You have doubtless heard the question “What’s in a name?” Well, in this post we will ask (but maybe not answer) the age old question: “What’s in a garage?” or perhaps more accurately, “What should be in a garage?”

It seems like some people just cannot control their garages. I have always been one of those people. Mark and I used to joke around about how, during summer vacations, I would do my best to organize the garage, and then during the year he would mess it all up again. This was true, in part. But the fact of the matter is, I have done quite a good job of messing it up all by myself for the past year and a half.

So just recently I got the idea to totally change the garage. I mean totally. I decided to paint, remove the shelves, and find a better way to organize everything. It was like a revelation struck me: You don’t HAVE to have a messy garage. You CAN make it whimsical and you CAN make it so you can actually find a hammer or screwdriver when you need it. You ARE in control of your garage! Okay…

The first thing I decided to work on was the area above the washer and dryer. Years ago it had just been plywood, and I had put contact paper over it to make it look better. It is the back of some inset shelves on the other side of the wall.

You haven’t seen many pictures of this room, because I’m hardly ever in there. It’s actually part of the front living room. Stay tuned, because these will probably become the topic of a future post!

The contact paper has been peeling off for some time, so it was easy to remove.

Next it was time to bring out the turquoise paint!

This was leftover from when I painted the bathroom and one wall of the bedroom when Mark was in hospice. (Remember, whimsical always makes you feel better, and I for one think turquoise is extremely whimsical.) I took these pictures and went back to the hardware store where I got it. They were able to make me another gallon, and I was ready to roll!

I am proud to say I did cover the washer and dryer before painting!
Have I mentioned that I really like to paint? You will notice that the turquoise color appears different in the photos depending on the light when I took the pictures. We had this issue with the paint in “Talavera Kitchen Part 1″ as well.

Years ago, I had painted the dark brown walls pink, using paint we had leftover from who knows what. You can see the original brown near the top in some of these photos. I guess I’ve always been kind of whimsical when it comes to paint. It’s an indulgent husband that lets his wife paint the garage a whimsical color just because she wants to.

I painted the shelves you see here last year. You can see a better picture of them in “Coffee and Pretty Things”. But notice the shelf against the back wall. This is only one of four shelves that I was determined to get rid of.

There! No more shelf. But where to put all the stuff that was on it?…Most likely it will take a separate post to show that. (Partly because I haven’t gotten quite that far yet!) The white dry-erase board is attached to the wall. It was something we used at Sunday school at one time but when we no longer needed it Mark put it on the wall. I don’t remember where we got it in the first place.

Speaking of Sunday school, you might be wondering what all these PVC pipes are for. We use them to make puppet stages, backdrops for skits, and a variety of other things as well. Mark made the bases and put the poles together using different heights.

Here are a few of the many ways we use the famous PVC pipes. Some people have even borrowed them to make backdrops for things like wedding receptions! (That’s Carlos and Kate’s wedding cake, by the way!)

You probably don’t need a play-by-play description, but here you can see how I am now storing the puppet poles!

Now that most of the painting is done, and the puppet poles are properly stored, it’s time to plan what to do with the rest of the garage. Never be afraid to brainstorm, because you might just come up with a great idea! Or at the very least a whimsical one!