Colin and Justin: It's a miracle of garage-sized proportions
May 15, 2010
Colin and Justin
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Welcome to Canada’s most unruly garage. Quite the shocker, eh? Imagine our disbelief as we rolled the door to reveal a scene which can only be described as chaos. Actually, in fairness, it could also be described as benign neglect. Or, for that matter, any short descriptive phrase with an untidy sting in its tale. With more horror than Nightmare on Elm Street and its current cinematic remake combined, we were utterly stunned as we surveyed the dreadful scene. But allow us, for a moment at least, to get off the fence.
Picking ourselves up off the floor, we girded our loins and prepared for battle. We were mesmerized (for all the wrong reasons) by the carnage we espied but we knew we could make a difference. And our first port of call? The Yellow Pages. Cue animated digits and lots of page flicking.
Several moments later, we were on the dog and bone, appealing to the better nature of a local dumpster company executive who, having recognized our voices from the telly, assured us (with an air of tangible cynicism) that he was booked solidly for weeks. Hmm. “Please, we’re desperate. We really need your help.” To which he replied; “Yeah, I’ve seen your show.” But you know us; we wouldn’t be beaten; “C’mon, please, this garage is a death trap. We’ve gotta move fast!” And then finally, from him: “Are all Scots this persistent? Okay, I’ll be there in an hour.”
It was at this juncture, our gargantuan gut-down began. A gut-down so enormous we needed two large “skips” (as we call them in Britain) to contain, variously, three dilapidated prams, a collection of broken bicycles and several old Scout outfits. Oh, and not forgetting kitchen cabinetry from the year dot, a mountain of derelict shelving and enough wooden off-cuts to build a small fortress. Anything salvageable was arranged into a separate pile and the next day our clients held a yard sale, where they raised a few hundred bucks. Thrilled to have collected (what they thought would be) useful cash to bolster their summer vacation fund, we felt compelled to intervene before they became too excited. “Sorry guys, we’ll need to toss those dollars into our designer pot to help with the project.” Rolling of eyes ensued but, thankfully, little resistance was demonstrated as our budgetary woes were marginally allayed.
Stripped back and bare, we were finally able to see what we had. And so too was our client. For the first time, we suspect, in a couple of decades. Discussions with Kevin, the architect of this garage catastrophe, revealed he’s the type of guy who likes to potter, tackle odd jobs and fix up things from around the house. Mind you, with this much clutter we wondered how he ever found the space to utilize his garage for DIY. He’d have been hard pressed to pass a screwdriver through the landfill of junk let alone wield it, in reparative fashion, over needy household fix-ups.
As designers, we always listen to our clients to ascertain how they need their projects to “perform” — for us, it’s simply about getting the best from each scheme. As well as space to tackle smaller DIY conundrums, Kevin also required sufficient square footage to park the family car and work on its maintenance while sheltered from the elements. We never quite got round to asking where the car was stored (and all its attendant works carried out) before we intervened. Sometimes, even nosy folk like us agree; It’s best not to pry.
Gut down
Hey, you already know that bit. Two dumpsters, a crowd of keen Canadian boys and a whole load of filling. Job done. Tea break. Moving on. . .
Painted wood
Pitched roof garages, with their mix of butterfly beams and overhead timbers, really benefit from a paint job to visually disentangle the mess of supports and strapping. We opted for crisp white to minimize fuss and used an eggshell finish to inhibit stains from appearing in future. When painting wood, we always recommend using the relevant undercoat. It might give you a quick fix to barge on without this course of action but, if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly.
Lighting
Just because a lighting pendant is designed to hang over a dining table or centre stage in a living room, it doesn’t mean you can’t use it elsewhere. We found these spun metal storm lamps perfect for garage illumination and, when arranged in a neat triptych, they create an industrial yet friendly aesthetic.
