Easy Ways to Make The Most of Your Detached Garage
When you take the time to consider the range of possibilities, there are quite a few things that a structure as spacious as a detached garage can be used for. The standalone design style may seem like a drawback at first, but it may offer a number of important benefits, from fewer noise issues, to better privacy, to simpler access management.
In many ways, the hardest part is deciding what to use the space for. You have, functionally, a whole extra “house” to put to use. So, what should you do with your detached garage?
I Mean, It’s a Garage…Right?
So, the baseline assumption of an article like this is that you don’t necessarily need your garage for garage-related duties. But then, praytell, where will your methods of transportation sleep?
Realistically, a large number of homeowners use their garage as a garage, and anything else they use it for has to work around the vehicle or vehicles they store there. Depending on the size of the garage and vehicles in question, that can be a bigger challenge than it sounds.
To maximize storage space while also using the majority of the floor space for the things that take you from A to B, you need to start thinking in terms of surface area. In other words, use every surface to your advantage.
Hanging bikes and tools from the ceiling have been garage hacks for quite some time. But more modern options include semi-custom storage solutions that convert entire walls into cabinets-a-plenty.
As long as your vehicles leave at least a bit of wiggle room, and you’re not opposed to investing a little bit to turn your garage into an oversized walk-in closet, the options are nearly endless.
We Could Use the Extra Storage…
Ok, now that we’ve covered the automotive option, let’s talk about the second most common use for garages, detached or otherwise: putting stuff you can’t find room for anywhere else.
It’s surprisingly easy to simply collect items as a homeowner. Live in the same place long enough, and you’ll eventually start tripping over items you don’t even remember acquiring in the first place. Or, paradoxically, items you sincerely believed lost to time.
Taking for granted that these are items you intend to store that actually have value, use, or some measure of meaning, storing them only helps if you can find and access things when necessary. So just tossing things in a heap won’t cut it. If you want to use your detached garage for storage, you need to get organized.
We’ve already mentioned the shelves, cabinets, and hangers that can open up possibilities you hadn’t considered before. But without cars and trucks to fill the floor, you’ve got an abundance of space to play with, as long as you do it right.
Standing shelves, storage totes, and other freestanding solutions are your friends, here. Ideally, you can arrange the space in a sensible fashion—perhaps with isles like a supermarket. Even more ideally, you want things to be stable in place, and not present the risk of toppling over on someone.
You’ll also want to consider the climate needs of more sensitive storage items. If you are looking to store things that need to stay in a certain range of temperatures, humidities, illuminations, etc., you may need to make adjustments via insulation, heating/cooling, ventilation, and more.
A Tool Shed by Any Other Name
Can it really be called a garage if it doesn’t house at least one tool chest, a workbench, and a lawnmower? Because unless you’re calling out to a handyman and a landscaper every single time a bulb burns out or blade of grass gets out of place, you’re going to need tools.
Many of the storage options we discussed already are built with potential tool storage in mind. There are some dedicated organization solutions for tools, however (special hangers, charging stations, organizers and the like). And as for work benches, you’ll want something sturdy, even if you’re just building it yourself out of two-by-four studs.
If you’re anything like a stereotypical, sitcom-style suburban dad, your garage will likely be some combination of this, and the two ideas listed above.
Ok, let’s get to the more interesting ideas, now. You could likely have intuited the three above on your own, though sometimes reminders can be helpful. From here on out, we’ll be throwing curveballs of varying levels of unpredictability.
It’s Too People-y Out There
Have you been looking to get into yoga? Made a New Year’s resolution to get into shape? Want to practice boxing? Or perhaps just need more space to make use of exercise equipment? Any/all of the above?
How about if you don’t like the idea of doing that in front of strangers?
Sure, gyms are nice and all, but they have subscription costs (and we already have enough of those). Plus, you have to go out to the gym, adding an extra hurdle when fitness can require extra motivation as it is. What’s more, you can customize the space how you want, rather than having to accept what’s available to you.
Want an indoor rockwall? That’s doable. Want to learn olympic wrestling? A few wrestling mats and some singlets will get you started. It’s a bit startling just how much space a garage provides when it’s emptied of everything, and you may find that the blank canvas alone will fill you with ideas on what to put in there.
My Other Ride Is a [____]
Not all transportation is the same.
