Amazing what a can of primer and some elbow grease can do! I'm saving money (so I can keep up with student loan payments!) by living in my parents' garage. I decided to make it a little less garage-like so I'm attacking one area at a time, hiding storage, cleaning old paint stains, organizing my stuff and making it look as homey as possible. Here's stage 1 of my workbench-turned-cafe-corner. I did 2 coats of primer on the plywood walls, and made the second one extra thick to get into all the grooves and spaces. The final effect looked more like a textured or plastered wall than painted plywood!
Cost breakdown: $12 for a gallon of primer (only used about half), $3 for marked down fabric (still need to actually sew into curtains, just draped right now), $5 for dowel rods and hooks to make removable undercounter curtain rods, $3 for spray paint for accessories, $2 for shelf brackets, other supplies and accessories pulled from storage and supplies leftover from other projects. Total cost: $25!
By txdesignerd from Texas
Does anybody have any thrifty ideas for changing a garage temporarily into a guest bedroom? It's not that cold where we live and basically all the heat we lose would be through the garage door. Does anyone know of any way to insulate the garage door and still allow it to open if needed?
Thanks.
By Tammy from Tillamook, OR
By ThriftyFun12/06/2004Hello Jose,
We added this as a new request:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf328262.tip.html
I'm trying to decide what types of heaters to use during the winter season. Also what can I use for a divider for half of use of the garage. We also have very cold cement floor. Any help would be appreciated.
-Jose Zapata
By txdesignerd (Guest Post)07/20/2007I've converted my parents 3-car garage into a living space while I'm finishing up school and to section off the storage corner, i mounted 1/2 inch electrical conduit from the ceiling using hooks w/ toggle bolts ($2 each for 10 ft. lengths of conduit and super sturdy). Then I found a 6-pack of full sized white sheets at the local price club and they were made w/ hems on both ends that are open ended and big enough to slide the conduit through like a curtain rod so I didn't even have to sew anything. The conduit hangs about 1 1/2 inches from the ceiling and at that height the full length sheet puddles a little on the floor but not so much that it looks sloppy. The conduit is awesome also if you want to hang art from picture hanging wire and hooks attached to the rod. I curtained off 2 corners of the garage for a total cost of $50 including all the hooks, sheets and conduit and it looks awesome, very loft like and not at all garage-y any more!
Does anyone have ideas for converting a garage into a room for a teenager? I know absolutely nothing about these things. The floor is cement, of course, and I'd also have to put up a wall or sealant of some sort around/in front of, the garage door.
Thanks in advance for any ideas!
-Donna
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Converting Garage into a Teenager's Room