Our Inspired Closets Garage

Who knew a garage could look so nice? If you love an impressive before and after, this post is for you.

After nearly five years of slowly decorating our Wicker Park townhouse, we have arrived at one of the final projects: the garage.

I'm originally from Maine, a place where most homes have garages, but no one seems to use them for parking. Instead, they are used as large storage units. Growing up, my parents didn't park in the garage. It was impossible. It was part workshop for my Dad, and home to bikes, sports equipment, and a canoe. My husband, Charles, saw this and was horrified.

When we moved into a home with a garage, Charles saw the garage being filled up with Halloween and Christmas decorations, wreaths for every season, craft supplies, and just random stuff. He kept reminding me that the garage is for parking not storage.

Our Inspired Closets Garage

With other home projects completed, the carpenters and painters no longer needed to use the garage as work space, and it was time to clean it up. First, we needed better storage, so I turned to Inspired Closets. We've used Inspired Closets for all of our closets, the pantry, and even a custom built-in.

We love working with Inspired Closets because they make everything so easy. A designer comes to take measurements, then puts together 3-D renderings. We have the opportunity to make any adjustments. Then on install day, everything gets assembled. The garage install took less than four hours.

The number one item on my wish list was maximizing the storage corner of the garage. This little nook is next to the space where cars park. The goal was to add storage without reducing parking space. These shelving units are so much taller and deeper than what we had before. There is plenty of room for my questionably large collection of wreaths and all my holiday decor. Yes, one of the giant bins is solely dedicated to storing Halloween spiders.

The Inspired Closets Team really knows how to maximize storage space. Katie, the designer, saw the chest freezer in the corner of the garage and recommended adding storage for coolers and picnic baskets above. She also suggested just the right combinations of storage bins, boxes, hooks, and hanging bags for the slat wall.

The slat wall looks so much nicer than the peg wall. I am amazed by the difference! It's much easier to move everything around on the slat wall, too.

Since this project required cleaning out the garage, we took advantage of the opportunity to epoxy the floor. The main reason for this was that a crack had developed on in the floor. So we had that repaired, and then the epoxy was added on top.

Finishing the garage project has been satisfying. I cleaned out things we no longer needed (my local Buy Nothing group on Facebook was helpful) and everything is organized. The garage used to be an eyesore I avoided. Now it feels like part of our home!

Here are some photos from other Inspired Closets projects:

I think we have run out of projects for Inspired Closets. They've installed 6 closets, a pantry, a built-in unit, and now the garage. We have kept going back to them because the quality is just so great, and their team thinks of the little things we wouldn't.