Where do you store your tools after a conversion? My husband could open his own Home Depot!

I built raised veggie beds on my driveway. Works great and cuts down on the heat radiating from the pavement in the summer.

I assume that picture is your space and not a photo shoot? Is this something that exists on your property, or are you doing some sort of a poll, for yourself, for a business? It doesn't look like a normal case of converting the garage into a den, or a MIL apartment, or some such. It looks very staged for something, very nice.

It looks like it is not living space so much as entertaining space. In that case, it is perfectly lovely just exactly as it is. This doesn't appear to be space that you would use for everyday living.

Most of the garage conversions that I see look pretty awful. I live in a tract house subdivision where most are attached garages at the end of very short driveways. There are a few converted garages in my neighborhood and they are each and every one of them just awful, in my opinion. Besides, there is no where else that serves the purpose that most use their garages for.

For these types of places like my neighborhood the only thing that looks right is to make a solid exterior wall with siding. Still is not a desired thing. It always looks like a converted garage inside and out.

If that is your space, it is a nice job. Surely, it cannot always be set up as if you are hosting a dinner party, at least not for everyday living.

When you ask a more general question about what do with a driveway after conversion, it depends upon a diverse set of circumstances and there is no one answer. If you are asking about the one in that photo, it is lovely just as is.

That is a widely exposed area to maintain and to protect from the elements. It looks downright impractical and you hope it doesn't rain or turn off blistering hot or windy or cold. But lovely on the day the photo was taken, on a lovely summer afternoon where the trees are protecting it from the heat of the sun, for a while and before the mosquitos wake up and get hungry. Highly impractical for anything but occasional use, literally. But, maybe it is just occasional use that is the intention. Or, some sort of business?

I am really curious as to what is the story behind this lovely space. Do you have cooking going on in there?

You appear to be ready for a party, or family reunion or small garden wedding, or something that requires white tablecloths. I like the small and intimate area with a lot of comfortable seating. The driveway is just fine and it looks well maintained.

If you don't have another area to park then I would continue to use it for that. However, if the space is available I would certainly consider converting at least a portion of it into an outdoor seating space for your newly renovated garage.

Like landscape architecture, it depends on the site and the constraints of the space: size, style of house, configuration, orientation, materials already in place, trees, and parking availability. For a straight concrete or asphalt driveway t-boning the house, I would dig up the driveway or at the least a good amount of the drive that led into the garage and try to soften the conversion in that way. What to do with the driveway should be part of the plans for the conversion. and depends on how the conversion was done: whether it is a standard contractor type remodel that shouts conversion or takes a more creative and softening approach. Too many factors. One size or solution fits none. The difference between function and form. I would go for form and function.

• I would leave the garage door intact and build an internal wall behind it that does not have windows. Still looks like a garage from the outside, yet still have a beautiful interior build out on the inside. Create a nice patio in the back yard. Saves a ton of money.

Patricia, that's a great suggestion for the outside look. But this light lover would be hesitant to do that unless there were options for windows on other walls of the new room. Since, at least in my area, most garages face the street, the wall perpendicular to the garage door faces a narrow side yard and the neighbor's house. Not the best option for windows. But that could work in some instances, such as when the garage is set further back so the back wall of the new room could have windows that open to the back yard.

Unless you spend big bucks, it will always look like a garage conversion and the driveway is a driveway! You just have to trade off the curb view for need for more space!

Depends on budget. Bare bones budget would continue to use most of the driveway for parking (assuming no other onsite parking options) and add raised stone or concrete pavers right on top of existing drive for the last 6 or 8 feet up to the garage's new front entry. Add shrubs or plants in large pots to soften the look. Please, please don't slap a tiny window in the middle of vinyl siding to fill in a brick fronted garage. Waiting until you have the budge to do the conversion correctly may be the best option.

I'm an appraiser and the best advice on whether a conversion will pay for itself is look around your neighborhood. If 1/4 or more of homes have the feature in question (converted garage or anything else) its an accepted norm in your area and will likely pay for itself. If it is somewhat uncommon, it means the average homeowner doesn't think its worth the money spent and you new buyers are likely to feel the same. The first home we bought many years ago was a tiny 1000 sf home with a single car garage-pretty much the norm for that neighborhood. Approx 1/3 of the homeowners had converted the garage for living space- some good jobs/some sloppy jobs. A few years later we converted our garage. By then it was more like half of the garages on the block had been converted. We sold a couple of years later and more than made back the cost of the conversion. On the other hand, if everyone else has a double garage and you are the only person in 4 blocks who decided to convert, the market probably won't value that conversion.

