This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Since we moved in our house back in 2016 I have been wanting to give our garage a makeover, but I kept putting off because of lack of time. We finally made a plan and got started on the garage.

In this post I will give you a step by step guide to show you how to start your own garage makeover, and lastly I will show you our garage makeover progress.

Step 1 Assess the Garage

Take a look around your garage and decide what items you will want to keep trash or donate. Then decide what items you actually want to keep in your garage this will help you decided what kind of storage you want put in your garage.

Step 2- What is your overall goal for your garage makeover?

For us we wanted the to garage to be a functional space where we can easily access our tools for all of our DIY projects as well as for my husband to be able to work on the cars or his motorcycle.

Step 3- Decide on the type of storage

Once you have decided to what items you will store in your garage decide what type of storage you want. Below is a list of items you can store in your garage.

We opted for building our own cabinets because we wanted a particular size and style it would have cost us way more.

You can still customize store bought cabinet by doing something as minor as changing the hardware or even painting the cabinet.

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to help you decide on the type of storage

Do you already have storage and just need to organize the garage?

Do you need to add storage?

Do just want everything off the floor and put away? or do you actually want the garage to be visually appealing?

Do you want to buy storage?

Do you want to build your own storage?

Step 4- Decide where your storage will go

If you have space between your garage door and the wall that’s one of the best place to add storage because it is a space you can’t really utilize without having some sort of storage.

The amount of space you have will vary from garage to garage, but as long as you have at least one foot (12 inches) of space you can make it work. Ours is about 18 inches of space which is 1.5 feet.

Step 5- Take measurements

Now that you have decided what kind of storage you want start measuring, and measure again and again.

Whether you are building custom storage or buying them you need to measure, especially if you are adding tall storage close to your garage door you want to make sure it will not be in the way of your garage door opening. We slightly miscalculated and had to cut a about an inch from the top corner of our cabinet….

Step 6- Pick a color palette

I wanted a neutral monochrome look so we went with colors like black grey white and natural wood

OUR MAKEOVER UPDATE

What our garage looked like before

The goal

Painting the walls white

Replacing the baseboards

Building custom tall cabinets

Building a workbench

Having a designated spot for all of our tools

Building storage for scrap of wood

Adding cabinets above the workbench

Covering the water heater

Building a storage for extra tires

Figuring out some sort of rack for our bicycle

Heres what we’ve done so far

Painted the walls

I wanted white so the garage could look brighter, I went with Benjamin Moore Regal Select Pearl finish in the color Chantilly lace

Replaced our baseboards

I actually wanted to go with 5 inch baseboards but they were all out of stock so we ended up going with the 3 inch and I am not disappointed.

Painted the door

I searched high and low for the perfect black, I wanted a true black that had no undertone.

I went with Benjamin Moore Regal Select Pearl finish in the color Onyx

Built the base and frame of the cabinet

Since I am kind of making this up as a I go the cabinet is taking a while to be built.

The hardest part about building this cabinet is the fact that our floors aren’t leveled and the wall is not straight so it’s be pretty hard getting exact measurements for everything.

A detailed post about the cabinets will bu up once we actually finish building it.