The new garage… that looks like an old barn

The new garage… that looks like an old barn

I’d like to introduce you to our brand new garage! This is a huge change from our old garage, which we could barely walk into let alone park two cars in. So we went from a creaky, old, falling-down barn to a brand new garage that just looks like an old barn!

As I’ve mentioned before, the entire process of planning, getting the permits, and building took about nine months… So it’s kind of like this garage is our new baby. Isn’t she cute?! (Because garages are girls, right?)

The most frustrating part of getting a new garage was working with the city to get approval. Because our house is a neighborhood historic site, we had to go through an extra approval committee, and let’s just say it wasn’t all that fun. Two of the main sticking points were the shape of the roof and the style of the doors.

We were originally planning on having the roof face the opposite way, so the point would be in the front like an “A,” which matches the roof on our house, but our neighborhood historic committee wanted us to do a “reverse gable,” which puts the “A” on the sides of the garage. It’s one of those things that really doesn’t matter in the long run, but I still would have probably preferred this roof to match the house.

We also initially planned for a very basic garage door, just to keep costs down as low as possible, but the committee had us upgrade to these barn-style doors. They cost quite a bit more but I love them. These doors are very similar to our original garage doors (which, by the way, weren’t original to that garage), but look! They open! With garage door openers! I could sit and watch the door go up and down all day!

In the Spring we will have this garage painted to match the house, and give the house a much-needed paint job while we’re at it. The siding is hardie board, which is a green material that’s considered more durable than wood but doesn’t compromise on appearance. It looks more like wood than traditional vinyl siding, and appearance is especially important at our historic home. The other huge benefit of hardie board is that it is flame resistant, something that’s nice in a neighborhood where the homes are so close together. We had the size of the planks matched to the siding on our house, so the two buildings look like they belong together.

We found these lights at Home Depot for an excellent price, and I really like the look of them. They called them “jelly jars,” which is perfect for me since I kind of have an obsession with mason jars. I think they fit the style of our home well and they provide just enough light to make me feel safe coming home in the dark.

I am so excited about this new garage. It’s going to be especially great to have over the winter. When everyone else is outside scraping snow and ice, I’ll be watching my garage door go up and down!