This homeschool room was a dream makeover!! Literally, we had dreamed of creating more space in the garage to use for our family, specifically a homeschool room that could double as guest room and theater room.
With a little effort (okay three weeks of our novice DIYer push-through attitude and grit) that dream has turned into one of our favorite family spaces in our home, so keep reading to check out our garage turned homeschool room remodel!
Table of Contents
I am SO excited to share this Garage turned Homeschool Room makeover!
House to Home: From Garage to Homeschool Room
In Florida, we don’t have basements like I was used to up north. What I’ve noticed is that most homes around here use the garage as a storage/basement type of room. We knew right away when purchasing this home that our laundry area would be relocated to our garage because we needed to turn that little laundry closet off of the kitchen into a pantry.
With that renovation complete, it was time to turn our attention on the garage. And goodness what a project it has been!
We began with planning, lots and lots of planning. With ANY room makeover or home renovation project, planning is key. The more you talk things out (and use painter’s tape to plan wall and furniture placement), the better off you’ll be as you get started on the project. We wanted to house a new multipurpose room WITHIN our garage walls… meaning we still have a functional garage door with storage space as well as a new sealed-off-from-the-weather laundry area that will be the focus of another makeover later on.
AND NOW we have a new homeschool room (that we can use as a guest room with the AND a theater room).
So, once we had walls marked out with tape, and figured out the maximum height of the new ceiling, while still being able to use the garage door on the outside of the room, we cleaned out the garage and got to the real work.
With walls and ceilings framed, we added insulation to all of the walls that would touch the outside weather. We also added a layer of plastic weatherproofing before adding in drywall on those outside walls for an extra element of moisture-proofing (’cause ya’ll, it’s humid in Florida!).
The kids all helped to pitch in with as many projects as we would allow!
When it came to flooring for our homeschool room, I am SO HAPPY WITH THIS CHOICE. I actually like it better than the flooring in the rest of the house.
After replacing the rest of the flooring in the rest of our home, it was a job we weren’t fully looking forward to but knew that it needed to be done.
Related: See another portion of our garage that is converted into the new Laundry room!
You guys, the Tarkett ProGen DIY flooring went in within a couple of hours! Everything can be done with a standard toolset and easily cut with a basic utility knife. Plus, it requires no acclimation time (most other flooring requires 24 hours of acclimation time in the room you plan to install it, like the flooring we’ve used before). This one can be installed the same day you receive it – a huge timesaver!
To really make this homeschool room multi-purpose, we added so it can be used for a guest room when needed. Since there are no windows in the room (because it’s inside a garage), it get’s really dark with the lights off. The upside to this? It’s a perfect room to hold our projector! We left the wall above the kids’ desk intentionally blank and installed a wall shelf on the opposite wall to hold the projector, Roku box, and speaker. Now, we can also use this room as a home theater!
We also decided to create our own educational art for the room to add in that vintage, farmhouse vibe. You can read more about that here, and get your own set of prints in the shop!
To add in some texture, we added a rug… and I’m SO loving this washable rug from Lorena Canals.
Kathi says
Love this room! What a beautiful addition to living space for your family.
Erin says
Amazing makeover! That flooring is beautiful!
Carole says
This room is beautiful! Do you have a source for the bookcases? They’re so open and I love that they’re on wheels. Thanks.
Tabitha Blue says
Thank you so much Carole!! The rolling white shelves we use (actually all the open, white shelving in this room) is from Origami. Here is a link to a 2-pack of the rolling carts, we love these around the house!! http://bit.ly/2Obm9g4
Here is a link to another brand that looks the same, but at a lower price. Though I haven’t used this brand and can’t vouch for their quality. I do know the Origami is a great quality, but the pricing is higher too. http://bit.ly/2O9XXe2
L.W. says
Hi! Love this room. I also live in Florida how do you manage the heat? Do you have an air conditioner?
Sarah says
Beautiful reno! Where is the couch from? Thanks!
Devina says
Love this!!! Where did you purchase the couch?
Tabitha Blue says
Thank you!! The couch is from West Elm, and it’s a pull-out as well, perfect for out of town guests!
Jessica says
This is amazing!!! I homeschool my kiddos and looking to complete something like this. If you don’t mind me asking, what was your budget?
Michelle says
What projector do you use and where are those shelves from near ceiling . I love this entire idea . Do you have the west elm link for couch
Tabitha Blue says
Thanks so much Michelle! Yes, here is the link to the sofa, we LOVE that it’s a pull-out as this makes the perfect room for extra guests and sleepovers: http://bit.ly/2Z3or7d
The shelves we put in ourselves, just natural wood (we didn’t stain) that I believe are 1″ X 10″ and black brackets we found on Amazon. Same for the projector, it’s from Amazon, and has been great, but it’s not the best quality actually so I won’t send the link to our exact one, haha.
Jessie says
Loving this room. I am new to homeschool. My son was diagnosed with cancer a year ago so I was thrown into it before mentally preparing. I’m slowly making over my office for him and this room came out perfect. I even have a projector and screen I haven’t even used yet for a year now… thank you for sharing this beautiful space. Do you mind letting me know the fabric color for the couch and the fabric exactly. Many thanks in advance. Also any helpful tips are welcomed. My son is in kindergarten and it’s been rough getting a schedule going.
Karina says
Where did you find that cute pencil basket thing?! I love it <3
Krystal Wight Armstrong says
Hi there! I’m still a little new to your blog (but have already binged way too many of your super helpful/inspiring posts so far!)
We are in the middle of considering a new house, and when I saw the 2 car garage it reminded me of this clever renno you did, and had me wondering if maybe we could use half, or more, of that garage for homeschool space too (or a media work room, etc. – since we do video and podcast production work). But I wasn’t sure if it’s possible to do that and also use half of it for a car….so that had me wondering what did you guys do for your vehicle(s)?
I know you kept the functional rolling door….do you have other covered parking somewhere, or just go without and use the driveway? I’d love to know where your car ends up, while I’m tryign to creatively re-think the space of this new house we might want to move to!
Thank you for sharing all that you do!
Tabitha Blue says
Thanks for reaching out! So, yes we did leave the functional rolling garage door and we do use it as a garage storage space (extra refrigerator, tools, storage, etc). We have our cars in the driveway. In Michigan, where we’re from originally, we always parked at least one car in the garage and there was a basement. In Florida, there are no basements and SO many people use their garages for that. Since we don’t have to worry about snow, we just park in the drive and use our garage for storage, work space, etc. Hope that long explanation helps! It’s working out great for us!!
Cherish says
Hi! Where did you get the desk?
Iyyappan says
Creative ideas implemented so well. It is a great way to have the best homeschooling ideas. People turn on their creative minds to keep kids occupied in their school work. The best thing is that they will not miss school. Customized and creative furniture solutions and accessories will help us create a nice creative solution.