Archive for the Category ◊ Garage Renovation ◊

• Friday, April 03rd, 2009

When people buy a home, they have plans and ambitions for a great life and building and raising a family.  Sometimes, as time goes by, the home becomes crowded and it feels like everyone is standing on each other.

The two choices available are to move and buy another larger house or to add onto the present home.  There are some families that cannot afford to add on to their present home and they may feel closed in.

There is one other option available to the family; they can begin remodeling a garage to a room.  This can free up a lot of space and it can turn into a large room.  The extra space can become a bedroom with a full closet.

Remodeling a garage to a room might just be the answer to the problem of over crowding.  If the people aren’t very good at construction and need to save money, the garage is the perfect answer.

The garage is already built and standing, so there is no need for any of that type of construction.  All the people need to do is paint and turn the garage into the type of bedroom that they decide on.

It really takes some planning and physical work, but the job isn’t very technical.  Even with little or no experience, the job can be done even if it doesn’t look super professional.

Costs Of Remodeling A Garage To A Room

If there is no money available to make the necessary changes to the home, then the owners must either buy another home or spend enough money to convert the garage into a bedroom.

It will cost money to make the changes but everything costs money.  The overall cost will be less than most people think.  Remodeling a garage to a room can be done by the owners so there is no cost for labor.

The only cost is the cost for materials, such as buying nails and paint as well as fixtures and flooring.  The room can stay basic or it can be done up really nice.  It’s up to the owners to decide on how nice the room will become.

Remodeling a garage to a room doesn’t even have to take very long to complete.  With a little help from other family members, it can be finished in two or three weekends of hard work.

• Friday, April 03rd, 2009

One of the things to consider when improving your kitchen is how you want to change the cabinetry. Because so much of a kitchen is cabinet space, kitchen cabinet renovation is one of the most important things to do when improving your kitchen.

Your cabinet renovation project can range in complexity from painting your existing cabinet fronts to a fully redesigned set of kitchen cabinets. One thing to contend with when renovation your cabinets is what to do in a kitchen where you have cabinet space underneath the corner of a counter. When improving your kitchen, you may want to decide how to best utilize this space, and there are a few options.

Lazy Susan

One method of renovation corner cabinets to make use of the space there is to add a lazy Susan, where circular shelves are mounted around an axle, allowing you to turn your corner cabinet’s door.

The benefit to this design is that you can store things far in the back corner of your kitchen cabinets with little loss of extra space. However, due to the design of the lazy Susan, with the main support concentrated in a small area in the center, these are often not ideal for heavy things, so you must be conscious of how much load you’re putting on them.

Also, including one of these in your cabinet renovation project sometimes means making smaller openings for nearby cabinets to ensure you have adequate room for the new mechanism.

New Drawers

One interesting idea for renovation your corner cabinets is to add drawers that pull straight out from the corner, or at a forty-five degree angle, the way most other drawers would pull out, in order to use the space in the back of the cabinet.

Your storage options are limited only by the width and depth of the drawers you have designed, and it’s a way to use that corner space without much waste.

Just as with the lazy Susan, though, you may decide to alter cabinet space to the right and left of the corner to allow for wider drawers, but to balance this out, if you have another set of drawers in the kitchen, you can replace those with additional cabinet space when renovation. Such a redistribution of how you use your space can ultimately make storage easier for you.

Do Nothing

Sometimes, the best thing to do with the corners when renovation your cabinets is to do nothing. Some home renovation experts will suggest leaving the area under the cabinet counters as dead space.

Even with the lazy Susan or drawers in the corner, it is often difficult to effectively utilize that corner space, so it’s more cost effective to simply leave it be when renovation your cabinets.

The dead space also leaves you an option for storing large things you rarely need to access. But whether you choose to alter the space or leave it be, you should give some thought to how you best want to alter your corner cabinets when renovation your kitchen.

• Thursday, April 02nd, 2009

Traditionally, a garage was an important addition to the house that provided shelter for the family’s automobile. However, it seems that the average garage is now the delegated storage area. This means that the garage is the area of choice for storing lawn equipment, the children’s toys, seasonal items and spare pieces of furniture.

You have decided to take back the garage and transform it back into its intended purpose. This will be done through your commitment towards garage remodeling. As part of your garage renovation makeover you have decided to not only use the garage for its intended purpose of housing your vehicle, but also to organize the garage as a storage area.

Starting With The Garage Floor

A vehicle, next to your home, is probably the second most expensive purchase that can be made by families. It therefore stands to reason that you would want to protect your automobile from the elements. These elements that you wish to protect your car from include hail storms, the sun, vandalism, etc.

Therefore, the first important step in garage renovation is to empty out the garage completely of its contents. This will not only give you a good idea of how to rearrange the garage, but also will give you an opportunity to sort out items that you wish to keep, giveaway, or put into a yard sale.

As part of your garage renovation process you may wish to give attention to the garage floor. Generally, these floors are made from concrete and often detract from the appearance of the garage due to various stains. These stains can be from motor oil, antifreeze, water damage, etc. There are a number of methods that can be utilized to give attention to the garage floor. One of these methods can be the application of paint to the garage floor. Remember, the paint utilized should be a special type of paint that is formulated to be applied on the concrete.

Another method of sprucing up a garage floor is through the use of a durable garage flooring product. Generally this product is made from polyvinyl and can be rolled out and applied. The added value of applying this product is that any cracks or stains can be easily covered through the use of this product. In addition, the material utilized to cover up the garage floor is resistant to the spills often associated with the storage of a vehicle. It is strongly suggested that if utilizing this method of refinishing the garage floor that professional installers be contracted with.

Organizing Your Garage
Another garage renovation strategy is to organize those items that will be stored in the garage. This garage renovation strategy can be accomplished by installing shelving, storage boards, cabinets and the use of plastic bins.

For example seasonal clothing can be placed in plastic bins, marked on the outside as to what is contained within and then stored on shelves that may be built utilizing the upper portion of the garage’s interior. Or sturdy metal cabinets can be built and secured firmly to the wall out of the garage. One shelf or cabinet can be specifically set aside for lawn maintenance or utilized for products that help to maintain the vehicle.