Scott was smart and had our contractor move the old cabinets from the our kitchen remodel into the garage where he installed them into a workspace for himself. The only problem was it just looked like kitchen cabinetry in garage.
So I spent most of the summer hunting for deals, scouring yard sales and saving my pennies so I could surprise him with a garage that could accommodate all of his stuff AND be a place where the girls could safely hang out.
After 11 days (a few hours a day while the girls were napping or at preschool), a bunch of DIY projects, one painful blister and less than $350 the garage was transformed. And I must admit, it looks pretty great and every time I stand back and look at it all I can't help but feel really proud of myself: )
BEFORE
AFTER
I bought the National Geographic wall map from Amazon for about half of what it cost on the National Geographic website. I found the wood bench two years ago on Craigslist for $20 and spray painted it and the shelving next to it (which I saw a neighbor had put out with their trash?!) high gloss black. The coat hook rail is from Target. We had the striped rug and the grey rugs which were leftover pieces from the basement carpeting.
BEFORE
AFTER
I thought painting the cabinets would be the biggest challenge for me, but it turned out not to be too bad. I bought three quarts of black high gloss paint, assuming I would need all of it but ended up returning two of them! The best decision I made was to use foam brushes. I bought two of these and was able to use them both for this project and a few other touch ups around the room.
The cream color of the countertops just wasn't working, but I didn't want to invest a lot of time and energy in using a countertop kit so I found this metallic silver duct tape at Michaels and just adhered it in slightly overlapping rows. The stool I found at Target for $15 and just spray painted it black.
BEFORE
I decided to make this side of the room the toy/car storage as well as Layla's painting station. We had the easel and I just added a black outdoor mat under it. Since taking over Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly has had some great deals for new members. So I was able to get the two photos of Scott throwing the girls in the air (their favorite thing to do) enlarged to 20" x 30" for half price! I just mounted them onto insulation panels (left over from a soon-to-be shared bedroom project) with spray adhesive. The letters are mix of metal (left over from Scott's office move) and wood from Michaels spray painted Lagoon Blue.
BEFORE
AFTER
Pinterest is full of awesome ideas for using chalkboard paint so I was dying to try it somewhere and this big wall was the perfect place. I bought two quarts and was able to do two coats using a roller brush. I also wanted to cover the utility closet so I purchased five yards of Twill Zig Zag fabric in storm from fabric.com when it was on super sale ($5.23/yard)! The fabric was 56" wide so I was able to just cut in half and hang the panels with curtain rings I already had.
A few more AFTER shots...
I bought the pegboard at ReStore last summer for $5 and just cut it to fit under the upper cabinets. I painted them with leftover paint (Benjamin Moore's Moonshine) from our dining room and hallways. The red striped rug is something I bought when we first moved in but never found a spot inside for it. Love the pop of color it adds to all the grey and black. The memorabilia and old trucks are all from Scott's childhood which had been boxed up for years since we never had a proper (mutually agreeable) place to put them.
Scott has a ton of old matchbox cars from when he was a kid and the girls love playing with them - but they always end up everywhere. So I decided to hot glue magnets to them ($6.99/50 from Michaels) so they could "drive" them around on the fridge. I made the road with black electrical tape because it was pliable enough to make curves. I figured when they get sick of this road, we can make a new one with more twists and turns!
I found these numbered metal containers at Michaels for $.99/each. I was instantly drawn to the colors, the subject matter (measuring tape and grids), and the fact that they had the numbers for Scott's birthday month and day. I filled them with pencils, rubber band balls and the extensive (and colorful) collection of screwdrivers Scott has.
I bought pegboard hooks at Target for $7 and was able to hang a few things. He'll have to change this up as I really had no idea what I was doing:) This also gives you a better look at the duct tape counter top. Shiny - right?
The small area above the utility closet needed something and I knew I wanted to hang a clock somewhere so I thought why not three!? Each clock ($3.99) has the time of Scott's hometown, my hometown and where we live now. All the same. But I thought it would be fun to switch it up if family or friends travel or if the girls are studying different countries in school.
I replaced all the original crystal knobs on the cabinets - I think this was the most frustrating part of the whole makeover. (Knobs that have not been moved in 20+ years are not fun to unscrew!) The doors got the knobs that came with the Ikea dresser in Layla's room (so glad I saved those) and the drawers got these fun little football pulls that I found in the dollar section at Michaels.
Lastly, the room was lit by two bare bulbs hanging mounted to the ceiling. So I decided to create my own light fixtures with grey plastic tape measures (.99/each at JoAnn Fabrics) cut in 10" sections and hot glued to plastic embroidery hoops. I like the sun ray effect it casts to the ceiling.
Sorry for the super long post but hope you like it as much as we all do!!
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