apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I have a glass paneled front door, original to my house, so I guess glass garage doors wouldn't be any less secure than I already am. I harbor a dream of breaking down the wall between my basement and garage and making an indoor/outdoor lounge/studio space. Glass doors would be perfect.

I think I would have chosen frosted glass - at least for the bottom 3 panels.

Great looking, but there's also the issue of clutter. Most garage interiors aren't exactly attractive.

I would love a frosted glass door. But then if you want to arm the house would you need to put sensor on each glass panel?

Yeah, I agree with frosted glass. The house is cute but, seeing all of someone's stuff in their garage takes away from it.

I love the way it makes the house look bigger. All the garage needs is a vintage MG and they're set!

Given the see-through to clutter and possibly items to steal, I agree with the idea of frosted glass... maybe an alarm handles the theft issue?

But the bigger point is wow! what a great way to maximize the feeling of spaciousness. Perhaps a previous owner installed it made the garage a summer living area and the new owner prefers to use the garage as, well, a garage?

I know someone who has the frosted door (it was pretty pricey) and it's lovely from the street. The real bonus, though, is that the garage is bathed in light and has become a much more pleasant room. You can see things and it's lost that dark and dingy feeling.

I think it's a perfectly wonderful treatment of a garage, particularly if it's going to be somewhere used for work or living. Whether the homeowner turns it into an office or living space, or uses it as an art studio or carpentry workshop, I'll bet the extra light is just marvelous.

For just regular car or junk storage, I'm not sold on the idea, though.

Either way, that had better be some strong glass, and they'd better have a good lock/alarm system.

Great cosmetic for mitigating a snout house http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Plenty of people have big exposed windows and glass doors on their house. I think the garage doors look nice. Rather silly to worry more about the vulnerability of your garage than of your livingroom.

I think I might go for one of those films that give it a color tint or a mirror-lens finish. Mirror lens might be the nicest; you still get light bright modern windows looking cheery from the street, not whited-out frosted, but no one's seeing my messy garage.

This would make running into the garage in my underwear to the see if my jeans in the dryer are dry yet exciting...

The difference between the exposed windows being in the garage and living areas is most garages have oil stained concrete floors, garden tools, recycling bins, and water heater. That's not exactly my idea of a room I want the world to see.

If it were finished into a Florida room, I think the garage door would be rockin.

I'm kind of wanting a tour of that gorgeous little house. Please. And thanks! ;)

Horrible! Nothing in a garage is pretty (hence why its in there!) and most stuff is valuable! And it makes the whole outside of the house look chaotic. Why would you want your guests (and everyone else) to be greated and gain their first impression of you and your house by the contents and organization (or lack thereof) of your garage!

Actually, I'd be less worried about people seeing my stuff than someone seeing that we aren't at home when there's no car in the garage.

Oh, i plan on doing this to my imaginary mid c home, and then ripping up the concrete to put in honeycomb pavers.

but i wouldn't use the room as a garage... more like workshop/living space.

Tiki, sure, whirligig plastic flower, NO. That's the first thing I noticed. I didn't even see the Tiki, but from reading the accompanying text. It's like they didn't want you to even notice it.

It would help a great deal if they worked to keep the garage a neat space for storing a car and not a lot of crap you can see through the glass. It's similar to the provision on most leases for people with balconies not to use it for crap storage. It's for a couple little chairs and a table maybe, some plants, not for your extra stuff you couldn't fit in the closet. It's unsightly.

Now for people with a house. Not all have a basement, as I'm given to understand there are some regions where it's just not even typical. A lot of times "basement" stuff ends up in the garage. I'm not saying you have to decorate it as a room, but be mindful of the view from the street. It seems with a garage and a whole house, and possibly a basement, you don't need to put all your junk out in the garage. It seems like a pretty good place to set up a workshop, but other than your car and maybe your laundry (as LilyC intimated) or pantry you may need handy, your storage should find a closet, an attic, maybe a basement, maybe goodwill.

