How the time flies and can easily get away from me…apologies for the delay. Here is the reveal of the garage! Let us know what you think.

Thanks for watching and following along. Many more projects to come!

Cheers!

Chloe & Michael

WHAT IS THE ONE ROOM CHALLENGE?

One Room challenge™ is a bi-annual event and currently in its eighteenth season. Many different design influencers participate in order to makeover one room over the course of 6 weeks (they’ve extended to 8 weeks this time) and share their process. You can check out the event and other participants here. 

Oh my yep you read that right…weeks 4, 5, 6, and 7 all wrapped up into one video (coming soon)/blog.  I did NOT anticipate this much work to prep the walls and the floor for paint. UGH!

Again, we have joined in with the One Room Challenge to hopefully finish up this room within a 8 week deadline.  We are almost there and still so much to do.

WHAT IS THE ONE ROOM CHALLENGE?

One Room challenge™ is a bi-annual event and currently in its eighteenth season. Many different design influencers participate in order to makeover one room over the course of 6 weeks (they’ve extended to 8 weeks this time) and share their process. You can check out the event and other participants here. 

The Prep Work

Started off clearing almost everything out of the garage.  As I now know from our Master Bedroom Makeover, drywall patching is very messy because once you patch you have to sand it smooth and it’s like dusting powdered sugar all over the place.  So remove all or as much as you can is best. 

Next I scrapped off all the big chucks from the previous drywall install.  And there was SO MUCH chucks and “things” in the walls like staples?!  What why paint over and not remove, they were not used for structural use.  Ugh.  Beyond the walls the low cinderblock wall is a complete disaster!  When they added the concrete and some foam filler to adhere the blocks they were so so messy and didn’t clean or smooth it out so it dried in huge clumps and chucks all over the blocks.

I then decided after talking with someone at Home Depot for advice, who said that is the worst job he’s ever seen, which makes me think what else is a disaster in our house from bad contract work?!?  But yea I decided to chip out the chucks of concrete with a chisel and hammer.

Also, the area that is close to the garage door on the ceiling where the drywall was falling down.  We decided to rip down a portion of it and replace it.  Not planned and a lot more work.  But it does look a lot better and the popcorn ceiling is pretty much fully covered now.

And remember I said I wasn’t going to do the floors well we decided it would be best to pressure wash the old paint off now before putting up nice new paint and so yup more tasks to the list.  The paint didn’t come off very easily, ended up having to use paint stripper and then power wash it all off.  Edges are still messy but at least the majority of the paint is removed for now.

Now on to mudding.  Pretty straight forward with the walls but definitely added more than I planned which means more to sand.  Lol.  As for the tops of the cinderblocks.  Talking with the Home Depot guy he first suggested add a topper cap and cement that in but I would have to cut them because the lip is only about 3 inches and not 6 or 8 which is a standard cap size.  So that means renting a wet saw and trying to learn how to do that but then he realized the drywall is touching the cinderblocks and because of that we couldn’t go that route because it would be too wet for the drywall and end up moldy.  So I decided to just mud over the top of the cinderblocks.  I know this is not the best solution but I think at least it will look nice and insure the drywall will stay dry and not mold because it will all dry completely like normal when mudding drywall.  But because of the huge patches and it’s also been surprisingly humid lately, it’s taking the mud forever to dry.  What would you have done?  I would love to hear different ideas on how to patch the mess.

Next up will be to paint, add the storage solutions, & organize! 

Check back next week for the FINAL REVEAL! Can’t wait to be done…almost there.

Cheers!

Chloe & Michael

Welcome back to week 2 & 3 of our garage makeover with the One Room Challenge.  This is our second challenge we’ll be participating in.  If you didn’t already catch it last fall, we did the one room challenge for the very first time and we showcased our master bedroom.

Week 1- I showcased the space in its current unsightly state.  These weeks I’m talking about the plan.  Yes, I did have to combine weeks 2 & 3 because, well, I went to Mexico last week for a Bachelorette party weekend. Ain’t nobody got time to blog, vlog, and renovate a room during a bachelorette weekend! So I skipped a week.  Now that I’ve recuperated from the festivities it’s back to work!

What is the One Room Challenge?

One Room challenge™ is a bi-annual event and currently in its eighteenth season. Many different design influencers participate in order to makeover one room over the course of 6 weeks (they’ve extended to 8 weeks this time) and share their process. You can check out the event and other participants here. 

Our Garage

Here is our garage in its current state.

The Plan

The main focus for the garage is to get all of our boxes of storage and fun outdoor items off of the floor and up into actual storage spaces.  We really want to be able to utilize this garage as much as possible.  We store a lot of items in here clearly, but we also want to be able to do things like projects and gardening, working out- putting our equipment down here will be lovely and maybe one day park our cars in here! 

But our garage is tiny…it’s one of the smallest layouts for a 2-car garage.  It is 20 ft deep by 19.5 ft wide and the ceiling is only 8.25 ft tall.  There is also a cement lip at the base of the wall that protrudes out 3”.  That’s not a lot to work with! 

Here is the layout of the garage and the breakdown of what we are planning on doing with the space.

Shelves

I was originally thinking of building my own storage shelves and have them attached to the ceiling and wall.  However, it looks like our ceiling is a popcorn ceiling and the previous owners covered it with an extra layer of drywall.  I don’t know if I want to remove the drywall and try to fix the popcorn ceiling.  Actually, I know I do NOT want to do that.  That is a lot of work and possibly toxic (no to asbestos), our home was built in 1971.  So, for now I will leave it how it is and just spruce up the walls and ceiling with paint.  Let me know if you would remove everything or leave it, I would love to know!