Flooring
We considered all manner of flooring options before settling for that which you see here. Our first plan, to grind and polish the original concrete, proved far too expensive and our second plan, to lay a poured rubber floor, fell at the first hurdle when we realized the rubber compound would take several days to properly dry. So, grabbing the Yellow Pages for the second time, we found roll stock garage-friendly flooring and our crisis was averted. When installing this type of product, it’s essential you ensure surfaces upon which it will be laid are smooth and grit free. Any detritus left below, when driven on from above, may create holes in the surface. So sand and sweep before rolling out your rubber.
Open storage
Open and closed storage are factors that should be considered in any garage overhaul. There’ll be items, certainly, which you’ll want immediately to hand but there’ll also be those (perhaps chemicals and oils) that are best stashed under lock and key. We’ll come to closed storage in a mo, but for the moment let’s talk shelving. We selected neatly regimented, wall bracketed wire racks. These are easy to keep clean and allow items to be seen so they can be accessed as and when required. A supplementary mix of hooks and batons allow garden tools to be wall mounted, avoiding trip hazards into the bargain.
Cabinetry
Pitched somewhere between kitchen units and sports lockers, these red-painted cupboards are an absolute Godsend, particularly as Kevin is a self-confessed DIYer and needs loads of stash space. We employed a specialist garage fitter for this job, but there’s no reason you couldn’t install regular big box store units to serve a similar purpose. Our client now lives by the maxim: “A place for everything and everything in its place.”
Windows
The existing windows were sound enough and simply needed, to make best of them, a fine quality paintbrush and some snowy white eggshell. Enhanced with masculine metal Venetian blinds, they now look smart and business-like. It might seem strange to lavish workshop windows in such a way but we reckon a “guyrage” deserves the same level of attention as anywhere else. If windows need dressed, as these ones certainly did, then they might as well be properly dressed, whatever their location!
Next week: If you thought today’s garage, in its initial incarnation, looked like the eye of the storm, just wait till you witness the spare bedroom catastrophe we’ve got in store! In a blink of an eye, we transformed it into the perfect dressing room.
Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan are the hosts of HGTV’s Colin & Justin’s Home Heist (Saturdays at 2 and 7 p.m.) and the authors of Colin & Justin’s Home Heist Style Guide, published by Penguin Group (Canada). Follow them on twitter @colinjustin or on Facebook. Contact them through their website, www.colinandjustin.tv.
Read more Colin and
Justin here.
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the video of their makeover of the Star
editor's office. Scope out some of their previous transformations:
- Delicious dining
- New
York state of mind
- A
master stroke in the master suite
- Treasures
from the trash
- Happy
Days are here again
- Head
towards the light
- Crisis
relief for a design disaster
- Design
on a dime
- Sleeping
with Colin and Justin
- Freshly
squeezed style
- Extravaganza
in orange
- Blue
and white make it right
- Baby
blue strikes the right chord
- Taking
it up a notch
- Well-planned
kitchen really cooks
- Asian-inspired
glamour
- Reaching
new heights
- Tweaking
for a new decade
- Crazy
for Canadiana, eh!
- Create
a holiday affair to remember
- Please
pass the mustard
- Hallelujah!
Designer salvation
- Mauving
right along
- A
beach of a makeover
- It's
a jungle in there
- Kitchen
less than confidential
- Sweet
dreams are made of this
- A
sweet transformation
- Just
a little bit country
- Calamitous
kitchen
- Killer
bee design
- Va
va va voom!
- Cave
dwelling
- A
little Hollywood-style glamour
- Purple
reign
- The
boss's Office Heist
- Now that's making an
entrance
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A
Colonial charmer
- From
ghastly to glorious
- Not
so mellow yellow
- Answering
nature's call
- Picture perfect loft
makeover
- Shades
of grey
- Beyond
the 'wreck' room
- Check,
mate
-
Soaking in the
lap of
luxury
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Basement gloom be
gone
- A
country kitchen goes classy
- Kitchen full of
Swedish glamour