In our old neighborhood, someone added a lovely cedar carport in front of the conversion. It was best of both worlds: renovated space and useable covered parking. Over time, the carport had a pretty flowering vine. I thought if we had stayed in that house it was a nice option to create space for the kids, but we ultimately chose to move. Now, we have an oversized 2 car garage. I told my husband when we moved in he could do whatever he wanted with his side, but I would be parking in mine. I’ll never go back to parking outside of the garage!

I think this is very creative, and I love it! Anything that makes a home more “inviting, and welcome” to family, friends, neighbors, and guests.

We moved into our first home 2 years ago. Most in the neighbors have beautiful backyards with big patios overlooking the golf course. This was one of the reasons we chose our home. We love the idea of having our own private outdoor living, but I rarely see patios in the front of the house. Not in this state anyways.

It was small but big enough to have a small bench and a bistro set. It was my inexpensive addition we had not planned for, but I absolutely love it.

We pulled up a small area of grass next to the flower bed, and had concrete poured, colored, and stamped to look like cobble stone, WHA’LA’LA!

I’ll post a pic when the snow is gone. Hopefully I remember:)

The best feeling is we found that many others also enjoy it.

Funny story: So,never heard of such a formal award given by the city mayor, but happy to know we live in a city that takes great pride and gives much appreciation to the beauty of outdoors.

Our first year here we received “The most beautiful yard of the year” acknowledgment in the local paper and a gorgeous plaque we humbly keep hidden in the drawer, lol!!

I know, a little cheesy:)), but wanted to share this story to those who may hesitate doing a remodel or addition etc. that may be out of the norm, but turned out much more than you had originally thought for not much cost.

As for us it was an idea to be outside and enjoy our coffee, but it turned out even better because we see our neighbors, whether they’re out walking, exercising, yard work etc., and it’s an automatic hello. We’ve also got to know our animal friends, especially all the different birds that show at all different times of day. I’ll post a pic of one of the duck families that walked right by early in the morning. The mom looked right at me as if she was just saying hello or....don’t touch my babies!

This space gives out exactly the peaceful feel, and positive energy I wanted for our home to have, and to share without even saying a word......”Welcome!”

Because we do not have a patio or outdoor eating area, I would design a space for eating outside just off the garage nearer the kitchen, but also a screened in porch for lounging in the summer away from the bees and mos-quitos. We would have to use our driveway for parking for two vehicles. We have tons of space for landscaping, some of which already has a good start, so our back yard I would re-landscape, using a landscape architect for the job. The conversion of the garage would be to house an art studio for me. It has northern light so it would be perfect for that. I have a space for doing my artwork, but it is so small that I don't have the capacity to work on large pieces like I would like to do. Nice to dream a little bit!

Resurface it if it needs it, clean it if the surface is good, and put out patio furniture. A screened and roofed patio room would be nice.

Can be used for extra parking or play area for the kids.

use it especially in high traffic areas.

When a coworker told me she was making her garage into a family room (they had no kids), I asked what she would be using her living room for. She said they probably would seldom be using it. We live in the desert where the sun will damage a car parked outside. I wondered if she could park her car in the not-used living room. Just silly and wasteful in my opinion. Make what you have work but if it is going to look awful, think about moving. You (OR YOUR HEIRS) will be selling this house some day. ;-)

We did something like the HOUZZ photo...patio at top of the drive and parking further down. We also put big bay windows where the garage doors were. (there was a door on the side of the garage we used to enter it. When we sold the house years later, the garage was a selling feature...house sold in 4 days with multiple offers. If it’s done right and permitted, it can add to the property.

All depends on where the garage is. If facing the street and attached to the house, like 100 other comments here, remove the driveway and landscape. The trellis idea is great providing you have a long enough driveway. If parking is a premium reconsider and add on.

I’d consider putting a carport in the driveway. Carports provide great convenience and protection of the car from sun, snow, etc. the windows on the remodeled garage would have to face the other way, if course. But at my house the new carport would block my front door!

I don't currently park in my garage, and never intend too (despite the sound of freezing rain hitting my windows at the moment). It is currently an overgrown storage unit while I have a basement renovation in progress; but once things return to normal, it will become a woodworking and upholstery workshop. One part of my retirement plan is to rescue and refurbish furniture found roadside and pass it along to charities who support immigrant families. I'll get the fun of doing, and the tax receipts will pay for the small supplies. And now.......off to paint the basement.