Sure, a garage can hold your daily commuter car, your toy hauler, or your family vacay vehicle/sibling conflict generator. But it can also hold a lot of other wheel-based investments.
You into biking? Check. You into the other kind of biking? Check. Actually, make that multiple checks (“bike” can feasibly refer to a lot of two-wheeled objects, depending on context).
How about scooters, go carts, or ATVs? Vintage automobiles? Boats or small aircraft? Honestly, “garage” is really just a term we use to mean “stables, but for nonliving things that go,” so, well, anything goes.
If You Need Me, I’ll Be in My Office
Working from home has proven a pretty attractive option for professionals whose work doesn’t have to be done onsite. What’s less popular is trying to cram a dedicated desk space into the home when most of that space was already spoken for. Doubly so if that space is prone to frequent foot traffic, or has to be shared with other family members.
Sometimes, it makes more sense to create a separate space where work can be performed unimpeded. It can help with tax deductions, too.
Home Away From Home
We have one living space, yes. But what about second living space? Sure, it’s not applicable for everyone, and it may take some renovations to install necessities to make it appropriate for the purpose. But once it’s done, you have may have yourself a studio loft, a flat with a kitchenette, or even a full-fledged apartment.
Who you let occupy the space is up to you. Is it a guest house? A teenager’s room? A “my first apartment” for a recently graduated high schooler? Or even just converting it to a rental property, if you’re so inclined.
If all of that sounds like a hair too far, you can still use the space as a getaway, hideaway, or fun space. Think backyard fort or treehouse, except indoors. In that case, there’s not necessarily a need for indoor plumbing or HVAC installation.
Express Yourself
This one…is a bit broad, to be fair. But it’s definitely worth including. We’ve covered usages functional, vocational, aspirational, and residential. That still leaves a significant portion of the human experience untapped.
An unused garage can be an excellent space for a number of creative pursuits. A workshop for crafts, carpentry, and more. An art studio of one or more of various mediums. A photography, video, or streaming studio. A print shop (paper, 3D, laser cutting, you name it). Even a music studio (garage bands are a thing for several reasons, and one of them is favorable acoustics).
Many of these pursuits are deeply cherished or long-held ambitions of people who, without enough space to really dig into the hobby, have left their interest on the backburner. If that’s you or someone you live with, and your circumstances allow for it, it may be the best possible use for the space.
Ok, Now You’re Just Showing Off
Before we close out with a discussion of multifunctional ideas, let’s cover some of the more eclectic, bragworthy, or enrichment-based purposes that might earn you lots of neighborhood brownie points. Here are just a few, rapid-fire:
- Theater room, for epic movie nights
- Art gallery, especially if you’re the artist
- Gaming den (pick your poison—poker nights, board games, video games, the list goes on)
- Dance studio or ballroom
- Miniature model workshop, be it trains, architecture, wargaming, or anything else
- Dedicated virtual reality play space (the extra elbow room dramatically improves the experience)
You could even turn it into a spa, though the specifics depend on what you have access to, both in equipment and skill sets. A mani-pedi setup might be easier to furnish and “staff” (at least, for recreational use), but message isn’t out of the question if you have a table and the right connections.
There’s even saunas and hot tubs (though you’ll have to address ventilation and possibly plumbing concerns).
Ultimately, it’s your space. Don’t be afraid to remake it how you like.
A Little Bit of Everything, All of the Time
Ok, we’ve covered a lot of ideas for your detached garage, from workshop ideas to how to set your inner aspiring designer loose. Making the most of your garage can certainly take a number of forms. It doesn’t have to be just one form, though.
Just as you might use the garage to store both vehicles and possessions with the right organizational solutions, you can build a multifunctional space in other ways.
Maybe you convert the attic into a living space, while setting up gym equipment down below.
Perhaps you use wall cabinets and clever storage solutions to rapidly switch from pottery night to movie night.
You might even have your jam session and your post-jam audio mixing all in the same space.
Some cross-functionality is easier to facilitate in the garage space than others. Uses that require lots of open floor (like VR) don’t mesh well with those that do the opposite (like extensive storage). A lot of that primarily comes down to planning, though, and how much you can afford to invest (with time and money).
If you need a starting point, though, it really is hard to go wrong with those sharp looking wall cabinets.
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