I have been refinishing furniture and doing home decor projects for over ten years. The last four of which I have been sharing with all of you on my blog “ImpulsivelyCreative.com”. During this time, I have worked on my furniture in my office, in the dining room and if weather permitted, somewhere outside of my house. My office is not very big so it could only accommodate small projects. If I worked in the dining room, everything had to be put away each day to use it as a dining room. Repeating this each day until the project was finished. It was annoying, but it’s just how I got it done.
My husband and I have bounced around the idea of a separate workspace over the years. We talked about renting space but found the logistics didn’t work out with having a full-time job. The garage was another idea, but it was too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. Which is also not conducive for my paint supplies. So, we shelved the idea.
Well, the idea is has come off the shelf and has been put into action. We have just recently started a conversion project for the garage so it can be used to work out there year-round. The decision was not an easy one especially since we recently added an addition to our home for my mother-in-law. There are many factors contributing to the decision though. I have increased my work intake, I would actually like to have an office to do officey things, and we are both tired of my projects being in the dining room.
Here we go!

The first thing we had to do was rent a POD to store everything that was in the garage. I thought it was too big, but it was barely big enough for what we needed. We will definitely be reorganizing and purging before everything goes back in the garage.


I forgot to get a picture of the empty space, so I took a quick picture before the framers got started.



We were a little surprised when the electrician gave us two options; break through the drywall ceiling in the basement to run electricity through the house or dig around the front of the house to bury them in the ground. This is what it looked like after the trenches were dug. This option was much better than opening ceiling in our house.



We are electrified!



Then the inspector came and required insulation to be buried outside of the exterior walls to help keep the heating/cooling from leaking out the concrete slab floor. This meant cutting the driveway across the front of the garage and digging up our plants on the outside wall. This time the plants had to be removed. I left my Hydrangea bush but tucked it into a box for protection.



Insulation is done on walls and ceiling. After it is all inspected and approved, then comes the drywall!
Look for Part Two coming soon! I hope..