When people ask me what an often underutilized or overlooked space in the home is, I can always answer right away… the GARAGE. If you thought an interior designer would never want to peek into your garage, think again!
Your garage is an extension of your home, so you should be thinking about all the possibilities for turning a space that often gets “junked up” into an organized – and even beautiful! – spot that welcomes you home.
After all, your first experience arriving home after a long day shouldn’t be the added stress of climbing around bikes or tripping over boxes, footballs, and exercise equipment. Here are some of my favorite ways to extend a home’s interior design to the garage making it a unique and usable space.
1. Custom Cabinets
Base cabinets and tall pantry cupboards aren’t just for the kitchen anymore. Because these fit right up against the wall, every garage has room for a set of cabinets to hold everything from automotive supplies to sporting equipment. If you add sturdy countertops, a swivel chair, and focused task lighting, you can also carve out some space for a hobby center such as a garden preparation area to work on planting seeds or a workbench for painting model airplanes.
2. Specialty Storage
Not everything in your garage will fit into a cabinet, so it’s also a good idea to look at your walls as a storage space in their own right. Adding shelves and a series of specialty hooks can get things up off the floor so you have more space to maneuver. You can store tools, lacrosse sticks, and even bicycles on hooks to create more room in your garage.
3. Fantastic Flooring
My favorite way to transform a garage into a real showstopper is to add a new floor. Today you can coat boring concrete in an epoxy coating or other rubberized flooring in just about any color of the rainbow. These high-tech surfaces protect your floor from spills and can provide a great pop of color to create a clean, finished look. They’re also very beneficial when icy, wet weather occurs as a slipping barrier.
4. Poignant Paint and Trim
For an added touch of depth, don’t forget that your garage walls don’t have to stay plain! Just as you would with any room in your house, consider the color palette as you choose those cabinets and floors, and select a paint color accordingly. Shades of grays, whites, or tans are popular, but if you’ve always wanted to do something daring with color, the garage is a great place to experiment with bolder choices. Adding base boards and trim work can also frame your garage space for a really finished aesthetic.
5. Walls that “Wow”
Whether you have a penchant for luxury cars, Harley Davidson’s, cycling, or gardening, something special to support your hobby is key. Art, collectible objects, or wall treatments can create that final touch that not only personalizes your garage, but makes it a unique room that’s fun to inhabit in warmer weather as well as show off. To get the most out of your garage, it helps to have a professional interior designer look over your floorplan and come up with creative ways to get the most out of your space. It’s time to give this part of your house the respect it deserves!
At Nicole Arnold Interiors we provide on-site consultations to help you create your perfectly personalized garage, or any area of your home.
