Shannon Stacey


Don’t know how to garage

After twenty years in a fairly dense residential neighborhood, my husband and I fell in love with a piece of land last summer. I guess it must have been July, since I remember telling the real estate agent that he’d better not sell it while we were in San Antonio. We’ve enjoyed spending some time there since, though we won’t be able to visit again until spring.

But here’s the autumn view from my imaginary back deck.

Field with fall foliage in the tree line

And I spent time in my imaginary office before the plow berm at the end of the driveway got too big to crash the truck through.

Standing in a snow-covered field with a stone wall in the distance

Of course it goes without saying I have a Pinterest board for my house.

Sadly, there’s no house in my yard, but that’s the plan. And in the planning of this house, I’ve realized just how much I don’t know about how to do a house properly. I don’t know how to use a dishwasher. I don’t know where people keep their bread and chips. I was keeping them in the microwave, but the kid developed a liking for breakfast Hot Pockets and his daily microwave use has led to the bread and chips being kept in a small laundry basket because it was handy. Do most people have a bread and chips cabinet? I don’t think I have enough cabinets. A bread and chips laundry basket can’t be normal, though, because I haven’t seen that on Pinterest.

Anyway, it recently occurred to me I have no idea how to have a garage. Why did this occur to me?

Salt and slush build up in Jeep's wheel well

My husband was trying to kick the road slush build-up out of the wheelwells of my Jeep because Jeep screwed the pooch on wheelwell design and the wheels wouldn’t turn properly, and I was yelling at speaking sternly to him because we were at a restaurant and it’s rude to dump your wheelwell chunks in somebody else’s drive. But he felt it was better theirs than ours. Plus, I might have mentioned it was getting hard to steer.

That’s when I realized all that stuff would melt off in a garage. And sit on the floor in nasty, slushy puddles. Who’s dealing with that? When it falls off in nasty, huge clumps in a driveway, you just keep running it over each time you move your vehicle until it becomes part of the driveway snowpack. But on a cement floor in the garage?

My husband loves that we haven’t even hired a builder yet and he’s already in trouble. “I’M NOT CLEANING THE GARAGE FLOOR. You’re going to let that crap sit around on our new garage floor and it’s all going to get tracked inside and I’m not cleaning that up, either. The garage is the man’s part of the house, which means it’s your job, and if that road salt gets tracked across my tile floor, I’m going to be mad.”

This is going to be a wicked fun process, you guys. He’s researching radiant heat and insulation, and I’m bugging him about where I’m supposed to put my National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation decorations on display for Christmas if we put the TV over the gas fireplace instead of a shelf.

Ceramic RV and Cousin Eddie

Marriage survival pool, anybody?

11 comments to “Don’t know how to garage”

  1. Ruby Norwood
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    1
      · February 23rd, 2015 at 10:36 am · Link

    Hope you get all of those problems worked out !! Lol



  2. Ruby Norwood
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    2
      · February 23rd, 2015 at 10:37 am · Link

    Heart Of The Storm !! Got to be a good book, Sorry I didn’t get this in with the other comment



  3. Ilene
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    3
      · February 23rd, 2015 at 10:51 am · Link

    As someone who spends her winter and rainy days dodging recycle bins and various tools lining the sides of my one car garage, I recommend that you build an oversized garages (2 1/2) this will leave room for you to walk. My neighbor has garage carpet squares to help absorb any moisture, I just keep several mats on the garage side of the kitchen door. When we redid the house we put a large beam mantel between the gas fireplace and the TV – this breaks up the space and gives you room to put stuff. As far as the kitchen you can never have too many cabinets, try to take them all the way up to the ceiling, a built in pantry is a nice choice as well (that’s where we keep our breadbox)
    Good Luck, I look forward to reading about the progress.



  4. Jean
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    4
      · February 23rd, 2015 at 12:18 pm · Link

    We had a three car two story garage built, and it’s never had a car in it. Don’t get too hopeful. Mr. L has all his stuff in it (and in the shop and in the store building), but it’s my stuff cluttering everything up.

    I’m planning total knee replacement and have decided I want to get a recliner I can sleep in during recovery, but he will only look at a recliner that looks like a Victorian chair. This knee replacement may be the end of our marriage. Maybe I’ll send him to San Antonio for six weeks and recover on my own.



  5. ButtonsMom2003
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    5
      · February 23rd, 2015 at 12:54 pm · Link

    Bigger is always better when it comes to a garage. As for the slushy mess – make sure you have a couple of drains installed in the floor. Another poster’s suggestion of rugs/mats near the door entering the house also helps a lot.

    You could also do what I did. I moved from Ohio to Florida after I retired. No more snow and mess! LOL



  6. Shannon
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    6
      · February 23rd, 2015 at 1:04 pm · Link

    We’re actually overdoing the garages. We’ll have a 3-bay attached and then a separate 3-bay. I think this is what happens when you go your entire life without having a garage. You then want ALL THE GARAGES. The two bays closest to the house door are mine, and then he can do whatever he wants with the other four.

    Of course, when i say those two are mine, I mean that I still want him to clean up the snow and stuff. I’ll definitely have a good mat outside the house door, and we’ve talked about grates. But at the very least we’ll have a drain, I’d think.



  7. library addict
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    7
      · February 23rd, 2015 at 2:51 pm · Link

    Yes, an oversized garage is nice. And the garage should not be totally level, it slopes so any liquids run to the drain. You should also have the garage where you have to go up at least one step to get into the house so that if something happens where the garage floods it won’t get water in the house.

    Also, a small mudroom directly off the garage where you have a bench to take shoes on and off and hooks for coats and things may be a good idea. Or even a closet. If I were to design a house I think it would have A LOT of closet space – lol.

    As for chips, they go in the pantry. Sadly my pantry is just a cabinet with pull out drawers in my laundry room, but if you are building a house, make sure they design a walk-in pantry. Then you keep you kitchen cabinets for dishes and pans, etc. and the food goes in the walk-in pantry. (Except your candy stash, but you could also keep that in your home office from the sounds of it :wink: )

    HGTV and DIY channels have a lot of fun shows all about homes and design. I think if I went on Pinterest I would lose all track of time.



  8. Joyce
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    8
      · February 25th, 2015 at 11:06 pm · Link

    Definitely kick the snow clumps off in a store parking lot. When you have a garage and winter, you have to shovel the slop. It’s disgusting!



  9. azteclady
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      · February 28th, 2015 at 10:05 pm · Link

    I cannot tell you how much I love reading these posts–even if I’m a week late!

    I’m betting on you, always.



  10. Shannon
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      · March 2nd, 2015 at 6:52 am · Link

    Thanks, Azteclady! Hopefully I won’t be neglecting my blog as much in the future. I’ve been crazy busy for…ever, it feels like.

    And I think we have more garage and closet space in the plans than actual living space, LOL.



  11. azteclady
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    11
      · March 2nd, 2015 at 7:25 pm · Link

    Shannon, going by past experience moving around…you’ll probably need every inch of storage space you put in.

    And visitors can always borrow a couch or even some floor, yes? :wink:







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