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Turn Your Garage Into a Functional Space

Ever since we started working from home and gyms were closed due to quarantine, we were inspired to turn our garage into a functional space. We never designated a specific area or room for our gym equipment. This can be challenging when you have distractions all around you. Also our tools for our DIY projects and gardening tools getting misplaced and not easily accessible. These are just a few of the many challenges we had due to not having an organized and functional garage space. You can also view the Instagram stories in my highlights here.

FLOORING

A standard 2 car garage space will approximately cost around $2,500-$2,600. Ours cost a bit more because we have an extra section in the garage beyond the standard 20x20ft space. There are two common types of flooring to choose from that we researched, EPOXY and Polyaspartic Epoxy. Polyaspartic, in our opinion, is the one to go with. It is far more durable and less likely to change colour (from clear to yellowish) over time. The difference in pricing is not too much to go from Epoxy to Poly, and worth the extra dollars.

You can also choose from so many different flake colours which give the floor texture and colour. You should choose the colour to match your overall design and vision. We highly recommend using Homestars to choose a professional to do it. We researched those who did it themselves with Epoxy kits from big box stores, some experiences peeling or cracking after a year.

When the professionals came to our home, they first sanded the whole concrete down. Then filled all the cracks and side joints with a filler. Lay the polyaspartic epoxy and added chips as it cured. Then as a final step, they scraped off the leftover chips and vacuumed them up.

It took a couple of days to fully cure the flooring and for the smell to completely go away. In our experience due to doing this project in the Fall, it took longer than usual. Below are some samples of floor colours to choose from.

Cabinets

These cabinets are from Costco and cost $1,499, including shipping. Compared to the other options (online at least) these cabinets were cheaper than everywhere else. This is a strong metal gauge cabinet that can hold up all the weight of items like fertilizer, soil and concrete bags. It’s also perfect for organizing all of our tools and materials. Having a workbench ensures we have a designated area for doing it yourself projects. All of the custom ones we looked at were too expensive. There are some good deals on New Age cabinets. For the look and quality, you can get it for a decent price. Check out NewAge Products Bold Series 8-piece Cabinet Set on their site vs Costco.

The install of these cabinets is manageable. The install took us one evening to put up the set. The cabinets in this set were pre-assembled and only needed to be hanged, then doors pinned in.

Recommendation: using a laser level for our horizontal line, mark where the studs are behind the drywall using a stud finder.

This made installation much easier and relatively quick, and from our experience, we recommend having 2 people do the install of the cabinets. Keep in mind that the cabinets need to be secured to the wall for safety, and it can be hard to do that by yourself.

Paint

Bring it all together by picking a paint colour that sets the mood and completes the look of your space. You don’t want to lose out on the trim colour. We painted our window, doors, trims, all-black semi-gloss and it really made them stand out. Similarly, we painted the ceiling black too. It really helped to tie into the wall border and the floor’s black flakes.

Tip: We used exterior paint rather than indoors as the garage can get pretty cold when the doors open and interior paints are prone to cracking when exposed to cold temperatures well below freezing. Also, it may be a good idea to paint first before the floors are done if you’re painting the ceiling since the floors will be sanded after anyway so splatter wouldn’t be an issue.

walls

This is easily the biggest difference-maker in our garage. The wall slats are from Garage Royalty, they make and sell their products locally in the GTA, but also sell online in Canada and the US. We bought their residential products and installed them ourselves. It was pretty simple.

STEP ONE

Mark the bottom of your floor with a level. We used a laser level.

STEP TWO

Along that line, we marked each stud with a vertical pencil line. At the base, we started with a little shelf along the level line and basically worked our way up one slat at a time. Once you get to the top, you just cap the slats with a top piece for a clean finished look.

Each wall slat is drilled to the stud and can support an immense amount of weight. It can hold things like bikes, heavy tools, strollers and so much more!

Tip: Visit https://shopca.garageroyalty.com/collections/slatwall and look up current slat wall prices. The kits come in 8×4 or even 8×8. From this, you get an idea of the sq footage you need. We bought a couple of the 8×8 kits and just bought the slats on their own directly from garage royalty based on how much more we needed.

If you have a big garage space, it’s recommended to take pictures and measurements of your garage and then visit their location. We spoke to Marcello and it was absolutely a pleasure to work with him and the team. We got tips and estimates of how much material we would need. They have 4 different colours that can be found on their site (sandstone, dove grey, graphite grey and white).

There’s a pro series that costs slightly more which is basically a wider slat wall. We used this only on our lower 2 slats to give the walls contrast and save some money. For tools, you just needed a measuring tape, drill, level, square, cutting bench, and a jigsaw with a laser to make sure you’re cutting straight or even better a mitre saw. Another tip, check out all the organizing accessories they have! Check out this Instagram Reel to see the accessories we’re starting with:

Potlights

We got the potlights done by this vendor: https://www.potlightguy.com/. Lenny was super quick, professional, in and out in no time with no mess! Don’t skimp on the lighting if you’re going to be using this space for a gym or workshop, lighting is essential and keeps the environment upbeat.

Garage door sealing

Lastly, we had a lot of gaps around our garage doors to outside and so we purchased new seals and installed them outside our garage door to keep drafts out. Check out Home Depot’s “9-ft. Heavy Duty Double Fin Garage Door Seal” in white used for top and sides. You might find cheaper ones on Amazon if you have a standard garage door size.

How do we keep the space warm in the winter?
Garage door sealing is great as mentioned above but we also have space heaters like this Dyson Pure Hot & Cool + Air Purifier. We also got a stronger one from Canadian Tire that hangs on the wall.

Turn your garage into a functional space with all of these tips or make your garage into an awesome gym space! Good luck.