Lots of New Upgrades, Plus I’ve Chosen New Lighting for the Garage

Welcome to the 702nd Metamorphosis Monday!

Are you familiar with the children’s book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie? In the book, the cute little mouse asks for a cookie. The cookie makes him thirsty, so then he asks for a glass of milk. I’ve forgotten now what the glass of milk leads to, but each request leads to another and another and another.

 

This garage project I’ve embarked on is definitely turning into a mouse/cookie situation. lol It started out with a desire to get rid of the yucky-looking, stained concrete floor. I should have known this project would not stop there! It has turned into a full-out makeover in the works now!

Garage Before New Flooring Surface

 

Some of the Smaller Upgrades: Sitting atop a standing tool chest here in the garage, I had a small cabinet for holding screws, nails, and such. I didn’t think to take a “Before” photo, but I had a bunch of boxes of large nails piled on top, left over from when I built a potting bench many years ago. The boxes were dusty and beginning to fall apart and it just looked messy.

 

I upgraded to a larger cabinet that now holds everything.

 

It’s so nice to have everything tucked away all nice and neat. (Storage cabinet is available here: Storage Cabinet for Hardware or Crafts.)

 

This little cabinet comes with drawer dividers so more than one type of nail or item can be stored in a drawer, if needed.

 

Over the last few days, I’ve been cleaning out my standing tool chest here in the garage–mostly just reorganizing it. I love this chest–it’s definitely one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. I love it for storing and organizing my tools and birding supplies. I purchased this one in Home Depot many years ago. You can see the ones they currently have in stock here: Stainless Steel Husky Tool Chest.

 

This one appears to be the closest to my current one and it even has a 6-outlet, 2 USB port power strip built in. I wish mine had that! It’s available here: Standing Tool Chest.

 

Inside one of the drawers of my tool chest, I had this hodgepodge of screwdrivers.

 

I often use my DeWalt drill for putting stuff together, but sometimes a regular old screwdriver is just what I need.

Dewalt Tools

 

This garage makeover inspired me to get a new set of screwdrivers. I like how the flathead screwdrivers are color-coded red and the Phillips screwdrivers are blue. (Screwdriver set is available here: DeWalt Screwdriver Set.)

 

Painting and New Lighting

The garage walls will get painted sometime in the next few weeks before the flooring goes in. Depends on how soon they can work me into their schedule. Continuing in the vein of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, I’ve decided to replace the original builder-grade lighting here in the garage. This lighting works but it’s just not very bright.

 

This is the lighting I’ve chosen. I have an electrician coming tomorrow to install two of these. I actually purchased three just in case one doesn’t work correctly or something is missing. I’ll return the unopened 3rd light once the other two are installed.

 

Here’s a photo from online showing how they look when installed. I really like how low-profile they are. That was the first thing that attracted me to them.

 

They are supposed to be nice and bright with three available settings: Soft White, Bright White, or Daylight–3000K/4000K/5000K. I’ll choose one setting to use full-time during the installation, but it’s my understanding that the lights can be set up where it’s possible to toggle through all three settings. (This light is available here: Flush Mount LED Lighting.)

 

A new cabinet that I ordered for the garage, arrived today.

 

This is what’s inside the box. (Cabinet is available here: Cabinet with Two Drawers.) I won’t put it together until after everything is done–flooring, painting, lighting, etc…

Cabinet with Shelves and Drawers

 

Have you had a recent project turn into a “Give a Mouse a Cookie” situation? Happens to me every time!

 

Looking forward to all the wonderful Before and Afters linked for this week’s Met Monday!

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Metamorphosis Monday

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Comments

  1. Oh, Susan, how I love this post! My husband would tell you Mouse/cookie is the theme of my life! I am the original diy=pyramid woman! I completely related to your cleaning/replacing storage, etc, giggling & remembering my sons & husband saying, “it’s a garage!” I transformed the garage of our beautiful home, preparing to sell it, but yours will be so incredible, you’ll be able to host dinner parties out there (& everything you need will be right there in your cabinets!” Lol…I’m so looking forward to results & details on the floor, as we want to do that in our new basement! I love your energy—it motivates me!

    • lol MerriJo, I completely understand–I keep trying to remind myself that it’s just the garage…but it can pretty and a garage at the same time, right? lol I can’t wait to share the floor with you, that should happen sometime in the first or second week of August.

  2. Awesome garage makeover project. The garage is sometimes the last project to get done and can be one of the most useful projects to make life easier.

    • Thanks, Lindaa! That is so true! It’s amazing how much we use the garage, usually on a daily basis, sometimes several times a day.
      XXX

  3. franki parde says

    You are getting A LOT further with your garage re-do than I am with my walk-in closet re-do…just sayin. Many things on your photo look familiar to our garage! franki

    • Really? How cool is that, Franki! Good luck with your closet redo. I am so impatient, wanting everything done at once but I keep telling myself that it will get there.

