I live in a 30ish year old house. Not “old” by many standards, but as it turns out, old when it comes to many things house. This house of ours, it needs some love. On the long list of renovation dreams for our home; the bathrooms need new counters, my bedroom should be painted, the banisters in the main hall needs to be stripped and stained, and don’t get me started on the rugs. The other must do, should do, why don’t we do that renovation already….those garage doors.
Do you live in a house similar to mine? Our house has two garage doors,they are plain, have no pizazz, and are frankly a blah colour. Kind of a light cream of mushroom soup. But that’s not why they’re in need of love. The garage doors are wood and they are plum worn out. Over the past ten years we’ve done our best to sand, re-paint, hang onto, and in general just make these doors work. Sadly, it’s time for a change. The heavy, bulky, boring wood doors that do nothing for the house (and quite frankly have become an eyesore) have to go. Why? Well, as it turns out, you can be embarrassed of your garage doors. Good grief, I don’t want peeling, wooden doors to be the first impression people get of my house! Warning: Embarrassing before picture ahead!
Enough was enough, it was time to do a little research, and start that next reno.
Do you see the peeling paint, the way the door shuts kind of askew? Truthfully, that right hand side door doesn’t even sit flush to the ground anymore. Perhaps that’s how the skunk got in! Clearly, it was time for some garage door inspiration.
But where to start? I needed to figure out what I wanted. Not so easy. I knew I wanted pretty, but what else? I took to the internet. After much research I decided I needed doors that improved the look of my house, provided better security for my family and came from a company with a top notch reputation for service. A quick search around the internet and I landed quite happily at Garaga. Garaga is the Canadian leader in garage doors since 1983. Suddenly my mind was filled with ideas. So many different styles to choose from all with the ability to transform the look and feel of your home.
Inspiration found. Perhaps gorgeous wooden doors were the way to go.
Then again doors with a more contemporary flair were an option. A few more clicks through the Garaga site revealed countless ideas including doors that ranged from traditional favourites to tudor or craftsman looks.
I soon found myself dreaming of trimmed trees along the side of a freshly a restored driveway, new flower pots bursting with colour, and thanks to the perfect garage door, my house would finally having the curb appeal I’ve dreamed of.
On to next steps. Design. With just a few clicks I was able to take a picture of my beaten up sad garage doors, upload it to the Garaga Design Centre and actually “try on” some new looks! AMAZING!
For someone who is visual, there is really nothing like this service. It’s simple to use, allows you to “try on” as many different door types as you wish, then add windows and even accessories. Have a peek at some of my creations.
Mind blown. It was time to stop stalling, make the call, and get those renovations started. So which do you think I went with? What kind of door would you pick for your new home?
Tune in next week to find out how I did, see pictures of my completed home renovation, and enter for your chance to WIN a fab prize for your home!
We have a garage door that definitely needs some TLC. I love the designs and I impressed with how a new garage door updates the house appeal.
Isn’t it amazing how a garage door can make such a difference? Have you seen my reveal post. I’m loving my new “look”. I hope you have a chance to check out the design centre at Garaga.
What a great way to “try out” different garage door styles and colours! I think you went with a dark brown.
It was an amazing way to help us make our final decision. I know without a doubt we made the right choice.
What a neat app. I love the wood doors.
Thanks Angela, so many amazing choices at Garaga
I don’t have a garage, but I love that app!
That design centre is so futuristic!
I don’t have a garage but I like maintenance free. The wooden door looks very nice but it’s not maintenance free.
My reveal is up, and we went with the claystone. I love the look of the wood, but the cream colour was just the perfect fit for my home.
You are lucky you have garage doors! My house has a double carport, open no doors!!
Although, the carport does help with that ice and snow 🙂
I am going to show this post to my dad! If he spruced up his garage door it would make a world of difference on his house!
Yeah Holly! Let me know how he likes it. I honestly couldn’t be happier with the change or the company we went with.
I love how you can “try on” garages! So cool!
Isn’t it amazing! Makes such a difference for us “visual” people.
awesome change !! I don’t have a garage, just a very long driveway but the next house will have a beautiful garage, im sick of scraping ice off the cars lol
Ug, ice on cars. Thanks for the compliment. I’m thrilled!
Awesome to see the doors on. I do not like the green at all.
I think the brown (pic 3) is the winner.
LOL I didn’t like the green either.
I like window #2 with the cream coloured door. My husband is building a new garage right now and we still need to pick our doors
How fun! I hope you will check out the design centre app Garaga offers. It was so helpful for us.
We changed ours last summer and it’s so much nicer and quieter.
I forgot to mention the quiet factor. You’re quiet right, it’s made a difference there too!
I like the wood looking doors. It is great that you can experiment with the pictures before you decide on purchase.
The design feature by Garaga is just astounding! It’s what helped us ultimately decide to change out our doors.
No garage doors for us to deal with but it sounds great. Looking forward to seeing how yours turned out.
Thanks Judy! My reveal is now up!
We don’t have a garage door, but we do have a car port, which can also cause embarrassment, apparently. I think it actually suits our house (maybe not from the road, our house looks best from a walking path that fronts our property), but I want to update the columns/posts that hold it up (partly because they are starting to sag, partly because they are just boring white).
I like the third option you posted (the dark wood) (I love your front door entrance, too!)
Great tool if you are looking to update your garage, for sure!
Thanks Jay. Now that my reveal is up and I can tell you it came down to the dark wood or the one we choose. We went with the claystone because it was such a perfect match to our house. I can’t believe the difference it made!
Update: (I love what you chose, looks better than the picture above, actually and looks great with the trim) We updated our carport posts to wood, which look so much better than the white, and will look extra awesome when we get to residing the house in a year. Gotta love house improvements! They’re kind of addictive!