Wednesday, December 2, 2015

We Converted our Garage into a Living Space

We moved into our house in June 2008 and always dreamed of converting our garage into a living space.  We never parked in our 2-car garage.  We always kept our cars in the driveway.  Over the years our garage became packed with junk and unfinished projects.  We accumulated way too much stuff!
  
Once we decided to move forward with making the garage into a room we got serious about getting rid of stuff we didn't need.  We donated a lot of things to charity and utilized their free pick up service.  We worked together every week on trash collection day, until the garage was organized.  It felt so good to be rid of the clutter.
    
 Where do you store the stuff that would normally go in the garage?  
We considered purchasing a shed, but don't want a big unit in our backyard.  The lawn mower and pressure washer are covered outside on the deck.  I reorganized our closet in the entry for general storage; leaf blower, carpet cleaner, steam mop, a few paint cans and tools.  Cleaning supplies are now stored under the bathroom and kitchen sink.  We used to keep our shoes in the garage.  Now we're using clear under-bed storage boxes.  Everything has its place rather than being thrown in a corner of the garage.  
  
 A few people have asked, what if we plan to sell our house in the future.  We don't plan on moving!  We make changes in our house to fit our needs, not the needs of an unforeseeable future homeowner.

 We worked with a contractor to plan our conversion.

 We did our homework, discussed our goals and planned the design before moving forward with construction.

 It's been so fun watching the transformation!
    
 We had amazing contractors that helped us create this beautiful space.

 But, oh my goodness, the mess!  I forgot to mention the dry wall dust.  For the last few weeks, our home became a construction site.  Our daily routines were interrupted as someone was always walking through our kitchen.

 It's truly been a positive experience.  The messy details ensured beautiful results.

 The paint color has been carefully chosen to fit our my style.  I chose a light color to keep the room bright.  Benjamin Moore- Abalone (matched to Glidden Paint)

 My husband let me have my way with every decision, except for the fans.  I wanted pretty light fixtures, but he insisted on ceiling fans for air circulation and to keep the room cool in the summer.  It makes total sense!  We preferred the look without lights.

 I've ALWAYS wanted a window seat.  I dreamed of a window seat with a cushion and lots of pretty pillows.  I love having the extra space for storage too.  Oh the possibilities...
  
Just a few more things to finish before we can call this room complete.  But we're all so amazed how different it looks.  My creative juices have been flowing and I cannot wait to decorate.  We gained 480 square feet of living space and I'm really excited to make it cozy.  I'll be back in a few months to share the full reveal with you!  Yes, months!  Unfortunately it's expensive to decorate a big empty room.

42 comments:

  1. Its gonna look great Brandi and such an added amount of functional space. Can't wait to see it finished.

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  2. Good Evening Brandi, How exciting, to be able to convert your garage space into an extra room. Now that all the 'bones' of the room are completed, I just know you are going to have lots of fun choosing the chairs, lamps and carpets.... I feel so excited for you.
    Have fun and I look forward to seeing the completed room.... I just know, with your taste and style, it is going to look fabulous.
    Best Wishes to you.
    Daphne

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  3. Looks fantastic Brandi, and so much additional square footage!!! I love the twin windows and window seat, I can't wait to see everything come together and crossing my fingers, you share along the way!!! Congrats on your new space!

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  4. Congrats! I can feel your excitement to decorate!! Can't wait to see it!!

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  5. I love it! I agree about making the house fit your needs rather than an imaginary family later on. We added on to our house years ago to fit what we need. At the time I was not thinking of resale, but now that we are getting closer to downsizing, I realize some other family is really going to benefit from our decisions.

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  6. exciting! even a small space will help the house feel even bigger. if i didn't have my tiny sunroom (my most favorite place) my little cape would feel confining! can't wait to see what you do with this space, but whatever you do, i know you will just love it.
    b

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  7. Uau what a transformation !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Can t to see the room with funiture complited ,with your all the nice finishing toutches .
    Love it .
    Lulu

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  8. Nice! How exciting to get a whole new room for your house! I can't imagine how handy that would be.

    I agree about the fans. They aren't always the look I want in a room but they are super practical. In my case it is less about keeping cool and more about keeping a room from smelling too "doggy" sometimes.

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  9. Looking good Brandi, I love how you are making your home exclusively for you and your family and not a potential buyer. Can't wait for the reveal!

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  10. Exciting!! I agree, alot of people's garages become a dumping ground. Good for you for making it work for your family.

