Before & After: This Totally Brilliant $1,000 IKEA Hack Transformed This Family’s Dingy Garage

If your house is on the market and you want to really wow a potential buyer, real estate agents advise painting the garage to show you’ve considered every last detail. And even if your house isn’t on the market, a fresh coat of paint can make this often-overlooked space feel (and look) brand-new, making every last detail of your own home feel special. 

Paint — plus a strong organizational system — can take a garage from looking like a cluttered catchall pass-through to a streamlined and functional storage spot.

Take Jackie Fagan’s (@morningkawa) garage. Before, it was lackluster, disorganized, and a bit run down — not atypical for a garage space, which isn’t usually a prime hangout. The area clearly needed a refresh that included added shelving that actually met the Fagan family’s needs.

White paint (Sherwin Williams’ Alabaster) plus three IKEA pieces with added trim took the garage from “gross…without purpose of function” to beautiful and functional — a win-win for a drop station that serves as the family’s main entrance to their home. 

“It took about four days,” Jackie says of her garage overhaul. She started by cleaning the concrete floors with a Rust-Oleum concrete cleaner and degreaser and water mix, primed them with Valspar’s concrete bonding primer, and added a in a charcoal blue-gray concrete seal to the lower part of the concrete wall beneath the existing ledge.

Next, Jackie and her husband, Tyler, assembled and installed the IKEA furniture (a PAX wardrobe system, a HEMNES media stand, and a KALLAX), made to look like a seamless built-in with the addition of matching white wood trim. 

The hardest part, Jackie says, was waiting for the IKEA furniture to come in stock, but she’s proud that she created a custom look using low-cost pieces. “It was affordable and easily replicated,” she says.

With added hooks and a bench and cubbies for shoes, and of course concealed storage, Jackie certainly upped the practicality of her garage, all while making it more beautiful. Her project cost about $1,000, and she plans to create a DIY epoxy floor next.

Jackie’s project is proof that a little elbow grease and creative thinking can make even the barest spaces feel homey — not to mention functional. Best part? When it comes to a garage refresh, Jackie says, “you can do it yourself!”

Inspired? Submit your own project here.

This post originally ran on Apartment Therapy. See it there: Before and After: These $1,000 IKEA Hack Built-Ins Save a Cluttered Garage Entryway