Garage Retreats

Bigger, bolder, better

When I learned that my parents had air conditioning installed in their garage, along with tiled floors and finished walls for their three cars, I thought this was quite out-of-the-ordinary. However, I recently discovered it isn’t so unusual.

In a USA Today article entitled “Garages motor to new heights,” it covers various homeowners who have turned their garages into a first-rate retreat for men.

With organizational units and top-of-the-line windows, one Minneapolis man created his favorite room in the house…in his 3-car garage. Even his skis and fishing equipment are hung so nicely that he calls it “garage art.”

The article also pointed out that it doesn’t have to be so expensive to redo a garage. It states that Home Depot reported that the average garage makeover runs around $500. The article featured more upscale, high-prices garages. One of the more extreme garage makeovers was a $60,000 job in Sioux Falls.

According to USA Today, the percentage of U.S. homes with garages that hold three or more cars is rising from 11% in 1992 to 18% in 2001. The National Association of Professional Organizers say that more than 500 organizing businesses are now specializing in garages — twice as many as in 2000 — and that organization products in general are now an $800-million-a-year industry.

One of the newer additions to the garage-organizing world is Add-a-Hook, which I talked about before in an earlier blog post. Sweet and simple is how I like it, and that’s what these are. The company just sent me some more of their newer products and I’m eager to put them to use! They launched Add-a-Loop, Add-a-Lok, and Add-a-boot. Very cool!

To me, a garage is an extension of my home and I like to keep it neat and organized so I can find things stored there easily … as well as park my car in it. Although it isn’t any “retreat” for me, I do find it a pleasant place to be when I have to be in there. But hey, I’m a girl.

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Related blog post:
Organize Garage

Organize Garage

Garage “Add-a-Hook” for Garage Storage

A representative from the ADDAHOOK company sent me some of their Add-a-Hook products to try, and I was really pleased with the simplicity and use of this product.

When I received it, I wasn’t quite sure what to use it for (I don’t have a bike). However, after going to their web site, I found the various uses for it, and got the idea to use it with a clothes rod over my laundry area. Then, I had another brilliant idea … why not use it to hang curtains in front of my open shelving areas (since I didn’t have the closed-door cabinets I preferred). Wow, I was getting happier by the moment!

How a simple tool like this could be used for so many things is a wonderful thing. Check it out!

Watch their commercial video and discover ways you can use it! .