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The new exterior of the home. Photo: Randy O'Rourke
Have you ever seen a house where the attached garage was turned into a family room or extra bedroom that basically still looked like a garage with drywall? Converting a garage into livable space is quite a feat, but to do it in a tasteful way so it looks like it was always there is even more of a challenge.
But Frank Shirley of Frank Shirley Architects did exactly that. In 2009, he and a team converted a two-car attached garage on a lovely ocean-side home in Massachusetts into a beautiful family room.
The cozy 84-year-old home overlooks the Atlantic Ocean, but like many older homes, it lacked the space needed for today's lifestyle. The homeowners turned to Frank to help them solve their space dilemma.
While some people would never give up their garage, this family needed more bedrooms and a family room. Plus, the large driveway leading up to the old garage, often full of cars, blocked the home's entryway. Frank had an idea: Don't give up the garage, move the garage to the other side of the home. Then you'd improve the home's curb appeal -- and the family wouldn't lose the much loved storage space.
A garage-turned-family room. Photo: Randy O'Rourke
The result is a spectacular conversion and addition that looks like it was part of the home's original cottage-style. It added about 2,500 square feet to the home, including a family room where the old garage was once located, as well as a new 2-car garage, a mudroom, three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a laundry room.
The family room is divided into two areas: the game area (pictured above), which houses a pool table and a window seat, where you can wait your turn, as well as rich wood built-in cabinetry for storing board games and other recreational items. On the other side of the room is where the family can relax and watch movies or television on the flat screen TV that sits inside a custom-built wall-to-wall entertainment center.
Frank's team wanted to pay respect to the original home, so he carefully selected woods to fit the character and craftsmanship of the house. To replace the old garage doors, he selected leaded glass doors that open onto an intimate front garden area, perfect for relaxing on a cool summer evening.
For before pictures of the garage, see below. Yes, your cluttered garage could look this good.
Before: The front of the house before the remodel. Photo: Frank Shirley Architects
Before: The 2-car garage was a catch-all storage spot. Photo: Frank Shirley Architects
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Reader comments (Page 1 of 2)
This is a totally beautiful house - great job on the garage! You just need "vision"! Http://www.garageremodelingguide.info
ReplyAnd MONEY!
This looks expensive. What was the cost of just the garage do-over, excluding all the other improvements?
Vision PLUS the kind of cash that not many of us have these days!
vision is great but what you really need is money. If you have the mney you can hire the vision. Many have great vision and no money....so you can probably fill in the blanks.
I am so tired of reading peoples stupid blogs that are full of jealousy, non-sense and stupidity. Get a freakin clue people !
That is a beautiful room...There's one HUGE catch...most of us mere mortals live in mid suburbia, in tract homes w/ 2 car garages...I was hoping for something more realistic for the average family. Maybe next time?
I did the exact same thing. My garage was being used to store my classic car and alot of other junk. I wanted to put a party room addition on my house and i was getting estimates from $50,000.00 and up. I wasn't about to spead that kind of money. One night i drove up and just looked at my garage and then the idea came to me. Convert the garage into a bar. So i moved my car into a storage garage and then the work started. I have to tell you that its the best thing i ever did and it cost me $25,000.00 less then the addition. I even built a bathroom out in the bar.
We have been enjoying our new space for the past few years. Great investment.
How is this a "garage conversion"? They put a 2,500 sq. ft. addition on the house, including a new 2-car garage. Sounds more like an addition to me. When most people think, "garage conversion", they mean to lose the garage altogether.
ReplyExactly!!! That was no conversion!!! Don't waste my time luring me into a totally different article.
Typical juvenile AOL reporting and writing, next wil be my dog has fleas "Family pet infested with strange creatures"
I can not understand why anyone would give up a garage for more living space. It really cheapens a neighborhood when people do this.
ReplyHow does it cheapen the neighborhood? It's not like they're just parking the cars on the front lawn. Did you read the entire article? They also added a new 2 car garage.
for we old pharts with toooo many toys the garage is living space nice job another nice addition would be a skate board ramp and curl --- gets me all tingley!!!
That is a spectacular make over. It probably cost a lot of money. I have a two car garage and would love the added space,.Any suggestions for a do it yourself make over that would not cost an arm and a leg as they say?
ReplyIt still looks like a Garage makover and a big boner to the house. I have never saw a garage turned around and could not tell. More space and I bet the kids are getting older and ready to leave, then they will have 1 more empty room!
ReplyGreat Job, These renovations look great! KUDOS!!!
ReplyNice if you have a lot of money to spend, but there are people that need food, or a job, out their not a place to shoot pool.
ReplyWOOOW!!!!!---People can be so negative and boring cus, obviously this was a time investment PEGGY!!! Thats what people do so they can eat FOOD, SHELTER and obviously have a JOB!!! People can do whatever they want to THEIR homes if they have the money that they worked their ASS OFF for years. I think that would help in the process to accomplish something like that if not our own kids could go out there and make their own apartments with NO JOBS!!! You and other people like this can be so IGNORANT!!! My goodness!!!
It's a shame there are so many gealous people out there. They obviously don't know that we all make choices in life and the better the choice the harder you work (or work smart) the better your life. I respect people that have what they want in life. Good example for all.
Reply