Garage Porn?

I want to design a garage / man cave. But, I'm retarded when It comes to 'designing' a space. Where to go for man cave 'inspiration'?

www.garagejournal.com

Garage journal is what you want, but be careful, it doesn't take too long to start thinking that a 50k square foot $250k garage is a reasonable idea.

The biggest challenge will always be proper arrangement and layout of your stuff for best utilization of the available floor space. It won't matter how cool your cave gear is, if it is an akward layout. Food for thought.

Garage Journal is a good site.

Also check out The Practical Machinist. You won't get much direct garage inspiration, but some of the ideas/projects will be relevant.

Easy.

Learn to fly.

Move to remote fly-in community

Use the hangar to work on cars.

On a more serious note, unless you are going to do the entire project yourself, step #1 is to find a builder. Good builder will do the paperwork for you and tell you up front what you can get away with space and utilities wise. Lots of not-so-good builders out there.

In reply to NOHOME:

If you live in a remote, fly in village...how did you get your cars to the hangar?

In reply to NOHOME:

Pfffft...builder, you just need a hammer, a jig saw, and some imagination.

oh...this isn't about the playboys your dad kept in the garage?

What are your goals? Garage version of a living room? Garage Version of a Bar/Tavern? A good work bench with a tv/computer and fridge next to it? Fancy storage? Just looking for wall art?

See wall

Well, the first adult vhs I watched had a scene in a garage, on the hood of some 50's car...

I want my garage/workshop to be just that, I'll save my man cave for a sports bar. As long as it isn't a shrine to the pats and sox, my wife will be onboard with it.

My advice? Don't lay it out...at least not all of it. If you commit to one design, you will hate part of it soon enough.

Start by adding lighting everywhere, and electrical outlets everywhere.

Then I recommend a few zones. First is a fixed workbench along the back wall or wherever you have some free room. This is "home base" and is well lit and has a good work surface for all the little things you do.

Next is a storage zone, where you can put some shelving or cabinets to store the stuff that you will always store in your space.

Everything else should be modular, flexible or moveable. I have all my hand tools in a rolling cart that allows me to set up a different work zone for the motorcycle, car, SUV or ATV. I use storage hooks on one wall that hang winter stuff in winter, and summer stuff in summer. I have one corner that holds salt and shovels in the winter, then hoses and water toys in the summer. I have tables and sawhorses and stands that allow me to set up a temporary workspace for carpentry, tile work, painting, or whatever project I am involved in. With a small space, versatility is key.

I wish I had a few pics of my grandfathers garage. It was a WW2 era built 2 stall with most everything a shade tree mechanic would need. Not flashy but simple and functional. Kind of had the Walt Kowalski vibe from Gran Torino. He even had a pit dug under each parking stall for easy oil changes and other maint.

His garage had character.

mazdeuce wrote: In reply to NOHOME: Pfffft...builder, you just need a hammer, a jig saw, and some imagination.

And an Epic build thread!

mazdeuce wrote: Garage journal is what you want, but be careful, it doesn't take too long to start thinking that a 50k square foot $250k garage is a reasonable idea.

$50K would be about right for a house build, but that $250k budget for the garage might be on the low side....

edit: I should probably learn to read, but the sentiment still stands...

I suggested this as the floor plan for our new house... but wife unimpressed

LuxInterior wrote: I suggested this as the floor plan for our new house... but wife unimpressed

You forgot the home theater.

...and more windows in the garage part.

RossD wrote: What are your goals? Garage version of a living room? Garage Version of a Bar/Tavern? A good work bench with a tv/computer and fridge next to it? Fancy storage? Just looking for wall art?

3 car garage/shop with separate space for welder, grinders, bandsaw etc. and a separate (not fancy) 'hang out' space with chairs, stereo, TV, fridge. Possibly add a 2 post lift to one of the bays.

WildScotsRacing wrote: The biggest challenge will always be proper arrangement and layout of your stuff for best utilization of the available floor space. It won't matter how cool your cave gear is, if it is an akward layout. Food for thought.

This. I suck at this.

Now that I'm doing things inside the Grosh I've come to realize something that people told me before I started. A garage is someplace you put things. A shop is someplace you do things. Trying to use one space for both of those things is not ideal.

In reply to mazdeuce:

In the next house, I can have a 2 car attached garage and and outbuilding with 3 bays. Depending on where exactly we end up, I might be able to have a shed for lawn mowers etc. But if shed's not a possibility, that stuff will have to live in garage + outbuilding.

LuxInterior wrote: I suggested this as the floor plan for our new house... but wife unimpressed

This is ridiculous. That hallway goes nowhere. make the hallway connect the bedroom and bathroom then you have a real master bedroom. The the "master bedroom" in the original drawing can be "machine shop".

mazdeuce wrote: Now that I'm doing things inside the Grosh I've come to realize something that people told me before I started. A garage is someplace you put things. A shop is someplace you do things. Trying to use one space for both of those things is not ideal.

I love it. This is why I'm trying to get rid of things to get my shop space back. ha -like that will happen.