



Only issue is that I'm going to have to re-configure my upper cabinets for it to fit.

 

[dubber]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say its a Husky rolling tool cabinet from Home Depot

 

[UN4GTBL]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say its a Husky rolling tool cabinet from Home Depot

Yup! Took the last ones from my area, and surrounding area.

I figure for my use they will be sufficient, and I had some Home Depot gift cards that swayed my "vote" lol

 

[dubber]

Yup! Took the last ones from my area, and surrounding area.

I figure for my use they will be sufficient, and I had some Home Depot gift cards that swayed my "vote" lol

Knew it! Great score. Saw those the other day. Would have jumped on one as well but i'm in a garage transition stage.

 

[UN4GTBL]

Knew it! Great score. Saw those the other day. Would have jumped on one as well but i'm in a garage transition stage.

Yeah, I wish I had more room, or I would have gone to a bigger box