Garage Makeover

My brother and his wife recently bought their first house.  The house is 17 years old and the garage was never finished.  The walls had years of holes from various hooks, pegs, screws, hammer slams and car doors hitting it.  As you can see from the photo...the walls were a mess!!

The garage is a one car garage and measures 20' x 9'.  It took drywall compound and sheetrock squares to patch up the small and large holes in walls and ceiling.  Then the walls and ceiling were sanded and retouched again.  It took three coats of Kilz premium primer with stain block to cover over everything.  The marker was especially a problem bleeding through the first two coats.  

Here is the garage with it's new makeover.  The paint color is Valspar Autumn Fog in a satin finish.  

 It's gray with a hint of blue.   The blue adds brightness to the normally dull gray color.

1 x 2s and 1x3s were screwed into the studs and used as cleats for the shelves and brackets.  The shelves are made from a 4 x 8 piece of plywood ripped in half.  This  created over 20' of shelf space.

For extra storage, and to keep things off of the floor, bicycle hooks were used for the trikes, tool hooks for brooms and mops and utility hooks for the ladder and step stool.

The power of paint never ceases to amaze me!!  My brother still plans to refinish the floor or buy tiles.  He is still researching feedback on epoxy floor paint, as well as build a standing or folding workbench.  He will also be adding more organizational things to the walls.  I'll be sure to share this with you when he is finished. 

If you're thinking of tackling a project like this, here are a few tips:

1.  All products were purchased at Lowes and Home Depot.  

2.  There is no reason to purchase an expensive shelf system - furring strips screwed into studs and plywood shelving is a fraction of the cost and takes paint really well.  

3.  Having a stud finder makes the job easier.  Other tools used for this project were a level, power drill, 2 paint rollers (thrown out after using, not worth cleaning), 4" paint brush for cut-ins, step stool for reaching corners (easier than moving ladder), paint tray and liners, paint extenion pole, hat, gloves and glasses.  Trust me, wear a hat when sanding and painting, you'll thank me later.

4.  My brother did this project by himself over the course of a few weekends (keep in mind he has twins that are 3 years old which makes it a bit tougher to carve out huge chunks of time), but you could probably get this done in a weekend with help.  Perhaps spackle on Friday, sand and prime on Saturday, and paint later on Saturday or Sunday(primer dries in one hour) and hang shelves and move stuff when paint dries.

Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!!

-Judy