tool time

From habitat magazine - issue 37, garage renovations

Don’t be a tool – it’s time to get your workshop sorted. We drill down into the details.

It’s the most practical part of your home, but a garage can be more than a place to park your car – also functioning as a workshop or workout area when organised well. Here are a few ideas for making use of yours.

Get it sorted

More than any other space, a garage can become a dumping ground for unused or cumbersome household items. It’s a good idea to sort it out at least twice a year and throw away or upcycle unwanted items. Decluttering a garage is all about storage, says interior designer Kate Alexander. “Consider different types of storage: tall and narrow, hanging, boxes and cupboards. And think about installing it close to power points for items such as cordless vacuum cleaners, which need to charge,” says Kate. “If space is at a premium, especially with cars taking up most of the floor space, think about how you can use vertical space for storing tools.”

Paint, paint, paint

Thanks to their large doors, which are regularly open to the elements, garages tend to get dusty quickly. Resene Enamacryl gloss and Resene Lustacryl semi-gloss waterborne enamel are ideal for painting cabinetry as they create easy-to-clean surfaces. Paint concrete flooring in Resene Aquapoxy for Flooring for durability – and hiding scuffs and marks.

Colour me right

As garages are not generally for relaxation, they can be opportunities to use bright colours and blacks. “Blacks such as Resene Blackjack and Resene Nero are great because they make brightly coloured tools ‘pop’ and therefore easier to see. Dark walls also recede, and a dark wall in a small space will make it seem bigger,” says Kate. Then again, she adds, a light hue can hide wear and tear in a workshop.“A coloured stripe around the lower area of a garage wall is a great idea for managing wear, tear and scuffs, and damage will be less noticeable than on a white wall.”

It’s best to avoid all white walls where you can – while they will help bounce light around, they do tend to show up every mark.

Reuse and repurpose

Interior designer Vanessa Nouwens suggests turning trash destined for the tip into storage by transforming it with paint. “If you have some old pallets, bricks or blocks lying around, why not put them to good use by converting them to storage solutions? Paint old pallets and screw them into the walls to hold brooms, rakes, spades, etc. You can use blocks and planks of wood to make shoe racks or shelves for paint. Giving these items coats of paint makes them more of a design element rather than just functional.”

You could even paint your garage to match your car – try Resene Jaguar, Resene Racing Green, Resene Fast Lane or Resene Turbo.

top tip  While it pays to keep some leftover paint for future touch-ups, unwanted paints can be returned to most Resene ColorShops as part of the Resene PaintWise programme (NZ) or to Paintback (AU). Via the Resene PaintWise service, good-quality Resene paint is gifted to community groups to cover graffiti and containers are recycled. For more information visit www.resene.com/paintwise (NZ) or www.paintback.com.au (AU).

Projects: Kate Alexander, Vanessa Nouwens
Images: Bryce Carleton

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