Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

Garage Makeover Reveal

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You’ve seen all the individual pieces – now it’s time to put them all together in our garage makeover reveal!

There are a few things in life I’d crawl through barbed wire for, and my babes’ smile is one of them. Oh sure, she smiles often enough (did you know “Handan” means “smiley face” or “one who makes others smile” in ancient Persian?), but there are smiles, and then there are smiles. Smiles are a dime a dozen (unless I tell a particularly funny joke, and then I get her doubled over gasping for breath with tears running down her cheeks, but that’s a different story). As I said, smiles are commonplace, but smiles usually happen at the tail end of a DIY project. The bigger the project, the bigger the smile.

And room makeovers give those big face-splitters that I live for.

Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

But there’s another component to this smile equation. If the makeover is something she’s been wanting for a long time, like really so badly, the smile payoff will be even bigger than if it was just some run-of-the-mill makeover that sprung up out of nowhere.

Now, this may lead you to believe that a surefire method to achieve the biggest payday would be for me to postpone everything she wants really bad in order to get raise those smile dividends.

This is folly, madam, for down that road lies the opposite of “Handan.”

Let’s call her “Hundun,” and she is not pleased with my procrastinating ways.

So there’s a balance, you see – a fine line that I must carefully tread to ensure I maximize her smile at the end of the project while minimizing the chance for frowns before the project.

Sometimes I just get lucky, like with this garage makeover.

Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

Handan has been wanting a garage makeover since long before we moved out of our old house. I did manage to keep Hundun at bay…mostly…the plan for a garage makeover there started to coalesce, and I did start making progress towards the goal. It was a slow process, and fortunately there were a lot of mitigating factors that made the wait…tolerable, if not desirable.

My biggest salvation came in the form of our move down South. Once that was solidified in January 2020, there was no reason to lift a finger in that garage any more!

And once we had established ourselves in Georgia, we were so busy with setting up our new home, that the garage (though on the fringes of her radar) was mostly an afterthought.

So even thought she’s been really wanting a garage makeover for years, I’ve largely avoided Hundun – to my great relief and delight.

Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

But under the surface, deep down inside my babes, the smile pool was filling, filling, filling…

By the time we finally finished our garage makeover, five years of buildup burst out all at once and showered me with some of the most radiant smiles I’ve ever witnessed.

It was glorious.

You’ve seen the projects leading up to this moment – now let’s have a look at the finished garage makeover.

Let’s first rewind and have a look at the before.

Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

And here we are now.

Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

Before.

Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

And after.

Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

We approached this makeover a little differently than we have any of our other room makeovers. For starters, this garage makeover was all about storage. We can never have enough of it. Storage is the drug to which we’re hopelessly addicted.

But because this is a garage and not, say, our living room, we had the flexibility to achieve our goal through the least expensive route possible: upcycling, repurposing and re-using what we already had. All told, this makeover cost us around $200. That is incredible! Now that’s not to say you’d be able to pull off a similar makeover for a similar price. We already had almost all of the wood, some of the paint, all the cabinetry, lockers and all of the little decor items. Yes, most of those cost us something at some point in the past, but since none was bought explicitly for this makeover, I’m not counting them in the total cost of the project.

Creative accounting, madam. It’s what corporate America is all about.

Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

I’m so happy this garage makeover is finished and in the history books. This is the first time I’ve had a clean and organized garage, and I love it!

Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

No more peeling paint and dried leaves. These days, I’m all about clean. And sister, lemme tell you…Handan couldn’t be more thrilled about that!

Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

Mister Clean & Organized – that’s my new name!

Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

I love how the garage no longer looks like a typical garage, and that’s mostly thanks to our little mudroom. It gives the space an entirely different feel.

Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com
Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

This, not the front door, is the place we come home to, so it should have a homey feel. We love coming home to this garage now!

Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com
Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

I kinda feels like a little house with cars parked inside!

Garage Makeover Reveal - TheNavagePatch.com

Okay, enough of my written yapping. How about some audible yapping? Here’s a little video walkthrough of our garage makeover reveal.

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20 Comments

  1. Amazing transformation! I love the little mudroom so much! Real talk – do you have to do anything to keep the spiders out? I am also a Connecticut native now living down here in the south (Richmond, VA), and the spiders are just a little more… I don’t know, giant and terrifying here? I live in fear of our very spidery garage lol!

    1. Peppermint oil will keep the spiders away. Soak a few cotton balls in the oil and then tuck into spaces where like to hide of enter. This is what I use since I am not a fan of chemicals for myself and have a house full of pets. I check once a month to add a few more drops as needed. My climate is super hot and very dry with almost no humidity.

    2. Thank you, Kylie! Nope, nothing special to keep them out. They don’t bother me, so I don’t bother them (unless of course, I’m doing a garage deep clean). Just think of all the mosquitoes and flies those spiders are catching and eating! 🙂

  2. Well done! Wanna come up to MA and do my garage? It’s a cement bunker. (Seriously). It’s under the addition part of the house and all walls, floor, and ceiling are cement. I hate it. It’s just a big storage shed currently (single car size)

    1. I can totally picture it. With some concrete primer, light-color paint and fluorescent/LED lighting, you can brighten it right up!

  3. This is an awesome garage transformation and what I particularly love about it is you did it with what you had on hand. We just moved into a new build and though we do have some built-in cabinets in the garage, we need more storage on the back wall and have been looking at garage organizing systems (slats, hooks, etc) The husband and I needed paper bags to breathe into when we saw the prices. You’ve inspired me to “shop our stash” and use what we have to get our garage organized. (Admittedly our stash is no where near as large as your’s and Handan’s, but we should be able to figure out how to DYI some hanging storage for ladders, mops, etc). Great job.

    1. Thank you, Marguerite! Oh yeah, we’ve priced those storage systems in the past. Yeesh, you’d think it was high-end living room furniture! Storage is almost always better when DIY’d. Good luck with your Organization! 🙂

  4. Drooling! My garage is unfinished and would absolutely be in heaven with this makeover. My washer and dryer are in my garage as well. It’s a mess.

  5. Well done you all!! It really does look so functional and cozy to boot! I’m going to have to revisit the garage door opener DIY that you and Barish did awhile back. It truly is so quiet. Perfect timing with the car driving by, as it seemed louder than the door opener motor itself.

  6. Great job Greg and Handan. I wish I had a full-time blogger, entrepreneur, designer, handyman, etc. You rock. P.S. I jus made a black loopy wreath with a spider floating down the middle. You inspire me.