Ingrid’s Garage Makeover

Newsflash: I have always decorated my garage. Even when I was in my town home. The only one I didn’t decorate was my 2nd home and that was because, well, let’s save that for another post, ok? Ok, good. Haha! Everyone think it’s a little “extra” that I do this, but that’s ok, I’ve always been just a smidge “extra.” So why DO I feel the need to decorate the garage? It’s real simple for me. It’s the first “room” of my house that I see every single time I return home, and as that garage door slowly goes up, no matter what kind of day I’ve had, when I can see a beautifully styled space welcoming me back, it makes me feel good and brings a smile to my face. So the final room inside the house, sort of, to be “decorated,” is the garage. I welcome you to join me as I begin, Ingrid’s Garage Makeover.

Let’s Go!

Here is what my garage looks like right this very moment. Let me warn you… there is no trace of pretty in this space… any where, in this space.

See, I told you. I’ve got everything pushed against the wall on the left there because when my Mom comes to visit, she likes to park her car in the garage. She doesn’t ever like for her car to “sit” on the street. Yep, she’s a bit “extra” too, but guess who I got it from? Ha! Anyway… I’ve got all my “The C Word” books stored in there, with all my packing and shipping materials for it. All my car detail items are in there, tools, paint, etc. There are some decor items that no longer have a place in the house. I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to donate to Goodwill or not. I’ll have to take one last, long, look around in every room inside to see if there is any way possible they can be re-purposed for use elsewhere inside. Once I make a final assessment, and I find there’s no further use for them, away they’ll have to go. As I’ve said many times in my blog posts, this is a much smaller house than what I’ve been accustomed to, and I’m not one to hang on to stuff, especially if it’s going to turn into clutter. In fact, I’m pretty good about not holding on to items that have reached the end of their use. I’m also not a fan of a packed garage that looks like there’s a small tunnel for the car. I like for my garage to be decorated and pretty much empty. If there are items to be stored, they will have to be behind a curtain or some sort of room divider. And while I know the garage cabinets are very popular, I just don’t care for the look of them. I know, I know, it’s just the garage! But if I’m going to have cabinets in there, I would want them to be super pretty, or at least match the cabinets on the inside of the house. Crazy right? Don’t answer that, haha! Here’s another “before” picture…

Can you guess what the other item in the garage is that I HATE to see? Well, there’s 3 things now that I look at this picture… It’s the big ole water heater. Uggh! I hate seeing that thing when I turn into my garage. I know, it serves quite a useful and necessary function so (sigh), I have to be ok with it being there, but after I’m done, it won’t be visible. Yes! As for the second thing I hate to see, the lovely green and blue trash and recycle bins. I’m going to check with my HOA and see if I can tuck them on the side of the house. The only thing I’ve read is that they can’t be visible from the street, so we’ll see. Let’s hope this will be a perfect spot for them.

As you can imagine, I’ve been thinking about color scheme and flooring since the day I moved in. It’s probably a good thing it’s taken me this long to pull my decor thoughts together and finalize my plan. It’s changed many times; surprise, surprise. But here is the mood board I’ve settled on for the project, but don’t judge me if it changes 🙂

The colors I decided on are gray, black, pink and white. The wall color being Behr’s Natural Gray. The three photos at the bottom of the photo are simply inspiration photos, and I apologize, but I I could not locate the owners of these wonderful design shots. I want to keep the garage somewhat with the white theme of the house, so something light for the walls. I’ve never painted house trim before so this will be a first. I’ve admired tons of decor pictures with black trim so what better place to give it a shot than the garage, right? I did think about skipping that part and keeping the off-white trim that’s already there, if for nothing else but to save time. But… nah, I’m gonna go for it. A couple things drove this design/decor choice. One, the color pink. If you’ve followed along my decor blogging journey in this house, you know that I’ve been quite disappointed that I’ve not been able to find a place in my all-white abode, to add my beloved favorite color, pink. This being my last possible opportunity to incorporate the color in my home, I was determined that the door leading to the inside of the house from the garage was definitely going to be pink. Period. The only thing that could possibly be up for discussion with myself would be the shade of pink 🙂 The second thing I absolutely knew I wanted and have been determined on having, is a black chandelier. I have no idea when I acquired “a thing” for black chandeliers. Maybe when I decided to paint the trim in black? At any rate, I was dead set on having it and I can’t wait to see it hanging there. While it would be easy just to have beautiful, tall, white cabinets along one of the walls, with the side yard still needing landscaping, and those 5 boob lights that still remain, ughh, (read more about them here), among other more pressing “to-do” items, it’s just not in the budget. So I will be working my magic with fabric, also in my fav color pink. The fabric will be swagged and draped to cover the silver metal shelving from Ikea that I’ve selected, to house garage-specific or garage-designated items. You may be wondering what time frame I’m working with to complete this project. At first I was going to give myself 4 weeks to get it done. However, after thinking about it for about 7 seconds, uhhhh, I changed that to six weeks. Haha! In reality, I have no idea how long this will take me, working some weekday evenings and on weekends. And while I’d like to be consistent and committed to my word here, I know for sure that I’m not going to wear myself out to get it done by the deadline set in my head. I’m a little more forgiving of myself as I get older. I’ll save that for another post. In the meantime, wish me luck, and I look forward to sharing the “after” reveal with you in four, six or however many weeks it takes! Haha!!! Until next time… :)xo