It's Time!!

Without further ado---here are the pictures of the newly renovated garage! Not particularly interesting, but a huge change worth seeing. I forgot to get pictures with all the junk in the garage--but did get a few shots of the workshop

Before:

After 28 years, the floor was a mess. The drywall tape had popped all over the ceiling. The lights were old and the outside door needed to be replaced. 

It basically needed a complete overhaul. I wanted the fancy floor, but the bid was $10,000, so we (and by "we" I mean Butch) nixed it!

All of this needed a major clean out and reorganizing.

Somewhere along the line, Butch didn't realize they were going to be doing his workshop too. At first, he wasn't happy that he had so much more work to do to haul it all out. But once he got in to it, it only took him a single day. 

He didn't have to take the stuff off of the pegboard since the painters were painting around it.

Although he wasn't so happy about the project at first, he admitted that he was kind of excited. Now that it's done, he's thrilled! In fact, he's spending a lot of time out there. He decided to paint his workbenches, sanded and painted the legs. It all came out great.

After:

I'm all about organization. Butch wasn't too keen on my comments and suggestions. I agreed to butt out since it's his space...butttt, I just can't help it! I see how things should be organized--it's a gift.

Butch had these shelves made to hold various bins.

On the floor under the shelves, you will see a couple of Mindy and Justin's wedding presents--the cooler and a safe. They've been married for six years now. We might as well start using this stuff ourselves. If you saw everything in the attic (Mindy's stuff) and in her closet, you'd think she never actually moved out! Turns out, she even had a table stored at Stephanie's. Steph just confessed that she got rid of it!! Now Mindy is trying to collect--but I don't think the table was near worth what the storage fees are. Come to think of it, we need to start charging them!!

I was really impressed with this. Butch wasn't happy with how he was storing his fishing rods and reels prior to the reno. So, he used little hooks on the side of the new shelf. It works perfectly. But---here comes another "but" of me butting in---I would have all of my fishing stuff on those shelves. First principle of organizing---keep like things together. I'm not really sure where he has all of his tackle and tackle boxes. I'll have to go out and look.

This is his golf center. Now this is set up exactly right---all golf stuff together--even the shoes--although I would probably throw those in a bin! Hmm, there I go again.

The big thing on the wall is our central vac. His old bike from when he was a kid in Germany hangs from the ceiling. It can't be used or fixed. There are no parts available for it. We've had it hanging in our garage from day one---over fifty years. It's time to let that thing go! But, hey, it's his stuff and his garage. Oops, me butting in again. 

Our life-size nutcracker has nowhere else to live. He weighs 125 lbs. He gets carried around to the front porch on Thanksgiving weekend where he lives until after Christmas. Now if it were me---uh oh, there I go again. Okay I'm just going to say it---I'd put a sheet or a garbage bag over it.

You are looking at the ladder section (almost looks like a ladder store)--and another bike---need I say, NOT by the hanging bike? Hmmm, one thing he had no problem getting rid of was MY bike. Even though I haven't ridden it in many years (and actually only rode it on the driveway a handful of times), There might have been some sentimental attachment there for me (not really). Still, he wanted to let it go, so he rolled it across the street to the house with a bunch of kids (not sure how many actually live there, but there always seems to be a bunch). The dad was glad to take it. Why not, it was brand spanking new!

The yard and garden tools we never use. We have people for that!

Finally. He was able to move our "fun" cars back in. Mine's the one that's covered. Okay, confession here. He covered it! See how well he knows me?

This is the worst thing about our garage. The windows are weird. We have white wood blinds so that it all matches on the outside. We have plantation shutters on the rest of the house. We did not want to spend that much for the garage. The blinds gives the same look as the shutters. There's a big problem with these windows. From the garage, you only see half of the window. The other half

is all the way up there. It's a cramped space that's hard to get to. I don't really understand why the builders did it like that. Oh well. 

And now, for that thing that went wrong--you know, there's always something when you renovate that causes a problem. The sink.

This is the sink that I encouraged Butch to buy with my "butting in" comments. I said, "Why in the world would you have the garage all nice and new and keep the nearly 40-year-old, crummy sink?" Sort of like when we remodeled the upstairs---he didn't want to run the new carpet into his office. I did convince him and that was the best decision--for sure. This time, not so much. I said, "For crying out loud, it can't cost but 30 bucks!" So, he got on board with it. Now he decides to listen to me! The sink cost about $150. Okay, not such a big deal. Then, the guy that was doing the work in the garage said that we would need a plumber since the plumbing was so old---something about the hot water, blah, blah, blah, won't turn off, blah, blah---old pipes, frozen, blah, blah, blah--I didn't really get the gist of it. Three hours later---at plumber rates---it was hooked up! This is the Cadillac of garage sinks. See that sprayer? Okay, not really, but for what it ended up costing...like I said, one thing leads to another.

And there you have it. Now, the entire house has been remodeled. We can call it done! 

On to the yard...the work started yesterday. We have a lot of brickwork that needs to be done. Plus we're having a whole new pool and garden shed built along with a new trash surround. Surely nothing can go wrong with this project! Fingers crossed. 

And then there's the rest of the dead landscaping. I guess it will never end. Maybe we're getting there.