5 Affordable Luxuries for a Hard-Working Garage
Just having some time alone in the garage is a luxury for most of us, so building our dream shop with all the bells and whistles often stays a dream as we focus on simply enjoying what we have. Just because we can’t have 2000 square feet, a mill, a lathe, and a lift does not mean we should ignore little touches of luxury that make our projects more enjoyable—or, at least, more tolerable.
A luxury does not have to be a big-ticket item, merely something that makes you look forward to your time in the garage or that makes your projects run a little smoother. With that goal in mind, here are five affordable upgrades for just about any space.
Affordable Luxury #1: Good Lights
Lighting technology has come a long way in recent history. Compact and efficient LED work lights are easy to hang, run tens of thousands of hours with little maintenance, and sometimes can even be put on a dimmer. That last feature may seem a little absurd, but I don’t particularly enjoy how surgical my garage can feel when I want to just hang out with friends.
Hardwired, battery-operated, or plug-in, lights are great options that can fit anyone’s needs at almost every price range. Consider lighting an investment. It might feel like a decent chunk of change now, but most lights will last years, and they will make working on just about anything more enjoyable.
Affordable Luxury #2: A Decent Stereo
The jury has been split 50/50 here whenever I bring up having a television in the garage, but it’s pretty much universally agreed that a good stereo is a must-have. While the Panasonic boombox purchased with Pepsi points in 1996 might still be cranking out the tunes, if you care about sound quality at all, a good set of speakers and a decent amplifier are very affordable, and they allow you to advantage of any music format you might prefer.
Obviously, no one would want to keep records where they use an angle grinder, but not every garage is focused on fabrication. After I splurged for in-ceiling speakers and a tidy wall-mounted amplifier, it became so much easier to listen to music, and the sound doesn’t change much no matter where I am in the space—and my setup cost about $200. Do what works for you, and make it sound good.
Affordable Luxury #3: Sturdy Shelves
Even the most minimal workspace must include storage. The prices of sturdy, strong, and decent-looking shelving are budget-level when you consider that it takes a lot to wear out shelves. Similar to the lighting above, good shelving is a buy once, cry once decision. Adjustable shelving can be had for just a couple hundred dollars, perfectly suited for the projects and parts you store currently. It can even leave you room to grow or change the space in the future. For the same price, you can also buy materials and build custom shelves for your space.
Affordable Luxury #4: Reels
If your garage is bigger than a closet, the addition of extension cords or air hoses is less about convenience and more about necessity: Overhead or wall-mounted, retractable reels make it easy to keep tripping hazards to a minimum. These have gotten budget-friendly as of late—just be sure the wire gauge is appropriate for your use.
Some of the low-end, cheap electrical reels can be 14-gauge or smaller, while most heavy-duty plug-in power tools are best served by 12-gauge. Roll out the length of hose or cord semi-regularly to inspect for imperfections or damage. Cables and hoses that live on the floor pick up debris and, if those bits are rolled into a reel, they become grinding compounds that can damage cords over time.
Affordable Luxury #5: Rugs
Okay, maybe not a rug. We couldn’t imagine a garage with wall-to-wall carpet, but something that people can wipe their feet on, or a standing mat at your workbench are little things that go a long way to make a workspace feel less industrial and more like a place you enjoy being in. Use them to inject a little personality into your space, if you want: Novelty door mats can say just about anything, so we won’t give you any ideas.
***
Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.
Buy an old house component stereo system for cheap at a garage sale or thrift shop. I have less than $60 total in mine (including 4 speakers) and it works just fine for music while working. Speakers are just mounted on the wall up high. No fancy in-wall or huge speakers, just some thrift store bookshelf units.
Agree on good lighting, need to be able to see what you are working on. Instead of reels, I have air plumbed around the shop with numerous air drops, just connect where close by.
Let’s not forget the vintage Cheese Cake calendar with the lift off celuloid bikini!
I had to take those down when the grandkids starting showing up. I had probably a hundred or so Easy Rider centerfolds proudly displayed, plus some older automotive cheese cake calendars. My wife said “no cleavage or buttocks allowed”…sigh. That space is now occupied by automotive, Route 66, and US 129 signage. The centerfolds are safely packed away.
The luxuries I most appreciate at my age are the garage door opener and the lift
I’m not sure if it qualifies as “affordable for everyone” but one of my favorite purchases for my small workshop is a QuickJack. For $1700, I can lift up any of my vehicles 2 feet off the ground. High enough to get under them and work, take all four wheels off at the same time and service the brakes or undercarriage. Well worth the money.
And for shelving I replaced all of the fixed racks I had in my garage with heavy duty adjustable wire shelving racks on casters that I bought at Sam’s for $100 apiece. It is amazing how useful it can be just to roll all the shelves out into the driveway and clean or find dropped parts and then put everything back in – And I can change the arrangement of the shelves for different projects woodworking or car related.
If building a new garage it’s a great idea to put in a few loops of pipe in the floor when it is being poured. Connect the pipes to a boiler outside the garage. The boiler can get rid of alot of scrap while heating the water to circulate through the pipes and giving you a nice warm floor to lay on and heating the garage at the same time.
That’s my Big Regret on the detached garage/workshop I built: That I didn’t put pipes in the concrete to heat the floor. I live in Alabama and yet a cold morning is agony on these old joints and muscles. Space heaters are always in the way or are too expensive, but a warm floor is always cozy!
I would suggest (unless I missed someone’s post) a good vacuum and “clean on aisle 5” kit.
Hooks. What about hooks? We hang all kinds of things from hooks.
I have a fairly large garage and built an entire open shelf unit along 1 wall. I used 2X4s and 90deg attachment brackets and 3/4” plywood. This took a few $$ but is huge and extremely rigid and strong, this was built to the floor, wall and ceiling and can hold anything. The guy with the LED lights is right – I bought about 10 of these strips, brighter than the sun, no buzzing and instant light! Cheap to use.
Cut a hole up high in the wall and mounted an inexpensive window air conditioner. No need to buy a big unit. It’s amazing how comfortable a dehumidified 10-20 degree drop in temperature is, even down here in Texas.
Insulate your Garage walls and ceiling.
Paint your walls and ceiling a flat outdoor white.
If you can afford it, epoxy paint your floor white. It makes small parts you drop so much easier to find again.
Get a magnetic flexible wand and a mechanical fingers pick up took.
Magnetic roller Broom.
Best Tool next to a Hoist, cable release hose clamp pliers.
When the wife has you replace the area rug in the house, roll it out in the garage. So much better than working on cold concrete and catches any liquid spills.