Those of you with a garage may be missing out on a lot of potential. If your garage is anything like my family’s growing up, then it’ll probably be a bit of a clutter haven. You’ve got so much extra space right on your doorstep, but you aren’t using it wisely.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could transform your garage into something more stylish and practical? Well, you can! All it takes is a little renovation and you will give your garage a brand new look that will totally improve your property. It may sound like a daunting task, but there are definite ways of simplifying the process and making it much easier. As such, I’ve broken down all the main steps that come with garage renovation, and you can read them all down below:

Declutter Your Garage

The first step in your process towards a gorgeous new garage is to clear out your old one. This provides you with a blank sheet of paper to work your magic on. It also helps you get a much clearer picture of your garage – you start to properly appreciate the size and space you’re working with. The difficulty of this task ultimately depends on the current state of your garage. Some people may be able to clear theirs in half an hour or so, because they haven’t got a lot of stuff there. However, if your garage is full of clutter and old bikes, etc. then it could well take you multiple days before it’s nice and clear.

There are a couple of things you can do to make this step easier for you. Firstly, you’re obviously going to end up with loads of waste and possibly some large items to shift out of your home. It’s important you dispose of them correctly, and there are residential waste removal services that make life easier. Instead of having to haul everything to your local waste collection site, you can get it picked up from your home. Next, you’ll undoubtedly have trouble trying to decide what you should or shouldn’t get rid of. To this I say; if it isn’t important, then chuck it. Do you use it anymore? No; chuck it. Does it hold sentimental value? No; chuck it. Stop overthinking things and just declutter your garage as quickly as can be.

Decide The Purpose Of Your New Garage

After your garage clearout, you now have the perfecting starting place to think about a new garage design. The first part of designing a new garage is thinking about the purpose of it. What do you want this empty space to become? There are so many great ideas you can roll with here, it’s really a part of your home that allows you to be free and creative. Having said that, different homes may have different needs.

For example, if you have quite a small home but quite a large family, then your garage may be a good thing to convert into an extra bedroom. Alternatively, I’ve seen lots of people renovate their garage and turn it into a playroom for children – or even a playroom for adults! Then, you have people that are heavily into their DIY tasks. If you’re someone that likes getting their hands dirty, then turn your garage into a DIY workshop! If you have a garden and like gardening, then it can become a place to keep all your garden equipment. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with using your garage for the primary purpose of a garage; to house your car. Think about it, you had too much clutter in it before, but now it’s big enough and spacious enough for you to keep your car in. Therefore, this frees up space in your driveway for you to potentially be more creative and improve your home exterior! It doesn’t matter what you use your garage for, all that’s important is that you come to a decision on how you’re going to use it before you actually start transforming it.

Come Up With Some Design Ideas

Once you’ve decided on the purpose of your garage, you’re now in the best place to start designing it. You’ve got a nice empty garage, you’ve got a general idea for what you want the room to be like, it’s simply a case of coming up with a few rough designs and sketches.

In many ways, this is probably the most fun and exciting part of the whole process. This is the bit where you go online and start looking at loads of different garage conversion design ideas. For me, that’s the best way of coming up with a design for your garage. It’s great to see what other people have done, and then take elements from their design and apply it to yours. During this period, you should measure your garage as well, just to get a good idea of how much space you’ve actually got. This also comes in handy when you’re mapping out where everything is going to go, just to ensure you don’t pack the space too tightly and end up removing any space from it whatsoever. I’ll also make a point of reminding you that the outside of your garage can do with some design upgrades too. Don’t just think about how it looks on the inside, consider the outside elements too, like the garage door.

Ideally, you should come up with a fair few design ideas for your garage space. This is a good idea as you’ve now got more choice, but you may also realise you love certain elements from one design and certain elements from another. So, it helps you combine everything until you finally fall into the perfect design for you. Once you’re 100% certain that this is the one to proceed with, then you can move on to the final step.

Create Your New Garage

Lastly, you need to actually create your new garage. This is the most exciting part of the process as you finally get to see this space transform into something new and improved. It’s fair to say that, during the decluttering and design processes, you may have discovered parts of your garage that could do with some fixing. Perhaps there’s a crack in the roof or a broken window? Either way, you should fix up the outside of your garage before starting on the interior. Make sure everything looks nice from the outside, and ensure nothing is broken.

Once the outer shell of your garage is sorted, you can proceed with the fun part; bringing the inside to life. Here, you should make a list of everything you need; furniture, equipment, flooring and so on. Then, it’s just a matter of consulting your design and making it come to life. There are two ways you can do this. For one, you could try and create your garage yourself, or with the help of friends. This is a very DIY way of doing things and can save a fair bit of money. However, you can also choose to get professional contractors in to create your design for you. Your choice pretty much depends on how complicated your design is and how much work your garage needs. If there’s a fair bit of structural redesign going on, or many intricate things, then a contractor may be worth paying for as they know what they’re doing. But, if your garage is relatively well set-up already, and it’s just a case of putting different bits and bobs here and there, then you can easily do it yourself.

After all of this, you’ll now have a garage with a brand new look and feel. It’ll be more practical, and help you get more out of your property.

Thanks for reading guys!