You continue to park on it
Or build a new garage around it and make a new entry into your home. Repurpose doors and windows including the garage door that was removed to add living space. Pour cement in areas as needed

In Seattle, WA there is land use code that applies to each property.. If you are no longer using your garage for car parking then you can no longer use your driveway for a car usually.

For the curb cut (sloped pavement between street and sidewalk) you must pay to have a new curb built here where you used to drive into your driveway. I was quoted $5,000 for such a curb in 1998 when I was considering this. It costs more now. Only the city can make this curb (just 10 feet of curb) due to special shaping of such curb.

Further, due to land use code, you could leave your driveway, but you couldn't use it for parking in because you could no longer pull off of the street and into your driveway (because you would have a new curb there). So there is no way to get your car onto your driveway now, once you have this new curb.

So because of this, most people may change this paved area into a patio, or if a drop down driveway (garage in basement of house) then fill in old driveway with dirt and create more front yard from this space.

Of course to do this idea you have to create an engineered/structural wall where your old garage door was located, and then fill the old drop down driveway with dirt and also manage for rain water and drainage. All of this is high expense and a bit complex due to drains already in the low spot of such a driveway. You don't want this drain (which is part of your main sewer line) to not have access, or to fill with dirt and back up. So filling in your driveway with dirt and lawn suddenly isn't so easy.

Another idea is a deck type idea that would span the old concrete driveway walls that are approximately 10 feet apart (simply leaving the sloping driveway underneath the new decking, so the drain at the bottom of the driveway is still functioning for stormwater and sewer access). Such a deck could be somewhat "temporary" and removed if necessary. Then the driveway could still be considered usable for a vehicle. So because of that, it could be possible to still park in the curb cut (between street and sidewalk) as a parking spot (currently illegal but everyone does it due to not enough on street parking).

Another strange piece is that the land use code also does not let anyone park in the first 20 feet of their own property (including the curb cut like I mentioned above, but everyone does it).

This is to keep properties from becoming a junk yard in their front yards and filling up with cars. Also, if you have a long enough driveway, you can only park one car in any driveway, or garage at the end of the driveway. Fire code requires this so that this single vehicle can always exit the property. If there were cars parked behind the first car (in the garage for instance) then that first car could not leave the property in an emergency.

So, you can only have 1 car in the driveway and the entire car must be all the way onto the property and no portion of the car can be in the first 20 feet from your lot line.

Some houses just have a concrete pad more than 20 feet into their property. Other homes have a small garage where the car parks, again more than 20 feet into their property. As long as the car is not in that first 20 feet of the property, all is fine.

Finally, also due to land use code, each home must have one off street parking spot for 1 vehicle. The old garage may be the only off street parking spot you can fit onto your small single family lot. So if that is the case, you can not convert your garage to anything other than a garage used for a car. Temporary uses are fine, but you must always have it ready to accept a car in that garage space. You can not build permanent features in the old garage that would make it impossible for a car to enter the garage and fully park in it.

So it may have to remain as a parking spot, even if you aren't using it, or if you wish to convert it. ]

If you convert it, the city may force you to reverse it back to the original garage (costly and has happened to some people before).

Further, my drop down driveway to basement garage is so steep that my modern car can not get down this driveway (bottoms out at edge of sidewalk). This driveway is also so narrow that my car could fit, but the doors could never open to let me out if I parked in it!! Once I am in the garage, I could fit, but I can't get down there. So I have always parked in the curb cut area (sloped pavement between street and sidewalk).

So after all considerations and significant costs, the best thing to do is to simply leave the old garage in the front of the house because I can't fit another off street parking spot on my property now, due to my house addition I have added (used up all the extra possible space in the back yard).

Further I could not park in my drop down driveway because a portion of my car would always be within the first 20 feet of my property, so that is illegal (i.e. My garage door is at 30 feet into the property. If my car parked right up to the garage door, it would still have 4 feet of the car hanging into the first 20 feet of my property. My car is 14 feet long, and I only have 10 feet of legal parking space in front of my garage door on the sloping driveway.

So it will remain a drop down driveway with a garage door for now. It is too complex to convert it.

Due to complex land use codes that can be slightly different for each property for many reasons, the best approach is to first talk to the Seattle SDCI (Seattle Dept of Construction and Inspections) to make sure you know what is possible on your property for such a conversation. You may find out it is far too complex and costly to do such a conversion.

https://www.seattle.gov/sdci

Also, there will be permits needed (because you are changing the use of this space to something different than a garage and there are many requirements for a living space compared to a garage space) so make sure to get the proper permits and know how long it can take to get such permits, and their costs. Currently I have heard that permit issuance is taking about 9 months. I am still slogging along with my remodel and new construction and I investigated all this some time ago but it has mostly remained the same situation.

