7 Fun (and Easy) Ways to Take Your Garage to a HNL (Hole 'Nother Level)

Let's be honest, there are only so many hours in the day to work on projects. But most of us want our properties upgraded, and sometimes we just have to get off the couch and do something productive (right?). Why not start in the garage, it can be incredibly functional, and fun, to bring your garage to a HNL.

Here we go, in no particular order. Choose one you find the most interesting.

1) Add electrical outlet wall plates with built in LED lights. Chances are you have at least a few outlets inside your garage. Just Google "outlet wall plate with LED", and presto, you will find about 50 options. Find a screwdriver, and in about 15 minutes, you can ditch the old cheap outlet plates and add tech-savvy ones with a LED light built right in. Your friends will be jealous. It's also surprisingly practical on those dark nights, so you aren't tripping down the entry stairs and bumping your shin into the kid's bike.

 

2) Paint your garage door trim and flashing. This is an exterior project, but let's go for it. For a fun way to showcase your garage doors, and make them visually "pop" from the curb view, paint the surrounding trim and flashing a new trending color (side note- if you are settling for a white door, with white trim that completely blends together, you can do better). Find a complementary neutral color that isn't the same as your garage door, perhaps matching your surrounding brick/stone accents or grout lines, and get a paint sample. Try to keep the color in the same family, but something a bit darker than your doors (or try off-white if your doors are bright white). It only takes 20-30 minutes to paint the entire trim using a step stool. Prepare to be amazed!

 

3) Coat your floor. If you have plain cement floors, you already know how much fun the winter months can be to keep your garage clean of snow/ice/muck. Yuck. Or, when you leave something metal sitting too long, good luck getting that rust mark off. Sealing and coating your floors is a bit more time consuming than some projects, but it's not that hard. Many kits on the market even include the foam roller, so you have everything you need. Just a warning, you'll probably wish you did it five years ago.

4) Add a floor threshold seal behind your garage doors. This hour project costs around $50 per door, but saves you countless hours of cleaning later. This seal glues to your floor behind your garage door, and creates a ridge that seals out water, ice melt in winter, and just enough dirt and grime to make it a worthy investment.

 

5) Buy matching storage bins. Just imagine getting this project complete just before your spouse gets home from work, and surprise! You buy several matching (try colored) storage bins, and put all those odds and ends nice and neat into the bins on designated locations on the shelf. Or, stack them up in a corner. The end result is the same - an incredibly organized, make-your-neighbor-envy-type situation that you will also appreciate each and every time you drive into your garage. Next stop, do the same in the kitchen pantry.

 

6) Add a wireless entry garage door keypad. This idea falls into the more "practical" category. If you own standard garage door openers that are somewhat programmable, and you don't yet have a way to open your doors from the outside, stop what you are doing and go on-line to find a garage door keypad. All the new ones cost in that $25-50 range, and they literally install in about 10 minutes. They connect wirelessly to your door opener- so no wires to worry about. Just mount, program, and you're done. It's a safe way to leave all your other exterior doors locked, just give your friends or kids the code to get access when you're not home.

7) Hang a (cool) neon sign. We aren't talking about the typical beer sign from the early 80's (unless that's your thing). Go on Etsy and search for neon signs that are more customized and trendy, it will give your garage space instant charm and stand out from the crowd. Not only does it look cool, it also provides some practical light for those quick trips out to the garbage bin.

Apologies for giving you more to do, when you just want to chill on the weekend. Trust us, once you tackle a few of these projects, you will thank us later.