So long, you old, beat up, tired thing, you!

Ok, not to try to scare anyone, or anything...this being (one of three this year, mind you) Friday the 13th, and all. But we've started the garage remodel this week, and I thought it might be nice to share some "before" pictures with you.

Here is the beast that I've been living with for the past 5+ years:

What's that screaming sound??? Oh, its just me. Sorry. I'll calm down now.

I hate the walls, I hate the lack of walls, I hate the ceiling...I hate it ALL. So it's time for the change to happen. This is how we hang our tools...or at least some of them, anyway.

The lighting is inconvenient and unhelpful. So we're redoing that, and rewiring things so that they can be flipped on with a - get this - switch. I know! Seems too modern for most people, but we're ready, I promise. Right now, we have all of our garden supplies in the plastic shelving there next to the door...

It smells all chemically, and toxic when I open the doors, so I'm hoping we can get the chemically and toxic things out onto properly ventilated shelves after this is over, and I'll store tools and plastic lawn bags and stuff in there instead from now on.

We're also replacing the broken-down ugly-assed step into the house, too. I'm more excited about that than I should be, I have to admit. But it's been a sore point with me to have to step on it to access the kitchen all this time, so having a brand new, fresh step to use? I'm giddy.

This is the wall of shelves tha scares me the most. They don't have proper support, somehow, so they all tilt forward with whatever weight is put on them...
I just love how the paint cans all look like they could slide off and dump on the floor/car/whatever is there at any given moment. It's like a fun GAME, or something. (Except it's not fun, and it really, really sucks.) This is the only wall we're completely removing, as it doesn't have any insulation in it, and being that it's an outer wall? The insulation is kinda important, we think. We're also replacing the door with a proper outdoor-type of door. That's framed correctly. Here, this photo shows it a bit better...
It's just like one of the inside, hollow doors we have on our bedrooms, and stuff. Except that it has a different handle. And no frame. It's coming OUT.

That back wall of insulation has always been exposed like that, and it made me hate doing laundry out there when our washer and dryer used to be in the garage. It seems slightly damaged in some places, but it will come in handy in sealing up the gap that exists in the attic between the garage attic and the rest of the house's attic space. Because right now, that's completely all one space. Our contractor thinks that our heating and cooling bills will dramatically improve once we block the two off from each other with insulation. I'm looking forward to that!

Monday, they tear that wall down. And then we get moving on all the rest of the project. I'll keep everything posted here as we go. So excited!