Five ways to reinvent your garage

The garage — it’s that space where you used to just store your car, lawn mower, power tools, bikes, bats and boxes of things you wore in the ’90s. But to say a garage is only for storage is like saying a truck is only for hauling dressers and box springs.

From game room to workshop, man cave to hangout, your garage has the potential to be anything you want it to be. So if you’re thinking of redecorating or remodeling your house, don’t spend all your time picking out kitchen tile and arguing about what type of counter looks best; step into your garage and let yourself dream big.

With the right materials, some creativity and a little work, you can turn your garage into the star of the house. How? TV personality and award-winning interior designer Anitra Mecadon offers the following five ideas to get you excited about all the possibilities.

Toughen up your walls

No matter what you want to do with your garage, first make sure your walls can stand up to real life. There’s probably no space in the house more susceptible to scratches, scuffs and accidental holes than the garage, so pick your walls accordingly. Look for PURPLE Hi-Impact XP made by National Gypsum for extra wear and tear to resist everything from car doors opened too close to the wall, to the hockey sticks swung a little too hard. This drywall is embedded with fiberglass mesh to make it impact and penetration resistant, and like all PURPLE drywall, it resists moisture, mold and mildew.

Design your hideaway

Sometimes you need to get away from it all — especially from your “honey-do” or project list — and the garage can be where you go: your hangout, an extension of yourself and a definite point of pride. Add a snack machine, fridge, swivel chair or two and big-screen TV, and you and your friends will have it made.

Lift it up

Most people have a lot of stuff to store in the garage with cars, tools and bikes. And let’s face it, the more available space you have, the more likely you will find stuff to fill it. That means you will need to get creative with storage. With shelves and cabinets attached to the walls, another way to store your stuff is to use a raised lift system, which retracts into the top levels of your garage and comes down with a push of a button when you need something.

Hang it up

There are some things that just don’t belong in your house but are perfect for the garage. Just like restaurants that have walls crowded with collectibles, such as old soda signs, sea anchors and license plates, garages can follow this same design concept and personalize a space even more. Walls also can serve as anchors for storage systems that hold your tools, bikes, boxes and equipment. And you can rest assured that high-performing drywall, like PURPLE Hi-Impact XP, will stand up to the wear and tear of hanging up and taking down your tools, rakes, bikes and more, day after day.

Do more with your floor

Today, garage floors can be anything you want — yellow, red, metallic or acid-washed or made out of heavy-duty vinyl or rubber. And whether you want the gray concrete vintage look of your childhood or something that reflects your more grown-up self, when it comes to garage floors, take a chance and get inventive because your garage can be your personal and customized sanctuary.

There is a lot you can do with a modern garage, and no matter how you decide to personalize it, the best garage remodel starts at the studs. The right drywall is as important as the right wrench in the toolbox. To learn more, visit www.askforpurple.com.

—Anitra Mecadon/Brandpoint

Did you know

An analysis by The Cleveland Plain Dealer of 612,000 speeding tickets issued in 2015 by the Ohio State Highway Patrol determined that black, not red, was the car color that coincided with the most tickets. Drivers of cars painted black accounted for 105,875 citations issued,or about 17 percent of the 612,000 tickets that state troopers wrote up in 2015. White cars fared nearly as poorly, with 101,252 tickets, and silver cars were written up 83,227 times.

Craig Fitzgerald/BestRide.com

The List

According to the newly released 2016 Harris Poll, the Full Line Automotive Brands of the Year are:

1. Toyota

2. Honda

3. Ford

4. GMC

5. Chevrolet

6. Nissan

7. Subaru

Source: The Harris Poll EquiTrend® Study More Content Now