One last consideration, I did investigate a new garage door that would include a man-door right inside of the garage door. This could be an option for me.

If a person could go through a man door, then this could allow them to walk through the current garage into the basement space. I was considering changing this basement into a rental unit. There is about 700 sq feet of basement space. It would have to be upgraded for living in (another permit) and escape routes would have to be looked at for that space in case of fire because the 3 windows in the basement may not meet the egress (i.e. escape) requirements for size.

So this is the final possible option but it is likely the city wouldn't allow it due to egress. But that is the last thing I need to check on for this space.

It is completely unfinished so the entire space would need insulation, a heat source, adding a bathroom, mini kitchen etc. But it would be very feasible for the size to make it into a nice little studio.

Especially considering that many studios in Seattle are now going for $1,000/month for just 250 sq ft size. This basement apartment (if allowed) would be 700 sq ft for the same price. And if a renter is allowed in this space the city has relaxed the parking requirements so now a car could be parked on the street for such a renter. In the past the renter's car had to be able to have a parking spot on the property. That was a limiting factor and many people could not find that parking space on their small properties. So that limited rental units.

Now that the housing is in high demand, the city relaxed this parking requirement to allow more infill of rental housing in residential neighborhoods. Some people are making such spaces into AirBnBs and making much more money off of them compared to renting long term.

So in Seattle there is a lot to think about related to the simple concept of converting your garage!! I have been down the entire rabbit hole and come out the other side. I barely survived!!

WOW !

@marie5348, Do you work for the building depatment? In Seattle they have so many rules just to get more revenue from permits. The city will tax you if you take one breathe more than they think you should. BTW, how would they know if you're using the garage for something other than parking a car. Some people have so much crap they store in their garages there is no room for the car. I disapprove of this, but it's not against the law. Well, maybe now in Seattlle it is so they can fine you for doing so. I'm from Seattle. I say FROM because we moved away as the government there can think of a million ways to get into one's pockets. Lived 45+ years there as it was once a great place to live. Not anymore. Things have changed . and not for the better.

WE are doing just that. We ended the driveway and created a parking area for 2 cars before you get to the end of the house. We will have a slate walkway leading to front door. We converted a 2 car garage to a bedroom and storage and will have French doors from the “garage space” leading to small patio with pavers/slate for a sitting area. The boxwoods in front of the house will continue in a straight line to the end of the garage defining the space.

And I thought the district of North Vancouver building bylaws were onerous!

We have left the garage door look on the outside, building a wall inside the garage to convert to a master bedroom. I just hate the look of a driveway to nowhere. We have added a carport in front of the garage door and connected via steps and cover to the front porch/front door. This was as far as city code would let us go towards the road but our vehicles fit under it fine. Looks fantastic if we say so ourselves. Also, we added shed in the back to hold lawn equip etc.

Something like this would be great as you could still park your car if you needed to. And it looks beautiful!

I would re-angle the parking space to butt against a point of interest such as an overwhelming planter box trellis, or a brick abutment with incorporated art or water feature With canopy.

There should be a parking area, but reconfigured at alternate angles.

There are so many options for this! It depends on the property. That is to say, do you have another space to park your car? Do you have a carport?

An alternate driveway such as a decomposed granite drive or a grass paver pattern like the one above could be an aesthetic option as well.

If you are asking for your own place, I would recommend getting a consultation and seeing which option is best for you!

Assuming you've removed the garage doors...to eliminate a big blank wall, "the driveway to nowhere" remove the old driveway and create a new 1/2 circle driveway but not letting it go right up to the house of course. In front of that blank wall install trellis and cover it with vines. add a few choice shrubs in front, perhaps a tall skinny evergreen at each side of the former 'garage' You could then drive in and out from either side of your new circular driveway. You can also create a stone path to your front door...or even use compressed gravel for the path and driveway. It might look like a pretty cottage garden entrance to your front door.

I have a client who bought a house with the converted garage and they wanted me to solve this problem. It had a reasonably large front yard so I put a patio and French doors in the old garage door opening with plantings and shrubbery to give it partial privacy and indicate it was not an entrance. I then Re-paved the driveway so that you drove in and made a right hand turn to a parking pad closer to the street. I still had yard to landscape but with the parking closer to the street you really could see the outlines of the house so much better and the house looks so much larger. It was a beautiful solution.

