Amazing what a can of primer and some elbow grease can do! I'm saving money (so I can keep up with student loan payments!) by living in my parents' garage. I decided to make it a little less garage-like so I'm attacking one area at a time, hiding storage, cleaning old paint stains, organizing my stuff and making it look as homey as possible.
Here's stage 1 of my workbench-turned-cafe-corner. I did 2 coats of primer on the plywood walls, and made the second one extra thick to get into all the grooves and spaces. The final effect looked more like a textured or plastered wall than painted plywood!
Cost breakdown: $12 for a gallon of primer (only used about half), $3 for marked down fabric (still need to actually sew into curtains, just draped right now), $5 for dowel rods and hooks to make removable undercounter curtain rods, $3 for spray paint for accessories, $2 for shelf brackets, other supplies and accessories pulled from storage and supplies leftover from other projects. Total cost: $25!
By txdesignerd from Texas
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Since this is your home garage it probably won't matter - but in some places FYI it is a violation of the law to live an a garage. I had a friend who had a little house with a cottage in the back and she got in trouble for renting it out because it wasn't zoned for multiple occupancy.
Very cute! I would love to see what
you could do to an actual apt/house.
Good job and good luck in college!
Wow, what a difference -- I'll bet your parents are proud of you. Wish you could come design my house!
Good for you...looks great and shows initiative.
What a difference! I hope you'll send in updates as you do the different parts of your little home.
why are you living in the garage and not the house? if you are a hard up student its your parents responsibility to home feed and clothe you until you can stand on your own two feet, and also as a parent i would ALWAYS help out my children , i cannot believe you are living in a garage when i bet your parents are living in comfort in the main house, sorry but i think its wrong
You didn't tell us WHY you are living out in the garage...It really doesn't matter as long as you are excited about being able to make a private space for yourself while you work to pay off school loans. You 'sound' enthusiastic in your description of your new quarters and eager to continue fixing it like you want it.
It's good to see you making it on your own. Sounds like you are a very independant person who just needs a little help. I once lived in my parents barn, after a few years of living on my own. They had space for me in the house, but I needed the alone time and I did cleaning and cooking differently from my mom and just wanted to be home, but away from home at the same time. My parents thought of the idea of me living in the barn to intice me moving back.
You have a good imagation for decorating. Keep up the good work. With determation YOU can do anything.
Nice job whatever the reason. You did a great turn around.
Nothing is nicer than someone who puts in effort to make change for the better. And you did just that. Please continue. I promise you, it will continuously reward you thru life! Way to go in Texas!
great job!!! good use of imagination and ingenuity.
Sorry, I just now noticed all the responses down here! In response to cazpumpkin and others who were asking about "why" the simple reason is that the guest room in the house was tiny and right next to my parents' bedroom. It was just a little too much like being back in high school for my tastes and I missed having my own furniture and "stuff" that was all in storage in the garage anyway. It's air conditioned (a must here in Texas) and has a nicely finished floor (not plain concrete) and I get to spread out and have privacy. Not to mention I'm right next to the pool now! :)
The pic in this post are from the first weekend of my garage conversion about a month ago and I just finished the final touches yesterday so I'll post some more photos soon to show some fun craft projects I did for accents as well as how I used inexpensive electrical conduit and bulk rate bed sheets to create cool pseudo-walls to hide the corner still used for storage. Thanks for all the positive feedback!
almost forgot... shortly after I started my project a real estate agent friend of my mom's was over and she said that by "staging" the garage as a living space as i've done, especially since the house already has an attached 2 car garage, workshop & storage shed, when we go to sell one day buyers will see the space as bonus square footage rather than just more storage.
Anxious to see the near finished project - I say near finished because with a crafty person the changes are never done! LOL!
Much happiness to you in your homey garage.
How about some more of those photos. We'd all like to see your progress.
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