So we decided to get a garage to go along with our apartment, because as it turns out, the bikes don’t fit in this place as well as they did at the last one. And we have a bunch of things that I didn’t really want to keep in the closets in the house (weed whack, for example). And the additional rent wasn’t that much, all things considered.
Looking from the sun room, out toward the east-ish, this is the view that I get. The third garage from the right is the one that we’ve got. So it’s really quite close to the apartment. You can’t see the entrance in this photo, but you are able to see it from the office window, so we can see if I forgot to close the door or anything. 🙂
And this is what it looks like when the door is open and there’s no car inside it!
You can see that the bikes are already on the rack along the back right-side wall. Justin made sure to get that up before he had to head out of town. The rest of everything was just piled in the back, enough that I could fit the car in, but not in any organized sort of way at all. There’s still work to be done, but it’s looking MUCH better than it was.
This is the rack that we discovered we’d left most of the pieces behind when we moved. At the town house, this took up the entire space that was available in the back closet. Everything that wasn’t water heater. We took it back down once I got really nervous about the fact that it meant I could not at all get to the fuse box if something were to happen. It looks almost tiny in this space!
The top shelf currently has two boxes that are filled with vacuum suctioned bags of woolen packing blankets hiding behind the extra beach chairs, bookie board, wake board, and tent for use at the beach.
The second shelf has the stuff for staining wood and that type project and then has car stuff (car wash bucket and extra engine fluids) along the back.
The third shelf down has a few things for gardening, some things for the bikes, a plastic tub with things that we take to the beach (sand auger for the umbrella, plastic buckets and shovels), the shop vac, and the grill and charcoal chimney.
The second from the bottom is obviously full of boxes. This is not where they are going to stay. I just haven’t figure out what to do with them yet.
And the bottom shelf has more boxes and underneath that, the bike rack that doesn’t work on my car, but we’re keeping in case we ever get a car that it does work on (hatchbacks require a special type of rack, I guess).
To the left of the big rack is a shelving unit that’s holding the old flower boxes that we used at the apartment when we got married to actually hold flowers over the edge of the balcony, and used inside the storage closet at the townhouse for storage. Eventually, they will hold flowers again. But for now, the top one has toys in it (racquets, balls, Frisbee), the second has yard working stuff (string for the weed whack, sheers, hatchet), and the bottom has soil in it.
Along the back wall in this photo are our two lawn chairs that we use when we go to the beach or to the drive-in. I’d like to eventually put them on the shelf where the boxes are located, but that won’t happen until I figure out what on earth to do about the boxes, obviously.
This other shelving unit wasn’t one that I knew that I had until I’d put the other one halfway together and discovered the parts didn’t all go together. We don’t have any wood for the shelves, but that shouldn’t be too hard to fix later — Justin can cut nice straight pieces of wood using his circular saw, but I’m not touching that thing. Meanwhile, I’ve made as much use of it as I can without those supports.
The top has the weed whack, the basket thing that I’d use to collect leaves or trimmings, and something else I can’t remember right now.
The second shelf has our beach umbrellas. I am a pasty white person. I need shade at the beach.
The bottom has the cooler, obviously, but the boccee balls and another tent are in there. I don’t know how we ended up with so many tents. The blue box has . . . crud, I can’t remember right now. And then there are two lights on top. The house light is listed on Craigslist, but so far, no one is interested. We might just end up keeping it since it doesn’t take up much space.
It bugs me that I can’t remember what’s in that box….
The dolly is tucked up close to the shelving unit and then two stands for pots are there for whenever we get outside plants again. The tub for the charcoal is under the bikes for now. I’m not sure I like it there. It’s empty right now, but we’ve got outdoor areas where I could grill here, so I’ll probably end up filling it again in the spring.
The “implements of destruction” are along the wall and those I do want to hang up eventually. I’m not sure if we’ll get more pieces to hang them on the same unit as the bikes or if we’ll do something else.
And then the saw horses are along the back wall.
And our gargoyle guards the entrance, like the good guardian beast that he is.
And our car isn’t very big, so it’s easy to fit in there. Even with the car pulled in with good space behind it, there’s still a lot of space in the front to putter around without moving the car.
I don’t have a very good shot with the car in there, because unsurprisingly, it’s hard to get a shot of that. But it doesn’t feel at all cramped. The doors can’t open all the way, but that’s to be expected. That we can get in without any trouble is really nice, though.
I need to go back out and label the boxes, because obviously I already can’t remember what’s in all of them. And I like to have things nice and tidy and labeled. And I have to figure out a way to store the boxes that keeps them off the floor (possibility of flooding in there) and reduces the amount of humidity that gets into them, as well as keeps out the bugs. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do.
But for now, we can find the things that we want to be able to find and I can pull into the garage without worrying that I’m going to run something over. Eventually, I’d love to have a tool bench in there for Justin. There’s space enough for one along that back wall.
And there’s you have it! Our garage.