Design inspiration for our (huge) garage renovation
All of the details we hope to add once the building part is done
The White Cape is a newsletter that shares the interests, evolution, and changing perspective of my little white Cape Cod-style home, and the people (mostly me) inside it.
Last week I shared the winding and ever-changing saga of our detached garage renovation, and the good news that we officially received all the permits required to begin work. Demo began and lasted for two days before we had to pause. Turns out the walls that we were going to keep as-is are buckling to a point of no return, and we need to remove and re-build them, costing an extra month or two of work and about $30K.
While this was always a known possibility, the reality of it really stinks and we lost another week of demo to figure out the logistics and submit for anther permit. In the end it will be fine, though, as we will know that we are secure in a safe structure and can enjoy the space to its fullest.
While the end is still very far out of sight, seeing actual progress begin has me dreaming of all the ways we can make the space feel like ours. The work we’re paying for now is entirely structural. The contractors will do the major renovation, but leave us with plain white-painted drywall and standard builder-grade doors and hardware.
We will have an opportunity to make each additional space our very own, while tying it into the design and charm of our primary home. I’ve been deep in online inspiration, pulling from random pictures I see on Pinterest and Instagram to help shape each independent space in my mind.
As a reminder, we have six primary spaces to design:
First floor:
Workshop
Gym
Storage
Second floor:
Husband office
My office
Recreation/play room
Workshop design ideas
The workshop will be much smaller than the space my husband had been working in before, which will be an adjustment and a force for him to get creative with organization. We have acquired a lot of stuff over the past five years, particularly from my in-laws that give us their hand-me-downs when they upgrade all of their tools. It seems like every time we go to visit we come back with a new tool or gadget. This is completely fine and welcome, of course, as they all get used. But where will we put this is always the immediate reaction.
The name of the game will be efficiency, organization, and easy access. We will need a custom storage situation to complement his existing work table while also leaving space for yard waste and in-progress materials like wood and saws. That’s a challenge we will tackle in the future.
Gym design ideas
The gym really is my gym as I don’t think my husband has done any workout other than running/biking/hiking in the time I’ve known him. He is naturally very fit and it is my biggest source of anger (kidding). This is good news though because that means the gym is a space that I can entirely design for myself.
I have a very clear vision of what I want this space to be. It will be small, so again, efficiency matters. But I’m thinking a lot of bright lighting, amplifying the two small windows that will be in the space. Mirrors on at least two walls for multiple angle viewing. Simple weight/accessory storage space, and plenty of room for doing circuit training.
Office design ideas
Our work set up has been really weird for the past few years. When the pandemic began and we were all ordered to stay home, my husband and I were stuck in a 600 sq. ft. apartment and we both sat at our tiny kitchen island all day long. We were inches away from each other and losing our minds as his work requires deep thinking and mine requires a lot of verbal communication.
When we bought our house we were excited to have an entire room dedicated to our work, and we were able to spread out so there were now feet in between us instead of inches. After our daughter was born, the guest bed made its way into the office and now we are entirely cramped again. Thankfully I go into an office for part of the week, which gives us both some distance, but there is still a need for our own dedicated spaces if we want to be as productive as our jobs require.
Now, with another baby on the way, the office will turn into our son’s room and my husband—who permanently works from home—will be left without any space to work. The garage will give us two distinct offices built into one of the large dormers. We will have sliding pocket doors that will hopefully be glass so we can see out to the play room if our kids are home sick but we need to continue to work.
This will be the single biggest change that the garage will provide, and we are foaming at the mouth to get in and settled. We will both be designing our own respective spaces, but I think they will end up looking pretty similar with built-in storage and custom desks.
Recreation / Play room ideas
The most exciting part of all, we will finally have a dedicated open space for our kids to play. I’ve explained before that we do not have a basement, and our house is small. That means that toys are in places where they shouldn’t be (the dining room sometimes, the office, the living room, etc.), and my daughter has a limited piece of open area to let her imagination run free. We thankfully spend a lot of time outside on our patio and garden area, but the winter months are limiting.
The entire remainder of the second floor of the garage will be open play space. We hope to add a few spots for being “cozy,” where we can watch movies as a family or sit in very comfortable chairs for reading. We have a lot of ideas for how to make this area custom after the renovation is complete, including tongue and groove paneling on the ceiling, built-in storage and shelves, built-in desk spaces, and comfortable seating.
It feels like we will never fully be “done” with this renovation, and that is okay. Part of the fun is continuing to evolve our space to meet our needs, as we evolve alongside it. I’m excited to have our things in permanent spots, and I’m excited to provide a space for my kids to thrive.
As always, thank you for being here.
Kelly
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1 - Workshop image sources: https://pin.it/1Tl2jKs8T, https://pin.it/52FqUyWUN, https://pin.it/2hF4v7VTX
2 - Gym image sources: https://pin.it/1doK1DKBE, https://pin.it/3RbELYaE6, https://pin.it/YShZBblXs
3 - Office image sources: https://pin.it/1Euecv5EH, https://pin.it/22bnq72OU, https://pin.it/3ftSu9901, https://pin.it/3lpKRRa4W
4 - Play room image sources: https://pin.it/Q2ePU3Fzf, https://pin.it/1z2LCktbl, https://pin.it/3rQbLG7Nx, https://pin.it/1fmprQZSi