For the shelves I’ve decided to go with a brand called Fleximounts. You can find them on Amazon. I decided to purchase 1 set of FLEXIMOUNTS 2-Pack 2x4ft Bike Storage Rack Garage Wall Shelves, 24-inch-by-48-inch, White and 1 set of FLEXIMOUNTS 2-Pack 2x6ft 24-inch-by-72-inch Wall Shelf Garage Storage Rack Floating Shelves, White. The shelves are mainly going to hold our storage boxes and coolers. Fingers crossed these will fit perfectly!

I got the idea from Jenna Sue Designs.  If you don’t already follow her, definitely check her out, she’s amazing at transforming spaces and budget friendly DIY.  She rocks!

Tool Storage & Work Bench

We have a lot of tools, thanks to my dad and a friend of ours but no storage for them.  I would like to hang the essentials and commonly used and then have the rest in easy to find AND PUT BACK locations.  That’s the number 1 problem when you’re done with an exhausting day of yard work you don’t want to then hunt to figure out where to put back the tools you’ve used.

Also, we want to configure a proper work bench.  We have a miter saw and would like to have that up off the ground and in a good place to quickly use.  This one looks like a dream 😍

You can find the plans for this over at Bitterroot DIY from Tylynn. Looks amazing and not sure if I will be able to pull this off but here’s to hoping!

Storage for Surfboards

These will be one of the few things we store on the ceiling most likely using this bracket StoreYourBoard SUP and Surfboard Ceiling Storage Rack, Hi Port Overhead Mount, Home & Garage Organizer Hooks.

Temporary Storage for Gardening Items

Now we also have a lot of garden items and tools.  For now, they must be stored in the garage but in the hopefully near future they will be moved to the greenhouse we build.  Stay tuned for that!

Workout Area

We would like to bring our cycle bike and weights down to the garage as well as purchase a retractable bench for lifting.  The bench will most likely be a future purchase but for now we can get the space ready.

Stay tuned for the next few videos, blog posts, and Instagram posts and stories.  We’re going to transform this space.  I’ll get to painting, organizing, and mounting storage solutions.

So, stick with me, take a minute, and SUBSCRIBE over on our YouTube channel, because over the next 6-8 weeks I’m going to be posting a video of the progress of this whole space and its complete transformation.  Thank you so much for watching and/or reading.  We’ll see you next time.

Cheers!

Chloe & Michael

Who are the Curious Lees?

For those of you who don’t know us Curious Lees- my husband and myself, we created this space online to showcase a few different things of our life.  We film cooking experiences where we showcase a place that we’ve traveled to before and we recreate a meal that inspires us from that place and showcasing the whole trip. It’s a great way to capture our past memories but then also travel while we’re stuck at home.  We also showcase all of the renovating we’ve been doing to our half-acre home in San Diego, California.  It’s a 70’s build it’s got a lot of work needed.  It was partially renovated from the previous owner, but the outside has not been touched.

Welcome to our garage!!! Eeerrrr wait the garage?!?  Yep, our garage… our next One Room Challenge.  This is our second challenge we’ll be participating in.  If you didn’t already catch it last fall, we did the one room challenge for the very first time and we showcased our master bedroom.  Really enjoyed the process because it keeps my feet to the fire, so to say, to focus on one room and get it done in a timely manner.

What is the One Room Challenge?

One Room challenge™ is a bi-annual event and currently in its eighteenth season. Many different design influencers participate in order to makeover one room over the course of 6 weeks (they’ve extended to 8 weeks this time) and share their process. You can check out the event and other participants here. 

Why the Garage?!?

I really wanted to focus on our garage.  I know it’s a little out there it’s not the first thing you go to when you think of like let me make over a room because for one especially even with the master bedroom hardly anyone ever sees those rooms when they come over.  

Same with the garage no one goes in your garage for the most part and they are never showcased in real estate properties when you’re buying and selling a house.  

It’s just kind of like an overlooked room of your home because they mostly look like this- a hodgepodge mess galore. 

For us and our current situation we have a lot of projects to do, and I want to do a lot of DIY and in order to do that I need a great space where I can really work.

Who are the Curious Lees?

For those of you who don’t know us Curious Lees- my husband and myself, we created this space online to showcase a few different things of our life.  We host cooking experiences where we showcase a place that we’ve traveled to before and we recreate a meal that inspires us from that place and showcasing the whole trip. It’s a great way to capture our past memories but then also travel while we’re stuck at home.  We also showcase all of the renovating we’ve been doing to our half-acre home in San Diego, California.  It’s a 70’s build it’s got a lot of work needed.  It was partially renovated from the previous owner, but the outside has not been touched.  Lucky us! Haha

Wants & Needs

The main focus for the garage is to get all of our boxes of storage and fun outdoor items off of the floor and up into actual storage spaces.  We really want to be able to utilize this garage as much as possible.  We store a lot of items in here clearly, but we also want to be able to do things like projects and gardening, working out- putting our equipment down here will be lovely and maybe one day park our cars in here!  I mean it’s kind of a crazy thing to say right!?!  Who parks their car in the garage?  We definitely don’t have space…for now.

Stay tuned for the next few videos, blog posts, and Instagram posts and stories.  We’re going to transform this space.  I’ll show you the whole design, what I have planned.

So, stick with me, take a minute, and subscribe over on our YouTube channel, because over the next 6-8 weeks I’m going to be posting a video of the progress of this whole space and its complete transformation.  Thank you so much for watching and we’ll see you next time.

Cheers!

Chloe & Michael