  4. Tina W Reynolds says

    I can confirm that the Mouse/Cookie scenario is always the way it goes! No matter how we wish we could both economize and get the project finished, things usually ‘snowball’ on us. I call it “The Cecil B. DeMille Effect”. We have a very old house and I tell folks that every project is “Biblical…Old Testament Style”! Like an epic, sprawling movie that Mr. DeMille might have made of Biblical events. You are so far ahead of me on any project you can name! Our detached garage needs so much TLC. It looks fine from the outside (mercifully!) but does need the trim around the door replaced. It is beginning to age not-so-gracefully! It is tough to find careful, knowledgeable workers these days. Or any workers, really! Your finished project will be so nice! Carry on!

    • Ha! That’s the perfect way to describe it, Tina! I know, it really is. That’s usually my biggest stumbling block–find good, qualified people to help me get it done.

  5. A lot of work but is going to be such a wonderful result! Loving your choices. I am sure you already know this, but please be sure to check your paint color choice before you set the garage light intensity if you won’t be able to toggle it. Colors surely look different in soft white vs. daylight! Thanks for sharing your project….lots of creative storage ideas.

    • Thanks so much, Jae! That’s a good point! I think I’m going with white for the walls–will have to choose the color white very soon. Thanks for that tip!

  6. yup…one thing leads to another. when we built our home my hubby said oh we can finish the garage later….will 49 years later I said okay it’s time..so I called an electrician and got my LED lights installed had someone come out and put insulation in and then dry wall and painted and the peg board put up and cabinets installed and a counter top and bingo done. Love those LED lights looks like day light when you turn them on. And I wonder why we didn’t ( did I say we???lol) do this later. rls

    • Wow, that sounds beautiful! 49 years was a long time to wait but that wonderful that you didn’t give up on it! I’m excited about the lighting because the two tiny lights I currently have in the garage do not put out a lot of light. I hope these will, it sounds like they will from the reviews I’ve read.

  7. oops I meant why we didn’t this earlier. sorry rls

  8. Hi Susan!
    I call your garage makeover “The Domino Decorating Syndrome”. It never fails…change one thing and it leads to 25 more! This happened to me this past winter. I needed a new recliner – but could I find one to coordinate with my couch, etc? Noooo – so I ended up with all new furniture in our great room. Ethan Allen just loves me now! – LOL.
    I can’t wait to see your garage all finished. Good luck with a very big project!

    Susan

  9. Can’t wait to see the end project. I know the “Snowball Effect” well!

  10. Ha ha, perfect description of how one thing leads to another! You are the most organized person I’ve ever know, I wish you would come organize me 🙂 Thanks Susan!

    • I was thinking a couple of days ago about a test I took toward the end of my Freshman year of college–I was having trouble deciding on a major and it was supposed to tell me what I enjoyed doing so I could decide what field to go into. The only thing I can remember from the test results was that it showed I really enjoyed organizing but it wasn’t very helpful in choosing a major. Maybe I should have been a closet designer or something. lol I do love organizing. I think it just makes me feel more in control of life when life can be anything but predictable. There is just something so satisfying about putting things in order and being able to place your hand on something at the very moment you need it.

  11. Did you order the warranty with the cabinet?

    • No, when I open the box, if there is anything wrong with it, I will just close the box back up and have them come pick it back up.

  12. Susan, looks like your project will be a great success! Love your changes and upgrades. We JUST cleaned our garage, it is so much better to have things organized and easy to find. Even though we are pretty good about that, tweaking does help get us back on track. For a budget alternative to installing new lights, we just put in those 4 panel LED lights that screw into the existing sockets. SO MUCH more light, great for basements too! Looking forward to seeing your final results, love seeing what products you discover along the way.

    • It really does make such a big difference. It just makes you feel good to get it done, so I know what you mean. The electrician installed the new lights today and I’m stunned by how much more light there is out there. Big improvement!

  13. Susan,
    Thanks so much for hosting this wonderful party each and every week!! Thank You!! Stay safe, healthy and happy!!
    Hugs,
    Deb

  14. Susan, are you trying to convince us that you got a box delivered – intact? No gaping holes? No missing parts? What in the world. Haha. I’m glad to see that it appears to have been delivered in one piece (so to speak.)

    I love the idea of the color coded screwdrivers. Little things like that can be so helpful. Can’t wait to see your make-over. I’m sure you’re going to love it.

    • lol Well, let’s not get too excited because I haven’t opened it yet! I need to do that in the next few days to see if everything arrived in one piece. Thanks, Pam! The lights were installed today and wow, what a difference it made!

  15. Cyndi Raines says

    Susan, how exciting this garage makeover is and yes the new lighting will make a huge difference. I recently purchased “fan lights” for our unfinished basement and what a differnece they have made. Even put one in our garage for added light. They just screw into the socket like a light bulb. Are you famaliar with them? Its a light that looks like a ceiling fan, but it is entirely a light and the “blades” which are part of the light can be angled to shine at different levels. Anyway, I’m thrilled at the amount of light it adds. I have been playing catch-up in reading the last month and a half of all your wonderful posts. Have been extremely busy since returning from vacation to North and South Dakota, had a great time. Have been very busy with lots of yard work, (thrilled with my new weed whip and and battery blower, ha! ) I too have been spending some time in our garage organizing and pitching. Now working on having a doggie ramp built beside our deck, will be glad when that is finished. Excited for you and can’t wait to see how awesome it will be when finished. (Decided to do this and wait on the bathroom makeover?)

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