How to Give Your Garage Life
Do You Have a Snout House?
This kind of home can have greater value (both aesthetic and practical) if you put some effort into it. If you have a single- or double-car garage that sticks out from the front of your home, you have a snout house. The protruding garage makes it look like your house has a nose. That nose is your garage, and what you decide to do with that garage space is completely up to you.
Most of the front area of your house facing the street may be occupied by your garage. That is why if your garage becomes old and weathered, it can take a toll on the value of your whole property. So it’s good to have your garage maintained properly, especially when you have a snout house. Your house may not highlight the front door, windows, and porch as any other house would. Instead your garage becomes the center of attention.
That means it’s all the more important to prioritize the garage look and practicality if you want to have a greater curb appeal and get more usable space from your house. You don’t have to fight the fact that you have a snout house. Instead, cherish it and work with what you have to make it look more beautiful and increase your home’s value on the market.
Work On Those Garage Doors
Do the garage doors of your snout house look drab and unappealing? Maybe it’s about time you gave them a makeover or outright replaced them. Concentrate on the best quality garage doors that you can afford without a huge impact on your budget.
Your garage doors need to have pleasing aesthetics because that’s what passersby will see. Garage doors definitely affect your curb appeal and therefore the perceived value of your house. A beautiful garage can help set your house apart if you have other snout houses in your neighborhood.
You have many options, from modern to traditional and everything in between, when it comes to the kind of garage doors you want.
Just remember, the garage doors you choose will reflect the style and tone of your house. Any further makeovers you might wish to do in the future will depend on the garage doors you already have installed, so keep the future in mind when you’re making the selection.
If your garage doors give off an unappealing vibe, try bringing them to life by adding some stylish vertical lines and window panes. Alternatively, you can choose to have horizontal relief patterns to give them a refreshing look. Or if you’re going the traditional route, you can choose to get cross beams that are reminiscent of barn doors.
And we’re barely scratching the surface. You have a choice of many different materials that are both durable and stylish, such as wood, aluminum glass, fiberglass, as well as steel. Consider using different combinations of these materials as well.
You can play around with the shape and size, panels, windows, and automation hardware, too. It all depends on the kind of style you prefer and your budget. Choose your style and make a curb-side impact on people with your home’s new garage doors.
Make It Colorful
What’s life without a little color? There are many options when it comes to the color of your garage. But the best color for your garage in particular will depend on your taste and whether you want to make it stand out (and how). If you want to draw attention to the front door instead of the garage, give the front door a color to make it visible from across the street.
If the front of the house just consists of one large garage, it’s probably better to highlight it as a feature of the house. By incorporating and highlighting the door through color, you’re strengthening the position of the door as a design aesthetic of your house. You can even make the material of the garage door count toward making it stand apart. That’s because fiberglass, wood, and steel materials can be painted (or stained at the very least). Fiberglass doors even come with their own unique color palettes.
Your objective when you’re adding color should be that the surrounding walls, roof and the garage door itself should all complement each other to bring a sense of synergy to your home. Take a long and hard look at the color scheme of the rest of your home and select your garage door color wisely.
If your garage doors are surrounded by red bricks, the matching color of the garage door should be a lighter shade of red. That will allow for a little bit of contrast necessary to make your home’s features complement each other. If you’re not looking for contrast, you can also choose paint in the closest shade to the red bricks.
If you want the focus to be on the garage doors, the best thing to do is opt for a contrasting color of paint. Go for dark brown, grey, or even black if you must choose a contrasting color to highlight your garage. Bright colors on larger surfaces will look very unappealing and even cause discomfort to the neighbors or anyone else who looks at the bold and brightly painted garage door. Remember not to lose your consideration in your pursuit of individuality.
Accessories Are More Than Welcome
When you choose to have a carriage style garage door for the house, you can benefit from the numerous features already built into it. These features can help your garage space stand out. Some features include multiple pane windows, patterned hinges, and customized detailing. These features really pop and speak volumes about the style statement you’re going for.
At this point you might be thinking, “These features are all I need.” Not exactly, my friend. You may benefit from these features but have you thought about curb appeal? There are some relatively inexpensive accessories that can allow you to have greater curb appeal when passersby randomly stroll through your area.
You can choose from topiary, tall trees, or potted plants to lead the way to the garage and front door. You can line the edges of the driveway leading to your garage entrance. Greenery is proven to uplift people’s moods and make them feel good. So when people see the plants, flowers, and other greenery lining your driveway leading up to your house entrance or garage, they’re bound to have smiles on their faces. They will be drawn to the shrubbery and greenery you place around your house.
These welcomed natural accessories also act as breaks from continued expanses of walls and other mundane structure. You can change the potted plants as the seasons change to keep things fresh.
You can use decorative trims, porticos, and trellises, not just for your backyard but for the front yard, too. Add pillars, custom roof lines, and other accessories to detail an otherwise flat surface. If you add climbing plants to the side walls where you may have a small patio, you can benefit from the extra shade on those warm and sunny days. It will also reduce the boldness of the structural lines of the house itself.
Stonework for the walls and your driveway is also another welcome addition. It’ll make your front and garage doors stand out more.
Brighten Things Up with Lights
Do you ever feel that your garage looks fine during the day, but it disappears at night? You might need to have some extra lighting for the garage wall as well as the driveway. Not only will it serve to illuminate all the hard work you did for curb appeal, it will also add that element of majesty and grace to the house. The whole look of the house will be transformed at night.
When you use overhead or side lights, you are actually adding to the safety of the house. This is because they can prevent accidental slips, trips, and falls outside your home. And they may also serve to keep your house safe from burglars, who will know that people are inside the house and will leave your home alone. If you’re worried about wild animals making their way into your house, lights can help to deter them as well.
If you went with more natural accessories from the previous points, and chose plants and trees, you’re in luck. The lights leading up to and pointing toward them can create interesting patterns that add to your home’s style. Keep your budget in consideration for this one, however.
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Separating Your Garage Interior into Zones
That’s enough for the exterior of your home to be brought to life. But what about your interior? Without giving the interior of your garage much thought, you can quickly make it a cluttered mess. The key is to become more organized, and that’s where these zones come in. They help you create more usable space in the garage, even when you have a car parked inside.
- Getting Ready: This area will be for your bags, shoes, jackets, or even briefcases that you must carry when you’re heading out. These necessary items should be neatly arranged near the area that connects your house to your garage, so you can simply “grab and go.”
- Yard Work Storage Space: You have a few items that you need for yard work such as garden hoses, rakes, shovels, and cleaning items. These you can easily hang on walls with proper labeling of the nails on which they are hung.
- Won’t Be Using Often: There are just some things that you rarely use, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, or Easter decorations, or camping gear, which should be stored away in separate cabinets neatly organized in one corner of the garage space.
- Workspace tools: If you have a hobby shop in your garage, there are spaces where you need to keep small tools so they don’t get lost. It helps if you have a work bench where you can store these tools.
- Use on a Daily Basis: You may use gym facilities or have sports equipment like tennis rackets or safety gear for soccer or hockey that you use regularly. Keep these close to the getting ready section.
- Urgent Requirement: There are bulk food items that you may buy at the grocery store. Store these in a separate area that is close to the inside-leading door in your garage.
