See parts one through three of this series here.
This is what our garage looked like when we bought our house five years ago. Pretty typical ranch-style house with attached garage.
However, the house was too small (my husband works from home and we needed office space), so we knew right away we were going to make the garage into living space.
We had money from the sale of our other house, so we were able to hire someone to finish the shell for us (with our help) about 6 months after we moved in.
We did all the “finish” work (a term I use rather loosely, because as you will see we are still not finished five years later!): floors, molding, doors, electrical, paint, etc.
We raised the floor to be the same level as the rest of the house, and extended the porch across the front, tearing up the driveway so that there would be no trace of the garage that was there before.
It’s always been a pet peeve of mine to see houses where the garage was finished into living space and the driveway and cars still go right up to the new windows. I know this is weird and many people never think these things…sometimes I wished I didn’t either!
This is the old doorway to the former garage. It is now our hallway and I’m so glad we went to the extra expense of raising the floor because it is a seamless part of our house now. People have to be told it’s where the new remodel is and that there was a steel garage door here when we moved in.
The hallway has three doors. The one to the right when you walk in goes to a workroom/guestroom and the door at the end is my husband’s office. Look for part 5 of this series for the details about these rooms.
Right now, lets take the door to the left:
This is the laundry room/mudroom and I am so happy to have a laundry room, I can’t tell you! Our old house had the laundry in the basement, and before we finished this I was doing the laundry in the garage.
It was cold and dirty. Man, I don’t know how people do laundry in garages.
We put a french door here to echo the new french doors we were adding to the exterior. All a part of making our ranch into a “cottage.” It has the added bonus of allowing the light from the window in the outside door to come into the hallway.
We had a front loading washer and dryer, so we added the laundry sink and a counter. This is the same position the machines were in the old garage, we just scooted them up and over a bit to accommodate the floor and sink, respectively.
The counter is some discounted fir flooring we found. My husband glued it together and I finished it to match the floors and other wood in our house.
The cupboard above is an old cabinet we found on the side of the road years ago and have used as shelves in various houses. It needs brackets and to be painted along with molding for the top of the beadboard.
I found an old piece of salvaged molding, added coat hooks and hung it up over the electrical panel to disguise it some. We will add a door made out of the beadboard at some point (wishing…) to cover the panel, too.
This section of cabinets were only added about a year ago (I’m sorry, we move a little slow around here…) from the remodel of our bathrooms, so it hasn’t been painted yet. The wood counter was put together, but not finished either.
I had planned for this to be a gardening section with shelves and/or cabinets above. I’ll let you know how that goes (what- two years from now?).
We keep our freezer in here, too. I disguised the ugly front with chalkboard paint and picture molding and use the chalkboard to keep track of what I have in there.
My daughter also likes to use the chalkboard. 
Here is a little (17″) closet that I hounded my builder about. He didn’t really see the need for it, and it was hard to fit in there. But I really wanted a place to hang my clothes out of the public eye.
It worked out great, and is also where we keep our brooms and mops.
The flooring in all of the new area (except the hall where we were trying to match the existing wood floor) is maple plywood. It is a hardwood plywood that we found at a discount lumber store here and we did all the floors for about .54 a square foot.
We stained the office floors and I painted these floors in a checkerboard pattern.
I was so in love with this floor- the color, the pattern, it just made my heart sing.
Did I mention that this was a mudroom? And we live in the country? Yea, not exactly the color to hide mud and dirt.
Then we got a dog.
Light painted floors and dog toenails do not mix.
My heart is mysteriously quiet now, and I’m thinking a lovely shade of brown…
-Jami
I believe a cottage can be anywhere or anything (condo, ranch, farmhouse) as long as you have a "cottage mentality" which puts people above things, celebrates imperfections, embraces simplicity, and finds joy in everyday life. Thanks for joining me!
Thank you for sharing. This is so inspiring. I love the look and especially the shade of green. Can you tell me what paint brand and shade that is? It is sweet yet kind of neutral.
Thanks! This is one of my favorite colors- I’ve used it in two houses so far and am not tired of it!
It is “Country Moss” by Behr paints that Home Depot sells.
You did a beautiful job on your remodel. Your colors are light and airy, and the landscaping is just right.
I couldn’t agree more with you about the outside…and you did it so well!
Can you come landscape at my house?
You did an awesome job…..love your wall color…..and I would not change a thing about the floor, just gives it a nice “patina”. Your home reflects what I love to call “casual elegance”. Now, do I battle the stores on Friday to find chalkboard paint…..LOL. Thanks for all this inspiration…..truly beautiful!!
I like that design, it’s awesome, your french door at laundry room inspired me, thank’s mate
I love the look and especially the shade of green. There are must be colorful of flowers that we could see anytime. They also will get the benefits of those situation
ideas that deserve to imitate, alter the function of the actual garage to function outside biasam enviable. thanks for sharing …
Remodeling a garage is an awesome work, the remodeling done here is so wonderful and the colors are really light and pleasant, and gives a new and pleasant look to the entire house.
Lucky you! My laundry are is sooo small.Ive been thinkin of ways to dress her up though.
Hi – I stumbled across your website and was curious – My husband and I also live in Oregon and are planning to convert our garage into living space, but the floor would need to be raised up, so that there wouldn’t be a “step down” into the converted space. I know that it has been several years since you did your conversion, but do you have a ball park figure on what it cost to raise the floor up? We are in the very early stages of planning, and this is the first place I have come across doing this. Thanks!
Hi Jane! I think you’ll love having the floor raised – no one can tell it wasn’t always part of the house. We didn’t separate out what the floor cost – we hired a friend to help us convert the whole thing and then we did the electrical, plumbing (just moving water hoses up for raised laundry), and all the finish work. Wood and things will be different prices now and our labor was cheap. We did the whole conversion for between 10-15,000 (sorry I don’t know specifics) and it’s 600 sq. ft. so even at the highest it was only $25 a sq. ft. Totally worth it.