News
12-28-2006, 08:18 PM
New Products Promise Results
For Making Over Your Garage
By Gwendolyn Bounds
From The Wall Street Journal Online
Last weekend, I had dinner guests. My first question was the usual -- "Wanna drink?" -- but the second was new: "Wanna see my garage?"
Even for a dedicated do-it-yourselfer, the garage is often the forgotten room -- or, worse, the dumping ground for the remains of other household projects. One Department of Energy study estimated that nearly a quarter of consumers with two-car garages don't park even one car inside, presumably because they can't. Until four weeks ago, I was one of them.
Garages seem resistant to organization, let alone beautification. How much attention -- and money -- do you want to spend on a room you don't expect to show off? And the options haven't been all that appealing. At one end were the glorified plastic bins that get your tools off the floor only to bury them under piles of junk; at the other, custom cabinets you need to hire a professional to install.
This summer, however, mainstream retailers and manufacturers are targeting do-it-yourselfers of both ***es with products that promise to make it easy to bring order and style to the chaos of the garage, without breaking the bank.
So I gave myself a challenge: three weekends and $2,500 to make over my garage, using some of what's new along with a workbench, some metal racks and ugly brown pegboard that I had on hand. As it turned out, I learned that the simplest change can make the biggest difference: My most transforming purchase was two cans of epoxy paint.
I found plenty of new products to consider. Appliance maker Whirlpool is now rolling out at Lowe's a new mass-market-priced version of its special-order Gladiator GarageWorks storage units. Earlier this year, Home Depot introduced two new garage systems in its stores: Rubbermaid's FastTrack Rails, which holds hooks and racks for gear, and Stanley Storage System cabinetry, which is billed as going up with "just a screwdriver." Sporting-goods outlets REI and EMS have begun carrying a unit called Ground Control that can store everything from skis to weed-whackers. Upscale rug purveyor InterfaceFlor offers a 20-inch "Working Class" tile model in red and gray for the so-called "luxe garage." Even hard-core tool retailer Sears is getting fashion-conscious with forest green and midnight blue cabinets and metal-faced storage units.
"We've found people will pay for a fashion piece -- a look, as well as functionality," says Tom Arvia, who is Sears's buyer for tool and garage storage.
For the industry, the goal is clear: According to Specialists in Business Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, annual growth for the $1.25 billion U.S. garage and shed storage market is expected to climb 5% through 2009, while other research suggests the rate of overall remodeling spending growth is slowing.
For my part, I needed to get my cars inside before winter and carve out a workspace that didn't feel like a dim, grimy cave -- all without blowing my whole renovation budget.
On weekend one, I came up with categories for my stuff: sports equipment, hand tools, tiling, painting and so on. My local trash collector delivered a 12-yard dumpster, which I filled to the brim (cost: $279). It took the entire weekend to clear out the mess, organize the piles and scrub three decades of previous owners' grime off the walls and floor. I vacuumed, then slept 10 hours Sunday night.
On weekend two, I painted the entire space with remnants from other projects. The brown pegboard got updated with Ralph Lauren metallic gray left over from my faux-finishing in the bedroom. The color was warm, but dark enough that scratches from hanging tools wouldn't show. I whitewashed the other walls.
For storage, I picked only pieces that hung on walls or had wheels for easy maneuverability. The first unit I installed was the Ground Control rack from Yakima Products. New this year, it consists of two silver and black vertical poles with horizontal cross bars that hold a variety of hooks. Despite four hours of assembly with an unwieldy hex wrench and a bill for accessories that nearly doubled its cost, it's my favorite storage unit. For about $400 it tucked nearly 30 items -- including two bikes, skis and a leaf blower -- into an 8-by-5-foot space, with room to spare. (For other options, see www.racorinc.com and www.sportssolutions.com).
The new Gladiator products weren't yet available near me, so I splurged on a metal storage locker and two matching 24-inch wall cabinets from the special-order welded-steel line, $349.99 and $149.99 each, respectively, at www.gladiatorgw.com. I was disappointed that the locker's dimensions weren't bigger, but hanging the cabinets proved to be quick and painless. I drilled GearTrack strips to the wall and clipped the cabinets and accessories onto the strips. I figured I'd picked well when my local oil serviceman ignored my proffered tip because he was too busy ogling the locker.
Two Craftsman rolling metal drawer units and matching storage chests from Sears in red and midnight blue (on sale for $506.93) added color and more storage. (A friend even pronounced them "beautiful.")
To improve the lighting, I installed inexpensive overhead fixtures ($3.76 each at Home Depot) and replaced cracked, yellowed switches with updated white ones.
At the end of weekend two, I realized that all my sprucing up would be in vain if I didn't do something about the stained floor. I found multicolored click-together tiles for about $2.89 each online at www.jnkproducts.com and Gladiator's no-adhesive rollout treading for $798 at Lowe's for 288 square feet. But the 552 square feet I'd need would have busted the budget.
Instead, I headed to a mom-and-pop paint store in Peekskill, N.Y., where they recommended a fast-curing water-based epoxy paint that required little prep except serious cleaning. Tinted to a light steel gray, two coats -- applied on weekends two and three -- altered the mood of the room dramatically. I also laid 60 square feet of platinum-colored Sears Craftsman garage tiling ($80.96) around my workbench to create the illusion of a separate space. The rest of weekend three went to organizing gear and tools.
Ultimately, I came in under budget, at $2,173.32, though I still get sticker shock about dropping that on a room I'll inevitably share with mice and spiders. But this winter, my cars won't be covered in snow.