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  11. Love how it turned out. And, I am sure it will be amazing once you get it all decorated. And, agree with the comment above...good for you in doing what suits your family. I can't tell you how many people I know live unhappily in their homes because they fear changing something because it might not suit potential buyers down the road. We made changes to our last house and the buyers (friends of ours) came in and changed everything to what they wanted. We have been in our current home for 27 years. We've always done things that were best for our family.

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  12. How exciting! Congrats on living through the dust. THAT is a nightmare.

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  13. How beautiful it will be, I'm sure! So nice to have that extra living space! Can't wait for the reveal. x Karen

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  14. Great Brandi! I believe that it will be perfect!

    :D

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  15. Amazing, Brandi! Now that's a Christmas present! ;) Take your time decorating...enjoy the process and with your eye for design, I know that it will be gorgeous.

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  16. Love it! I can't wait to see you decorate it. When we move into our home I will be calling on you for your prices to decorate.

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  17. Looks really great and I'm looking forward to the reveal!!!

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  18. I'm loving your new space Brandi! I'm so glad you chose not to put the light kits on your fans and love that you are designing your house for your family now and not worrying about resale down the road. I can't wait to see the final reveal.

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  19. You will love it Brandi. Such a grand open space. We redesigned our 3rd car garage for my studio space and what a difference it made. You are going to love it and looking forward to your reveal. Have fun and Merry Christmas xo

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  20. Wow, just wow. Great paint colors thus far.

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  21. It looks great. I wished we could do that with ours, but Hubby is a car lover and mechanic and would never let me do it. HA! HA!

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  22. Oh how exciting to get another living space! I totally agree with you on making changes to your house to suit YOUR needs. Why should you worry about a potential buyer or what THEY might want? I say do what makes YOU happy. :) I can't wait to see the reveal!

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  23. Oh my gosh, Brandi, this is amazing! All the work you've done, and look at it now! The window seat is cool. I've always dreamed of having a window seat. You did a lot of cleaning up in the process as well. It's great to give away things that we don't use or need anymore. Can't wait to see more!

    Enjoy the Christmas season!

    ~Sheri

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  24. Wow, you got yourself lots of space in there, it looks huge! Can't wait to see how you transform this already pretty room!

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  25. Our master suite is a garage apartment that we almost demolished. Yours is wonderful..what a perfect idea!

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  26. It's beautiful already, love the window seat! I'm looking forward to seeing how you decorate, I know it will be amazing. Congrats on the redo! It'll be great having that extra space.

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  27. It is looking so good! I was so excited to see your post title. My husband and I are planning to do the same thing with our garage. I can't wait to see what you do with it! What did you all choose for heating and cooling?

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    1. Hi Marisha! Thank you so much for your comment. Good luck with your garage makeover as well. We had a PTAC unit installed. Similar to what you would see in a hotel/motel room.

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  28. Beautiful!!! Can't wait to see what you do with the window seat!

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  29. Great decision and a much more efficient use of the garage, especially since it wasn't being used for parking. This is a great way to ring in the new year; free of clutter and unwanted stuff and gaining a new living space. Looking forward to the reveal and more sneak peeks on IG.

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  30. I wanna see it, I wanna see it!!!

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  31. What a great way to use that space. It looks wonderful so far. All your hard work is certainly paying off and I know with your awesome decorating skills, it's going to be the bomb when you finish... :)

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  32. Brandi- this looks awesome. Usually garages that are converted into rooms don't have a good flow with the rest of the house (or in general) but you did a great job. Cheers, and glad I found your blog through Instagram. xo

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  33. This is incredible! It looks so good.

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  34. Absolutely fascinating and beautiful! I have another question (I am full of them), where is the door--does it still open like a garage or did you cover that in?

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    1. Thank you so much! The garage door is gone and was replaced with a set of windows. You can get a better idea from the last picture with the window seat.

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    2. Let me try that again.... Great job! I'm about to do it on a project and am looking for an idea on how to make the former garage door an inconspicuous entry point from the drivewy..... any ideas?

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    3. Let me try that again.... Great job! I'm about to do it on a project and am looking for an idea on how to make the former garage door an inconspicuous entry point from the drivewy..... any ideas?

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  35. I love that you stated you were fixing this for YOU and not future homeowners! Too many people upgrade to sell. For me, a 0 homeowner, I'm going to be moving within the next year, and as of today, Oct 26, 2017, I'm 60 and will NEVER move once I buy! What I do to fix up my home will be done for my taste and pleasure. Kudos for making it YOUR space! And your family's! :) Marrianne

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  36. Great job. Finding a good and honest contractor is the biggest hurdle. Congratulations it looks wonderful.

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