before+after...Garage edition

 Sometime last Friday I decided it was really time to get the garage under control. I went by Home Depot and got paint for the walls and an epoxy kit for the floor. By the time craig came home from work, I had empty the entire garage out onto our driveway and was just finishing painting the last wall. (i painted the 2 walls on the side white since it had never been painted before-just poorly primed). For the back wall, I decided to mix a little of my extra teal paint-from the stripes-in with some white, for a pale aqua. (The inspiration for the color is from this nursery I'm obsessed with).

Then, early Saturday morning my brother Mikey, who came to town for the weekend with bex, helped me power wash and do a concrete etch/acid wash thing to prep the cement for the epoxy. After a full day spent first at a small airport watching craig go up in a tiny plane for a dog-fight (more on this later cause it was really cool), then at Torrey Pines Beach boogey boarding-NOT me...way too cold, but mikey and bekah jumped right in without wetsuits, then watching BYU game :(, and then to Santee for a tailgate and drive-in movie with the kiddos and tons of friends (saw Rango--very fun), I FINALLY got home to finish the painting the epoxy on. ( i actually started while everyone was watching the game earlier).

I've said before and I'll say it again....Painting any space, is the easiest, cheapest, and fastest way to completely change the look of the room AND give you the extra motivation to do all the other stuff that needs to be done, but may not give those huge and instant results. Doing the epoxy was very satisfying.

Monday and some of Tuesday found me putting together more shelves (when we did the initial "move" into the garage when we moved into the house I had bought 3 shelves from Costco. I added 2 more because I liked them so much), and a LOT of organizing. After work Monday night, Craig came to help me put the junk away and right away said, "this is really overwhelming." It was beyond a disaster out there (see "before pic). Some of the last few items I was to place on the shelves where 2 mirrors and a chandelier I got at the flea market that I have big plans to clean up and paint before hanging it somewhere in the house. Instead of putting it all on the shelf, I decided to throw it up above my newly designed gardening center....just waiting for sprinklers to plant a my garden. (The 2 white ikea shelves, the white sawhorses and the white door, that now works as a desk top, were all items I unearthed while cleaning out the garage.) The watering can and the navy breadpans were both flea market finds.

{during}

{before}

I'm sure it won't stay like this for long, but at least I have a nice, clean base to add to.....instead of what it was before.