DIY: NASCAR nest passes the test

Forget parking a car there.

Mike and Carmen Payton would rather park themselves in their new garage than let a vehicle occupy prime party space.

Yet like many homeowners faced with an intimidating drop zone for life's assorted "stuff," they put the renovation project off.

For two decades, to be exact.

"We'd talked about it," Carmen said. "We'd fixed it up a few times over the years - getting it organized and usable, getting a dart board up and getting a TV out here. But every time everything would just land back in the middle of the floor again."

By September 2007, though, the couple was ready to undertake a low-budget, do-it-yourself makeover of their own after a relative's successful garage renovation inspired them.

By May, the Paytons, who both work for the city of Norfolk, had completed most of the improvements to their Oakdale Farms detached garage, spending less than $500 on the project.

The end result is more living space - one Carmen vows will stay clean - and a favorite gathering spot for friends and family. More often than not the family can be found there relaxing around the table with NASCAR races on the tube.

The journey from glorified storage space to functional living area started with the couple going through clutter and purging unwanted items. Once they knew what would stay - from camping gear to fishing equipment, remote-controlled toys to tools - the Paytons planned shelving topped by counters to wrap around the room.

Up went plywood on the walls and ceiling, hiding the garage's unfinished look, and paint went on the floor. They built the counter and shelving from plywood and 2-by-4's, and Carmen fashioned vibrant orange curtains for the storage, hanging them with simple tension rods.

Addressing work and play, the couple designated a tinkering area for Mike and a "sweepstakes zone" for Carmen, who loves to enter contests. She can just pull up a stool to the counter to organize and fill out entries. In fact, many of the building materials used in the garage were purchased with gift cards she won.

"It's better than any part-time job I've ever had," Carmen said of her favorite hobby. "It's much more profitable!"

There's also a refrigerator, a table and chairs, the dart board, a television and plenty of memorabilia from the couple's many NASCAR trips. In decorating the walls, the Paytons left room for future memories and have dubbed the space "The NASCAR Room."

They spend so much time there that the doorbell chimes in the garage, too.

"If we had a bathroom and an oven out here, we could rent out the house," Carmen joked.

Avid do-it-yourselfers, the Paytons said they've done all of the improvements to their home themselves.

"That way we know it's not going to fall down," Mike said.

Their next project will be putting in a removable screen over the large garage door opening so the space will function more efficiently as an indoor/outdoor entertaining area during cookout season.

In their own words

Our goal was simple: to finally get the garage organized and usable after 20 years. It's amazing what you can do with just plywood, 2-by-4's, paint and some fabric.

It took several weekends to go through all the stuff and decide what to keep, throw away or give away. That was probably the biggest challenge.

Once the garage was empty, we painted the floor and plywood to be hung on the walls and ceiling. We used 2-by-4's to frame the counters and plywood for the countertops. We used fabric and tension rods to make curtains, which hide all the "keep" stuff, but we have it organized enough to be able to actually find something when we need it.

All of this was done in just a few weekends with the help of a nephew and a brother.

We can use the counters for a workbench or scatter bar stools so you can sit and watch TV or eat a meal. It's great having an extra room away from the house to hang out in. We met our goal. And it can all be done for less than $500.

The best advice we can give you if you have a garage that looks like ours did "before": Don't wait 20 years to fix it up. Remember, it's still a garage, so you don't need to get carried away.

The hardest part was getting started. If we had known how great it was going to turn out, we would have done it a lot sooner!

Victoria Hecht, (757) 446-2614, victoria.hecht@pilotonline.com