Vivian Unearths Her Garage (The Backstory)

AAAHHHRRGH! That’s how I felt when I decided to unearth my garage. Join me in my journey as I transform an overstuffed three-car space into a well-designed, usable 700 square feet. Expect to laugh.

I chose a pool home with a three-car garage back in 1999 not to park my family’s vehicles, but because I needed an art studio—away from my kids. And an art studio it was, complete with track lighting along the ceiling. I outfitted one cement block wall with studs, and placed sheetrock over it. That allowed me to hang canvases directly on the wall as I slathered on oils and acrylics. I dedicated a third of this garage to a rack designed to store my finished works, many of them oversized. This rack was clever. I could easily pull it into the driveway so potential customers could peruse my works.

I used the studio regularly in the early years then morphed it into a classroom for art students. When my daughter became an artist, she created and stored her projects there too.

Then you know what happened. Any old furniture, toys, tools … boxes of whatever it is I hadn’t the heart to give away—I added them to the growing mess. Yes, you can call me a pack rat.

In early 2020, I decided to clean the space out. It’s time to use it as a studio again. So begins my home improvement project, Vivian Unearths Her Garage. Join me here regularly as I blog and vlog about the embarrassingly enormous undertaking. Box by box we go.