Once in a while it could be messy, but if you have the glass doors, your garage is on view and you should attune to that view. I'm guessing if you have tacky lawn ornaments that steal thunder (I mean attention) from your cool ones, you might not have that much of a clue, or you may just be thumbing your nose because you do what you want and you decided not to care how it looks, especially if someone tries to give you advice. That could be true and still not work in your favor. I've seen a lot on the internet and real life that indicates people respond to "advice" as criticism and continue to do the awful thing out of spite, which I don't know why they do that.

I think the glass garage door would look wonderful in my dining area, so that I could open up my entire space (i live in So Cal) I've also used a clear glass garage door like that in an interior office space to divide a conference room from a reception area. Big Party? Op!

I know the owner of this home and it is just a cool inside. Good job Amy!

Adorable house! now, maybe tear up all that concrete and put in a nice permeable surface, like crushed granite?

OK, so you caught me with my "pants down", I admit it I am a weekend warrior! The garage is full of basement stuff, because I am in the process of remodeling my basement, which is very unusual for a 1950's ranch. So did I care that my neighbors would see all my junk, NO! Until, I realized that this Blog site would send it across the nation... And for K T G the "Tiki" is awesome (I will tell my boyfirend who carved it), the "Whirling Plastic Pinwheel" is for a weekend with my awesome nephews. Or should we keep them hidden behind closed beige doors also? For all of you who have a "fear of living" ie. being ripped off, being seen in your underpants, showing off your dirty gardening tools, showing off your car that the bank owns or the fact that you aren't home from 9 to 5 (who is?). Then...maybe a glass garage door isn't for you, however for those who don't mind showing off their "real life" or in this case weekend warrior supplies... Then go for it, show it off. I am so glad many of you liked what you saw and hope that it inspires you to do something other than paint your house "Real Estate Beige". Show off the the fact that you are not going to live in fear behind solid garage doors, or two or three... because we can't have enough cars, right. In fact, if you want to see the real story check out this link to see the rest of the garage on a Photo Shoot day, as for the rest of the days, I love showing off my slighlty messy life! Which makes me happy! Thanks for noticing, I love it!
http://www.diyideas.com/roombyroom/StorageSpaces/organizedgarage_1.html

I saw something like this on Curb Appeal or another show like that, only they used slightly tinted glass to make it look somewhat transparent, but not completely see-through.

I understand what the owner is saying about showing off their real life - it's clearly a personal preference. I just know I wouldn't want a home circled in floor-to-ceiling windows for fear of no privacy, just like I wouldn't want to show off the inside of a garage.

Not everyone can pull off this look. You must be "ridiculously cheery", desire and appreciate sweet design, know and implement modern landscaping, have an attention to detail, and be perfectly happy following your own path regardless of the boring, messy, depressing, unloved, mopey people (and houses) around you to be able to pull off the perfectly appropriate clear garage door. Take another pic when the remodeling of the basement is finished. Or, look now at the attached website of Funky Town's comment. This house, landscaping, driveway and garage door is called "believing in the beauty of your dreams". Lucky for all of us who get to appreciate this gem.

PS....if you are just viewing this home now for the first time, sorry you missed it previously featured in; Better Homes and Gardens, DIY magazine, and the television program Generation Renovation.

Sorry you weren't ready for your close-up.

I think it's a cool feature. Good luck on your basement renovation.

I like the clear garage door in theory, but not in practice. I mean, if it was being used as a rec room or extra living space, then maybe. It would be an interesting play against the semi-public space a yard/driveway and the private space of a home interior and would be inviting. It would also be nice to have the doors open in the summer

However, as a garage, naw. Sure , it looks all tidy and nice staged up for the magazines with the clean, new Flor carpet and whatnot, but anyone who owns a house (and garage) knows that they are filled with trash and boxes and are often used as storage space for things that are eventually leaving or coming into the house proper. And in the midwest in Winter? Yes, wet floor, snow equipment, boots and all kinds of stuff that isn't cute to look at.

I personally think this is distracting and takes away from the flow of looking at the rest of that cute - as- a -dickens house