Extreme Garage Makeover: Geist Edition

It’s that time of the year again…the leaves are falling, cold weather is just around the corner…so what better time to clean out the garage? I took it one step further this year, and thought I’d share my experience. I decided to do a garage makeover — the paint, a give-away pile and epoxy flooring. It is a great end result, but here are a few tips before you dive in.
First, give yourself plenty of time, this can’t be done in a day. You will need a full day to paint the garage and then 24 hours for the garage to dry. Then, the epoxy flooring crew comes in. It takes at least two days to complete and another 72 hours to dry. By the time you clear out the garage, pitch the stuff you don’t need and put everything back in, we’re talking at least a week! So, plan accordingly.
Once you make the decision to do a makeover, you’ll be glad you did. But, you’ll need to be organized. First, I did take everything out of the garage. Wow! How many deflated basketballs and beat up roller blades, tennis shoes and old badminton sets do you need? Once everything was in the driveway (the Beverly Hillbillies?), I had the garage painted. Not just white; I wanted a slight golden color to warm things up (Blonde, Sherwin Williams). Then it was time for the epoxy flooring. The crew from Epoxy Flooring arrived early to diamond grind the surface of the floor. No more oil spots and no more cracks—they fill them all. They said this will be the noisy day; tomorrow will be quiet. They were right! After the grinding stopped, 24 hours later they showed up to put down the epoxy flooring. Then, they put on spiked shoes and threw flecks of color onto the flooring to create what is a dimpled and colorful floor, resistant to dirt, oil and spills.

The result was beautiful. And while my husband’s work bench waited outside for the floor to dry, I painted it to match his Alma Mater, Ball State University. Eventually, everything (well almost) was moved back into the garage, and there you have it…a new garage!

So, go for it. Just think of it this way:

• Paint for the garage — a few hundred dollars.
• Epoxy Flooring — $3 per square foot.
• The feeling you get pulling your cars into a nice, clean garage for the winter …priceless!

Here’s the entire week-long process in pictures:

Before

After