One-car garage conversions can unlock the full potential of a tight space

By Deborah K. Dietsch July 3 at 10:44 AM

After renovating their basement and kitchen, District homeowners Mary and Ron Slimp looked to their dilapidated garage as a place to expand their house. We didnt want to build up or build out, but remodel what we had, says Mary Slimp, 46.

The free-standing structure is conveniently located next to the kitchen and reached by a long driveway leading from the street. It was too narrow for a car and had become a storage shed, says Ron Slimp, 49, a partner in a strategic advisory firm. We knew it could be a usable space, not just a place for piling all our junk.

So the Slimps decided to convert the garage into a cool clubhouse for son Remy, 15, and daughter Sarah, 12. We wanted a place for the kids to hang out and a space that would be connected to the yard, Mary says.

To remodel the garage, she called on her younger sister Elizabeth Emerson, who works for D.C.-based architecture firm E/L Studio.

Emerson and her business partner, Mark Lawrence, had completed the previous renovations in the Slimpss 1913 home and realized they could do more than providing a space for their kids in the garage.

We created the opportunity for as many uses as possible, says Emerson, who worked with Lawrence to make the most of the 111/ 2 -foot-by-17-foot interior. Because of the zoning code, the architects had to design within the garages existing footprint.

Despite that restriction, they managed to transform the small structure into an inviting garden pavilion. Rising to a steeply pitched roof, the rebuilt garage now provides a guest suite as well as a space for playing games and watching TV. At the entrance, folding mahogany doors open the remodeled interior to a new patio with a gas grill.

Inside, the architects managed to add a sky-lit powder room in one corner and a Murphy bed flanked by cabinets and shelves on the rear wall. A loft above the pull-down bed, reached by a ladder mounted on a rail, provides another sleeping area. Heated floors and air conditioning allow the structure to be used year-round.

This adaptable space reveals the design potential of the humble, one-car garage, which is often too small for todays vehicles. Most older garages have become glorified sheds due to the change in car sizes Model As and Ts are no longer the rave, says D.C. real estate agent Kimberly Cestari of W.C. & A.N. Miller Realtors.

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One-car garage conversions can unlock the full potential of a tight space