1.5 Car Garage – Etobicoke

This busy professional couple with two young children were feeling overwhelmed by the amount of stuff they had accumulated in their house. When the garage became a dumping ground for things they no longer had room for inside, they decided it was time to get organized.

They are avid cyclists and skiers, so they needed a place to store their bikes and skis. But they also wanted room to park the car, as well as have storage space for tools. They knew there were a lot of things they didn’t need to keep, so I helped them arrange for the removal of unwanted items, and in the process found some wood that was perfect for building platforms for overhead storage. I used it to construct a U-shaped platform along the rear and right walls of the garage to store camping equipment and other seasonal items. I applied a pine facing and finished the underside of the platform with white laminate to give it the appearance of a floating shelf. I also installed two 4×8 foot steel racks over the garage door to maximize overhead storage space.

Getting everything off the floor is key to making the best use of space. I installed slatwall around the perimeter of the garage to allow for the hanging of items such as ski poles, brooms, electrical cords and the kids’ scooters. Canadian garages are rarely a standard shape and size. In this case, a curved wall in the rear left corner of the garage made it a problematic area for storage. I found that the slatwallwould bend to form it around the contour and it now became useable space for hanging things. I also repositioned the central vacuum to create more accessible wall space.

The visual appeal of the garage was also important to the client. To create a seamless look, I painted the ceiling and the areas above and below the slatwall in a matching colour. I finished the floors and the lower sidewalls with polyaspartic coating, which is attractive and provides waterproofing. A hint of sparkle in the colour mix for the polyaspartic coating further enhances the visual impact. I also installed handsome stainless-steel Hercke upper cabinets at the back of the garage to safely store chemicals and other hazardous items away from the reach of little hands. And a ceiling light fixture with T8 fluorescent bulbs allows the family to see their organized garage in a bright new light.

One-size fits all is rarely the case in garages. With a few custom-built pieces, Iwas able to maximize the family’s storage space and free up more room for storage inside their home.