Improving your garage space is a great goal to consider undertaking in the new year. Garages often get overlooked when homeowners are considering home improvements, but your garage can be more functional, more spacious, more organized, and more pleasant to spend time in if you put the effort into improving it. Take a look at a few of the things your garage needs in 2018.
More Power Outlets
Whether you’re using your garage as a man cave, a home repair workshop, or simply a place to perform your car repairs and maintenance, you definitely need power. You will want to be able to plug in electronics, power tools, or fans and lights where and when you need them. If you frequently find yourself overloading your power outlets, or if you end up running extension cords all over the floor to get power to where you need it, then you should consider adding more power outlets to your garage.
If your garage is already wired to handle the tools or devices that you need to plug in, and if you’re a reasonably accomplished handyman, you may be able to add more outlets yourself with PVC conduit and metal surface-mount electrical boxes. However, if you have aluminum wiring, if your existing wiring isn’t sufficient for the devices that you want to be able to plug in, or if you’re not sure, hire a licensed electrician to safely add the additional outlets you need.
Better Lighting
Dim lighting makes it hard to get anything done in your garage. And perhaps more importantly, spending time in a dimly-lit garage can be a real downer. Taking the steps to brighten up your garage can make the space more useful and also encourage you to spend more time in there. This can help if the home improvement or creative projects that you want to work on in your garage are beginning to pile up.
Consider installing fluorescent tubes to brighten up the garage overall, or installing smaller LED lights over your workbench or another workspace in order to brighten up a specific area that you use for delicate tasks. You may also want to consider adding lamps, LED strip lights, or spotlights to highlight interesting features of your garage décor.
More Storage Space
Do you find yourself tripping over boxes or searching through piles of random items in order to find the specific thing that you’re looking for? If so what your garage needs this year is more storage space. Additional storage space allows you to organize your garage so that you’re safe from tripping hazards and can more easily find things that you need. With the right storage options, you may also find that you can comfortably store more things than you thought in your garage.
There are many ways to add additional storage space to your garage. You can add overhead storage to get rarely-used items out of the way, and bike racks to get oddly shaped bikes and scooters off the floor. New shelves or cabinets can give you a handy place to store large tools, sporting equipment, or other large items, while pegboard or slatwall can give you a convenient spot to store hand and gardening tools.
If you’re looking for more ways to improve your garage in 2018, we can help. Contact us to schedule your free design consultation.
