Ghetto garage for detailing, best i could do with little to no money

[Coupe]

For the past year ive been dying to set up my garage better than it was. It needs so much BS to make it even remotely comfortable to detail in.

The problems my garage has that need to get done:
Double doors have to go, i need a one big single door. 2 single doors suck, such a waiste of space!
Rewire the entire garage, it needs outlets just about every 2 feet plus hardwire in alot more lighting, i mean like an INSANE amount of lighting.
Needs to get insulated, dry walled and painted.
Needs gas and water hook-up.
Beer fridge and TV hehehehe


Since i have no money AT ALL to do any of that i had to focus on my major problems first and get those done but spend little to NO MONEY. Function over form.

The biggest problem ive had so far is not enough lighting. I have 48" florescent lights on every beem in the whole garage and still did not have enough lighting. The problem was the walls where not reflecting the light obviously. So i just painted the bare walls. I bought the paint from home depot, i just asked if they had any returned semi gloss white interior paint that got returned. Sure enough they had 2 gallons, costed me $20.

Then i bought 1 4x8 sheet of white peg board.

The next problem was organization. I needed some serious shelving units. My soon to be father-in law works for D&D construction and they remodel Meijer stores. He got me 6 units of the shelving units that they use that they where throwing out. These are no joke shelving units. The only problem is i could only fit 2, so i have 4 more lol. He also got me a bunch of *MAY WE HELP YOU* signs that they used for the drive up pharmacy, those are more for just fun though lol.


I really wanted to do before and afters of the transformation. This is all i got though

This is what i do have for what it looked like before though:




If you look in the background of these pics you can see what it used to be like:

[Coupe]

Afters:












Sure is ghetto, but it works for now.

[blkZ28Conv]

Good job and well organized. The White paint really brightens things up.


Man Cave!!

[Coupe]

The white paint made a HUGE difference, i was shocked.

[cgage]

Looks great! That's a ton of gauge pods, is that grand am turbocharged?

[BlueZero]

Darn nice turn around. Looks like a nice setup to me. I like the wide boards on the wall, gives it some character.

I really need to get one of those wheeled chairs.

[BlackElantraGT]

I would take your "ghetto" garage any day compared to having a useless garage full of 40 years of junk collected by my wife's family. I would be happy if I could even get shade, but the way our house is situated it doesn't get shady until the sun is close to setting.

And you weren't kidding about those shelves, they're bad@$$ especially considering they're free! And with your products sitting on there, you have a better detailing section than the local AutoZone!

[Way2SSlow]

Looks good to me. I dont even have my own garage, so you're doing way better than I am.

[Coupe]

Originally Posted by cgage

Looks great! That's a ton of gauge pods, is that grand am turbocharged?

There is only 3 guages in the pillar, only ones i need though, volt, air/fuel and trans temp. Im getting to the forced induction stage. The problem with these cars is NO ONE makes after market parts for it, 90% of it has to be "one-offs" or made by yourself. So its slow going.

Originally Posted by BlackElantraGT

And you weren't kidding about those shelves, they're bad@$$ especially considering they're free! And with your products sitting on there, you have a better detailing section than the local AutoZone!

Thats the first thing i thought too

My stock is getting seriously SCARY low, restocking very soon. Restocking for me will cost $200-$300, so its a waiting game waiting for enough money to come in, always does though.

[Vintage]

What are you talking about? That looks great! The white paint really ties everything in and makes the place look bigger. Excellent shelves! Too bad you need to do more wiring. Otherwise, I’d say to insulate (since that’s one of the cheapest building materials) and then hang your drywall. No need to tape it right away. But then again, money and time is needed. For what you spent, it looks great. Even what you had before wasn’t too bad. Consider this, many people have a beautiful fully finished huge garage – that’s full of junk and stuff. You have a good work area, happy detailing!

[gmblack3a]

Great work! I need to repaint the walls in my garage and do something with the floor.

[zoomzoom mazda5]

Wish i had a garage to work in, yours with the new paint job and shelving units looks great and nice shine on your car too!