garage apartment
The garage apartment also known as the room above the garage or pimpin’ palace if you were to ask my brother and his friends back in high school. Now it is commonly known as our guest suite when we visit Houston, TX which prior to COVID-19 was quite often.
This apartment has under gone a few renovations. Back in the day it was basically studs and used as storage space. Eventually, my Dad decided to finish the space out and add a small kitchen, a bathroom, a deck, AC/Heater — you know the basics. It was about the time my brother was in high school hence the silly name. It was a fun hang out spot for both my brother and I. After I graduated college, I lived at home for a little bit and at the time so did my bother. Him being older, he had dibs on the garage apartment. We both eventually moved out and I had a roommate for awhile in the Heights which was a BLAST! But after a year of learning how to adult, I decided to return home to the garage apartment and save up some money. I also had some career goals in mind so living at home rent free made the most sense for me! My dad and I quickly realized the garage apartment needed some upgrades. Him and I got together and started to plan the second renovation.
We knew it needed a completely new kitchen as the layout of the first one did not make sense. We decided on a one sided kitchen and added a much needed window to the space. Since the configuration of the cabinets changed. A new flooring was a must! We opted to leave the flooring up to the professionals but we installed all new baseboards, trim, doors jams and doors supplied by Mason’s Mill and Lumber. The millworking is painted in Pure White and wall color is Agreeable Grey by Sherwin Williams.
The apartment is a studio so I used the furniture layout to my advantage to create zones. In the bedroom area, we gave the closet a refresh with built-ins. We also added sconces with dimmer switches on either side of the bed to act as reading lights.
In the bathroom, we kept the existing shower but updated the space with a new vanity, marble counter top, hex tile and of course a fresh coat of paint.
The wall color is Sea Salt and vanity is Pure White by Sherwin Williams. The fun thing about the vanity is I got to design it and the place I worked for at the time Osborne Cabinets, built it. It is an inset cabinet with a bead and a cove cabinet profile. Something I learned there which I love is the header drawer is a slab front and the bank of drawers below have the profile detail. This is because the following drawers are usually a little bit taller but I dig the design interest it brings to a space. Anyway, back to the rest of the space! I could talk about cabinets ALL day long!!!
My dad and I worked on this project every night and weekend. It really killed my social life lol! But right when it was complete, I finally ventured back out into the world and that is when Steve and I started dating. I started to spend the night at his townhouse because it was a lot closer to my work. It basically became a permanent sleepover and my Dad couldn’t believe I left our beautiful apartment in the dust. HAHA but when you know you know!
In December of 2015, Steve and I decided to move BACK into the room above the garage – see how this place basically has a revolving door?! We lived there for awhile and even got engaged while we lived there! BUT that wasn’t the biggest surprise that happened while living there…….. we were engaged for 28 days when we found out I was pregnant with MIKEY!! We had already set a wedding date a year from our engagement, book vendors, selected a venue etc. So we quickly decided to move our wedding up to July 16th 2016. We closed on our first house together a WEEK after our wedding and our lives have been crazy ever sense! LOLL
None the less, the garage apartment has many memories and I loved being able to design and build it with my dad. I learned so much from him during the renovation process (both times) and am happy we both have something to be proud of… no matter who does or doesn’t live in it!!
Let me know if you have any questions about the space! I wasn’t blogging at the time so may not have all the answers at my fingers tips but can do a little digging if needed! Hope you enjoyed learning more about this special space!!!
