The garage can become a more beautiful and functional room

Do you want your home to be beautiful, pleasant and functional? It’s an obvious choice for every homeowner. But until recently, the garage was the poor relation when it came to interior design. Today, homeowners are beginning to take an interest in this room, which is often one of the largest in their home. Designers are coming up with ingenious solutions for this room, which Americans call “the last frontier”. While researching on the Internet to design his own garage, Roberto Wilson discovered that this new market was booming in the United States. And he decided to exploit it in Quebec, by cofounding Espace Garage Plus.

By Dominique Froment, excerpt from an article originally published in the Petites et créatives – Tendances section of Les affaires, May 3-9, 2008

Espace Garage Plus offers four main products. The first is epoxy flooring, produced by ChemDur Industries in Montreal’s Lachine district. The second is a range of high-density melamine cabinets, comprising 36 modules of varying dimensions. “These are not modified kitchen cabinets, says Marcoux, his associate. These are cabinets we designed ourselves, with one-inch-thick shelves, and we have them custom-made.” These cabinets, finished in brushed aluminum, are also made in Quebec, by Ébénisterie A. Beaucage, in l’Assomption. They are fixed to the wall at a height of 15 centimetres and have no legs, which facilitates floor maintenance. Espace Garage Plus also offers wall-mounting systems imported from the United States. Finally, the SME offers a ceiling storage system, with different-sized racks to hold items that are not often used, such as winter tires in summer, the garden table in winter and the artificial Christmas tree. This optimizes space all year round. The complete layout of a double garage costs $5,000 to $10,000 and requires three days’ work. A good investment, according to the contractors at Espace Garage Plus, who believe that a well-appointed garage increases the value of the house, as it becomes part of its structure.