We are planning a major driveway conversion project now to incorporate an urban raised bed garden on the back half of the driveway while retaining a parking space near the street. The current fantasy is a kitchen garden near the kitchen back door. Native low-water plants would fill out the space and enclose a sitting area. A trellis with sweet potato vines would screen the area from the street.

Our first home, we turned the attached garage into a family room. We then added an unattached garage at the end of the drive and to the side so the driveway actually worked for part of the way. For the rest, we didn’t want to spend the money on tearing up the asphalt and trying to match the natural landscaping we had. So we put in planter boxes by the family room doors and scored and painted the drive to look like brick and created an outdoor patio with the rest of the drive.

Roller skating area

Create a landscaping buffer directly in front of the converted garage, but still use drive for parking.

Make the wall that was once a garage door still look like a garage door.

burn it to the ground and sell it.

We dug up about 6 feet of it in a curve design and planted a few plants and some art work under the newly remodeled den area from our previously attached single garage. Looks just like we planned it that way! ( And we still have a bit of extra parking infront of the planted are.

)

I think it depends on how the driveway relates to the new living room and home. If the driveway is needed to approach the house and.or provides necessary parking, the driveway stays. If, however, part of the driveway can be incorporated into the new room area, I love the ability to access a patio w. new landscaping from the new room.

What you could do (what we did once) to keep a walkway path include plantings (low herbs like thyme) and still be able to park on it or turn the garage back to a garage, is take out all the existing driveway completely then pour 2 concrete (or use pavers), Strips (like a track) leading to the converted garage. The "tire" strips are spaced far about 2 to 3 feet (measure your car/truck/SUV for this) You can then plant herbs in the center or lawn as it is low...(so your could drive over without damaging plantings) then you have 2 walking paths to guide you to the newly purposed building and on the outside areas of each "strip" you have planting areas for what ever you like. You can put planted pots on one of the path strips if you like or not. This plan is very versatile as you can still drive on it, walk on it, plant all around it - low or tall, and use it for pots planted out with veggies - Drip irrigation is super EASY as going under into the center is just a narrow width of hard scape material. NO conversion back to a driveway either if you change your mind about loosing the garage as a garage. Beware of concrete "lawn pavers" that you put down and plant herbs or lawn into . Over a SHORT time they become to thick and matted with plant substrate and impossible to pull out to re plant without taking out the "crete blocks"- ugh!! Landscaping pictures of this type of block by installers always look so beautiful but reality is -maintenance is not easy and impossible to keep the weeds out !!Tried it - bad idea. Again- 2 strips of pavers or concrete "tracks" about 2 feet wide to accommodate left and right side tires of your vehicle, planting all around with high or low plants/flowers etc depending upon usage- hides and eliminates the big swath of patio material and once planted around is so nice and soft looking to the eye- makes for a romantic garden, yet totally useful for paths and driving later on if required. No more "SEA of Hard Scape"

I definetly have a big nice pool & spa, with a big gate at the begenning of the driveway!!

Not gonna happen. Already have replaced a roof. HAIL.

Garages serve a useful purpose, i.e. to house your cars and tools, etc. You should not turn your garage into extra living space for yourselves or to rent out. It degrades the entire neighborhood!

" It degrades the entire neighborhood! "

That seems a bit extreme.......what's degrading about parking your car in your driveway or keeping your tools in the basement (or in a garden shed)?

Here most people leave the driveway as-is because a) the lots are small and there generally isn’t space for an additional garage to be added and b) once you get rid of a paved surface it can be difficult to get approval for a new one.

Don’t do that. No way it ever looks good.

You can redefine the pathway with some landscaping features and unique stone design. You can ask consult your local landscaper for it because designer pathway is also a great idea to add asset your house.

Either you can add some water feature and utilize the space.

If you live in a city or tract development with small lots, all those cars parked in the driveway, or worse, on the street, are a blight that most people do not find attractive. In California and many other states, cellars and basements are very uncommon. People would have to put up a shed on their lot to hold the stuff that should be in the garage.

" If you live in a city or tract development with small lots, all those cars parked in the driveway, or worse, on the street, are a blight that most people do not find attractive. "

I live in a city with small lots........in fact, many are so small they barely have a driveway, let alone a garage. Parking on the driveway or street is so common, people think of it as a normal part of the landscape and certainly not degrading to the appearance of the neighbourhood. It's a sign of a healthy neighbourhood of ordinary people.