Have you ever thought about transforming your dirty old garage with spiders and 5 thousand odds and ends into a usable family space? While the idea of adding more interior square footage to our home was enticing, the steps of how to accomplish it were quite daunting. We had a few professional quotes that averaged $20k to build up the floor, insulate the walls and convert the HVAC system. I called the city code department and was told we did not need a permit unless we updated the HVAC.
So we decided to do it ourselves!
(famous last words…)
before
First we had to declutter and have a yard sale, more like three actually. I had been watching way too many minimalist videos and was determined to live without storage. I wanted usable, attractive shelving and cabinets with easy access. I kept asking myself, “what’s the point in having all this stuff in bins in such an inconvenient location.” I determined to either use it or get rid of it.
just one of the yard sale piles
With the paid help of a neighbor who happened to work in construction, and his lovely wife, we took off the garage door, poured a footer and framed the new wall.
Outside, we patched up the siding and painted it to match the exterior color.
Inside, we had very old drywall that couldn’t easily be refinished so we decided to go for the rustic plywood look. I sanded the rough edges and spray stained the plywood for an aged weathered look.
We saved quite a bit of money by buying several items second hand from craigslist
and facebook marketplace.
used cabinets $315
used door $125
left over plywood $400
organizing drawer cabinet $125
After the walls were done we thanked God these cabinets even fit in this room! It was such a close call!(note to self… do not buy giant furniture without first seeing it in person) I almost died moving these!
I painted the door with paint that was left here from the previous owners… why? It was free of course!
Then we started the ceiling. We loved the idea of glue up foam tiles after shopping high and low and considering the least intense, least messy, most cost efficient means of covering the dirty old drywall.
Cutting mat, ruler and rotary cutter made this job a snap!
The ceiling was fun and easy and turned out better than I thought… we used Decorative Ceilings glue up foam tiles! They are lightweight, not brittle, easy to cut and glue up in a snap. I’m actually planning on adding molding when I find a deal locally on Facebook or craigslist of course. Or if you would like to bless us with your VOTE, (trying not to beg pitifully) we could win $500 store credit this week in the January project contest!
The floor was disgusting so we cleaned it and painted it.
Nothing left but decorating and arranging things (sounds so simple, yet it took me 6 months)!
I kept a close watch on the local sell sites and used my Amazon credit card rewards to add mirrors, play rugs, a yoga swing, curtains, insulating blinds, a balance ball and a free chair.
(pssst…I made the guitar rack…I’ll blog that soon!)
Voila’! A lovely usable space for our family and friends! (way better than a dirty old garage)
Let me know any questions or comments! Thanks for stopping by!
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