One of the easiest ways to add more room to your home is to better utilize the space you already have. Garage remodeling can be a cost-effective way to greatly expand your home’s living space, especially if you already park in the driveway. While many people end up storing nearly everything messily in their garage, a garage remodel can also help and/or encourage a little reorganization, while giving your home better, more usable space.
Garage Remodeling
Many people find that a garage offers the perfect environment for a home office, studio space, or workshop. Since many garages are attached to or near the home, often a little garage remodeling can easily match the same comforts as a home: heating and cooling, phone wiring, even plumbing.
However, transforming your garage doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your storage area. Many garages today have become multifunctional, allowing for cars, general storage, and a home office or workshop all in the same space.
If you find you will be losing too much storage space in your garage, as part of the garage remodeling project consider building a small storage shed in your yard to house tools, sporting equipment and seasonal items. A building separate from the house will expand your storage space, allowing you to use the garage in ways that you could not use a shed: electricity or heating, for example.
In addition to remodeling your current garage space, you could also consider an addition above the garage. Raising the roof and adding a room for work space above your existing garage can give you additional space, not to mention increase the value of a home, all without changing the floor plan or interrupting your family flow during construction.
Here are some other garage remodeling ideas:
- Laundry room: If your laundry room is in the basement and you have no space upstairs, building a small laundry room in your garage will eliminate the need to go up and down the stairs. As far as real estate value is concerned, having an upstairs laundry is bonus, but having the ability for the next owner to choose upstairs or downstairs for the laundry is a real coup.
- Mud room: Protect your home from outdoor dirt and debris by encouraging everyone to leave their shoes and other outdoor gear here. Install a sink for easier clean up. Certainly, no one needs to make a mudroom the size of a garage, so think of a mudroom as a smart, smaller feature of the larger garage remodeling project.
- Music studio: This is where many “garage bands” got their start. Consider soundproofing the garage to avoid neighbors’ complaints.
- Home Office: If you have ever tried to work from home, even for a day, you know that your home offers many distractions: laundry, dishes, TV, etc. Converting your garage into a home office room is the perfect answer. This keeps your work in a workspace instead of the kitchen table or the recliner.
