Transforming your garage from storage space to sanctuary (Part 2)

Step 3: Planning your ideal space This should be the best part yet. This is the time to get creative and really start thinking of what you can do with this underused space. I would say come up with at least 3 ideas of what you could do. These options change a lot depending on if you park your car in your garage. Here are some great options you might want to consider: The Handyman’s Sanctuary: Any self respecting handyman needs a nice bench for projects, your garage, or even part of your garage could become a dream workshop. You can build your own bench or you can find an amazing toolbench at your local home depot. The Auto-Enthusiast’s Dream Garage: If you own the car you always dreamed of as a kid you may want to show everyone your love for your car. If it’s a Corvette you could find any number of Chevy and corvette pieces to make your garage compliment your car, as well as color coordinating everything to really show how much you love your car. The Fantasy Home Gym: If you park your car outside and have some floor space the garage can be a great space to have some workout equipment. With a large exercise mat or a couple yoga mats it could be a place to pump some iron or a peaceful escape where you can light some incense and stretch each morning. Once you’ve settled on all you wanted its time to take those measurements you took in step one and make a diagram, plan out where everything is going to go. You may also need to think about some storage solutions for the stuff you haven’t sold or gotten rid of. Step 4: Ordering Well depending on what you’ve decided to do with your Garage, but this time you have decided exactly what you’ll need to make your garage the space of your dreams. Its time to find exactly the pieces you’ll need to make this space yours. Starting from the ground up we’ll get into flooring. Weather you are parking your car inside or purely using the space, raw concrete is just not a welcoming floor. There are 2 basic solutions for covering your floor: Roll Out Garage Flooring: This is a fairly quick way to cover your garage floor and can be as easy or as customizable as you like. Basically you just roll it out, no messy adhesives or anything, but if you want to cover a bigger space you may want to use a seam tape to ensure your seams stay perfectly flat. These mats are available in 5 patterns each has many color options. Coin, Diamond, Levant Floor Tiles: We carry a large selection of different floor tiles which can be interconnected to develop any look you can dream up. These tiles click together and can be trimmed with a utility knife or blade to fit any shaped space. These are also available in a wide variety of colors and pattern options including: tire tread, diamond and coin pattern. Free Flow Tiles: These tiles allow liquid, sawdust or debris to fall underneath and can easily be cleaned up with a shop vac. One option with all different types of tiles is that you can combine different types of tile, so for example you could use free flow where your car parks so mud, dirt and slush can drain through the tiles to be cleaned up later. All tiles come in 12” X 12” (1’ X 1’) so it is extremely easy to plan for your space Once you’ve decided on flooring you will probably want some storage solutions, the guy at garageplanit.com have some amazing storage equipment to make any garage clutter free. If you want to create your dream workout space some products you might consider: Reversible Yoga Mats: These mats are extra thick, at 9mm they provide a great cushion between you and the floor, and still they roll up to store anywhere you like. Wrestling mats: If your looking for something to cover more of your floor space a wrestling mat is a great option. Weather you practice a martial art or just want a space for you and your family members to do yoga these mats will cover a great amount of area with thickness options in 1-1/4", 1-5/8" and 2". If your looking for some workout equipment to use in your new workout space a great website to check out is http://onnit.com they sell kettlebells, battleropes and all kinds of other workout gear to compliment your new sanctuary! Well that brings us to the end again, stay tuned at the end of this week for part 3 where we'll finish up with the last 2 steps, Installation and using your new space.