Begin with a pristine backdrop

Bare garage walls are unsightly and an obstacle to achieving a pleasant environment. Too often, pipes and cables are left exposed, and bare brickwork is mismatched or poorly finished. A bare floor can be patchy and uneven, and will throw dust into the room if left exposed. All of these should be addressed to provide a clean, tidy base to design your room within.

• Sealing your garage to make it a room -  Concrete floors, concrete blocks, open eaves and gaps around the garage door, are all sources of dust and debris brought into your garage by the elements. Covering the concrete, and applying a snug fitting seal to the door will reduce these problems and the space can then be considered as a room in its own right.

Create tidy walls, clear of obstructions - Dura StorePanel is a quick and intelligent way to cover your walls without resorting to labour intensive plasterboarding. The panels can be used to conceal pipes or cables and fit neatly around awkward areas, windows and fittings. With its uniform slatted surface, your walls will be clean and tidy, and allow you to attach hooks and baskets wherever you choose, without the need for further drilling for fixings. The neutral tone works beautifully with most colour schemes, and its pale hue is brighter than standard housebricks and so helps to reflect light and make the space feel larger.

Build an attractive ceiling - Garage roof structures are often left exposed. For those with natural solid wood beams, this can be an attractive architectural feature, but for the more run-of-the mill roof joists it would be worth considering using Dura’s ceiling system to conceal them. This provides the space with more of a ‘room-like’ feel and a base for quality lighting to illuminate wall areas or work spaces.

Invest in a beautiful floor - Bare concrete is unattractive, cold and contributes a lot of dust to your garage, so is well worth covering. Dura offer a range of stylish options in a choice of colours to suit your budget, from interlocking ‘glue-free’ PVC floor tiles, fixed porcelain tiles or a seemless resin floor. Generally, the lighter colours show less dust and make the space seem larger, but the darker tones can provide a stylish contrast to lighter cabinets and walls and darker marks will be harder to spot.

Create a ‘visually organised’ space

Dura’s cabinet system is designed to remove visual clutter with everything behind lockable doors. Its modularity means that you can fine-tune your design to match your exact needs, with flexibility to expand should you need to in the future. With a wide selection of colours and finishes at your disposal, the options are endless and we have a team of design experts on hand to help visualise your space for you  (see details of our Free design service). Here are some good ground rules for selecting your furniture.

Minimise clutter to create the illusion of spaciousness - Like a beautifully organised kitchen, your garage furniture can be configured to provide the maximum amount of storage at high and low level, while fitting neatly around windows allowing good use of natural light. Everything can be neatly stowed away to create clean lines and a spacious environment.

Choose statement furniture that fills the room - A larger combination of cabinets instead of multiple individual smaller pieces decreases the look of clutter and makes a room feel bigger. This combination may include a large worksurface (e.g. wood worktop) which could visually tie-in with features of the building itself

Use the system’s flexibility to your design advantage - Dura furniture is freestanding, so you are not restricted to sitting cabinets against the walls. Islands or projecting worktops can help add interest to your space, and mobile units allow you to reconfigure your space at will, should you need temporary room for parking. Think about how you will use the space and where you will walk, to ensure cabinets are positioned comfortably. If you plan to work in your garage, locate cabinets for frequently used items adjacent to each other and always consider where doors will be opened to avoid awkward clashes.

Select the colour to reflect your character - Dura’s cabinets are made to order, allowing you the flexibility to choose colours that suit you best. Darker cabinet colours will make your space feel smaller by reflecting less light, while lighter ones make the space feel larger. Dura’s system will allow you to combine several colours in one layout should you wish. A popular combination is to pair gloss black cabinets –
which enhances the steel trim – with lighter coloured back panels to add personality. One design approach can be to restrict your colour palette to just tones of one hue rather than a ‘rainbow effect’ of colour. The chosen colour will then act as an accent colour linking and highlighting key features and decorations around the room.

Theming your space to add character

Like every room in your home, your garage should be filled with colours, textures and objects that are special to you, and reflect your personality. These can be achieved subtly… or allowed to run riot to make your garage the ultimate themed den!

Create a feature wall to ‘frame’ your cabinets - Not every wall needs to be identical. A Dura cabinet combination could sit pride of place within a coloured wall to add a focal point to the room, or be surrounded with a textured wall finish, graphics or themed memorabilia to enhance the design. Stainless steel panels and glass features can be added to the Dura cabinet system for further visual interest.

Use dramatic art pieces for visual impact - If you have a passion for sport, or an obsession with a particular brand of car, Dura can help the garage reflect this with creation of special items. Large scale prints can be produced as ‘works of art’ within the room. 3d items and collectables can be organised and displayed within shelves to make the room reflect the customer’s hobby.

From design to completion

We hope you have found this guide useful and taken you just one step further towards achieving your dream garage.  Please don’t forget to share it with your friends if you’ve enjoyed it!

For further information on any of these products, or to speak to our design experts and arrange a FREE no-obligation design consultation, please call 01280 700563 or email info@duragarages.com