Email your comments to rjeditor@dowjones.com.
For Making Over Your Garage
By Gwendolyn Bounds
From The Wall Street Journal Online
Last weekend, I had dinner guests. My first question was the usual -- "Wanna drink?" -- but the second was new: "Wanna see my garage?"
Even for a dedicated do-it-yourselfer, the garage is often the forgotten room -- or, worse, the dumping ground for the remains of other household projects. One Department of Energy study estimated that nearly a quarter of consumers with two-car garages don't park even one car inside, presumably because they can't. Until four weeks ago, I was one of them.
Garages seem resistant to organization, let alone beautification. How much attention -- and money -- do you want to spend on a room you don't expect to show off? And the options haven't been all that appealing. At one end were the glorified plastic bins that get your tools off the floor only to bury them under piles of junk; at the other, custom cabinets you need to hire a professional to install.
This summer, however, mainstream retailers and manufacturers are targeting do-it-yourselfers of both ***es with products that promise to make it easy to bring order and style to the chaos of the garage, without breaking the bank.
So I gave myself a challenge: three weekends and $2,500 to make over my garage, using some of what's new along with a workbench, some metal racks and ugly brown pegboard that I had on hand. As it turned out, I learned that the simplest change can make the biggest difference: My most transforming purchase was two cans of epoxy paint.
I found plenty of new products to consider. Appliance maker Whirlpool is now rolling out at Lowe's a new mass-market-priced version of its special-order Gladiator GarageWorks storage units. Earlier this year, Home Depot introduced two new garage systems in its stores: Rubbermaid's FastTrack Rails, which holds hooks and racks for gear, and Stanley Storage System cabinetry, which is billed as going up with "just a screwdriver." Sporting-goods outlets REI and EMS have begun carrying a unit called Ground Control that can store everything from skis to weed-whackers. Upscale rug purveyor InterfaceFlor offers a 20-inch "Working Class" tile model in red and gray for the so-called "luxe garage." Even hard-core tool retailer Sears is getting fashion-conscious with forest green and midnight blue cabinets and metal-faced storage units.
"We've found people will pay for a fashion piece -- a look, as well as functionality," says Tom Arvia, who is Sears's buyer for tool and garage storage.
For the industry, the goal is clear: According to Specialists in Business Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, annual growth for the $1.25 billion U.S. garage and shed storage market is expected to climb 5% through 2009, while other research suggests the rate of overall remodeling spending growth is slowing.
For my part, I needed to get my cars inside before winter and carve out a workspace that didn't feel like a dim, grimy cave -- all without blowing my whole renovation budget.
On weekend one, I came up with categories for my stuff: sports equipment, hand tools, tiling, painting and so on. My local trash collector delivered a 12-yard dumpster, which I filled to the brim (cost: $279). It took the entire weekend to clear out the mess, organize the piles and scrub three decades of previous owners' grime off the walls and floor. I vacuumed, then slept 10 hours Sunday night.
On weekend two, I painted the entire space with remnants from other projects. The brown pegboard got updated with Ralph Lauren metallic gray left over from my faux-finishing in the bedroom. The color was warm, but dark enough that scratches from hanging tools wouldn't show. I whitewashed the other walls.
For storage, I picked only pieces that hung on walls or had wheels for easy maneuverability. The first unit I installed was the Ground Control rack from Yakima Products. New this year, it consists of two silver and black vertical poles with horizontal cross bars that hold a variety of hooks. Despite four hours of assembly with an unwieldy hex wrench and a bill for accessories that nearly doubled its cost, it's my favorite storage unit. For about $400 it tucked nearly 30 items -- including two bikes, skis and a leaf blower -- into an 8-by-5-foot space, with room to spare. (For other options, see www.racorinc.com and www.sportssolutions.com).
The new Gladiator products weren't yet available near me, so I splurged on a metal storage locker and two matching 24-inch wall cabinets from the special-order welded-steel line, $349.99 and $149.99 each, respectively, at www.gladiatorgw.com. I was disappointed that the locker's dimensions weren't bigger, but hanging the cabinets proved to be quick and painless. I drilled GearTrack strips to the wall and clipped the cabinets and accessories onto the strips. I figured I'd picked well when my local oil serviceman ignored my proffered tip because he was too busy ogling the locker.
Two Craftsman rolling metal drawer units and matching storage chests from Sears in red and midnight blue (on sale for $506.93) added color and more storage. (A friend even pronounced them "beautiful.")
To improve the lighting, I installed inexpensive overhead fixtures ($3.76 each at Home Depot) and replaced cracked, yellowed switches with updated white ones.
At the end of weekend two, I realized that all my sprucing up would be in vain if I didn't do something about the stained floor. I found multicolored click-together tiles for about $2.89 each online at www.jnkproducts.com and Gladiator's no-adhesive rollout treading for $798 at Lowe's for 288 square feet. But the 552 square feet I'd need would have busted the budget.
Instead, I headed to a mom-and-pop paint store in Peekskill, N.Y., where they recommended a fast-curing water-based epoxy paint that required little prep except serious cleaning. Tinted to a light steel gray, two coats -- applied on weekends two and three -- altered the mood of the room dramatically. I also laid 60 square feet of platinum-colored Sears Craftsman garage tiling ($80.96) around my workbench to create the illusion of a separate space. The rest of weekend three went to organizing gear and tools.
Ultimately, I came in under budget, at $2,173.32, though I still get sticker shock about dropping that on a room I'll inevitably share with mice and spiders. But this winter, my cars won't be covered in snow.
Email your comments to rjeditor@dowjones.com.