The Modern Garage And Its Uses

Long gone are the days when garages were used just to park cars. Now, these spaces are often used for many different functions. Over the past fifteen years, I have used my garage for a variety of constantly changing purposes. For instance, I have used my garage as a stand-in for all of the following rooms:

Laundry room
Mudroom
Lounge
Party Room
Storage Facility
Art Studio

Every time, I felt like a needed an extra room, I immediately started pining to remodel our house. However, when I looked into prices, this maneuver was always incredibly unaffordable. Thus, I decided to work with what I had. Luckily, we have a large garage attached to our home, and our weather is relatively temperate so my husband and I do not mind parking outside.

Laundry Room and Mudroom

The front door of our home opens directly into our living room. This means that when my small children came through the front door after an afternoon of making mud pies that they tracked the mud right onto my carpet. To combat this, I set the garage up like a mudroom. Luckily, it was easy to create an indoor/outdoor shower in the garage. Thanks to this, I could open the garage door, wash the kids, and let them in through the kitchen door once they were clean. After a few years of this, I asked my husband if I could move the entire laundry room to the garage. By making only a few minor adjustments, we were able to do this fairly easily. This gave me a lot of room to sort and fold to my heart’s content.

Lounge

As the kids got older, they stopped making mud pies, and I did not.need the mudroom so much anymore. I converted an extra bedroom into a laundry room, and I made the garage into a lounge. With a pool table and a couple of old couches, we were able to create a lounge that was perfect for our teenagers.

Party Room

When the kids graduated from high school, we decided to throw a few big parties. Unfortunately, we did not have the space to host one inside so we converted the garage to a party haven. A few buffet tables and a couple fridges full of beverages made this site great for a party.

Storage Facility to Art Room

While the kids were in college, I stored a lot of their things in our garage. It was practically full. After a few years, however, I was ready for a change so I called them all and encouraged them to take their things. Once I had the space back, I created an art studio.

The garage helped me through all of our changing needs as a family. From laundry room to art studio, it was there when I needed it. Honestly, I cannot imagine how different my life would have been without it.