How a Humble Roll of Tape Can Help Make Your Dreams a Reality

There’s a school of thought that says visualization is the key to success. If you’re running a race, picture yourself breaking the ribbon in first. If you want a BMW, line your office with cutouts of Beamers. Want to turn your cluttered garage into showroom-quality space lined with gorgeous, durable cabinets? Lay your ideas out on the walls!

See It Before You Build It

Visualization helps bridge the gap between dreams and reality. Many homeowners and architects in the earliest planning stages of a new or redesigned garage struggle to imagine the finished space, and this struggle can keep them from moving forward with their project. Even if they have some general ideas in their head, they find it difficult to translate those ideas into the nuances and measurements of their unique garage. Here’s the solution: take blue painter’s tape and mask out your ideas directly onto the walls.

By masking out the footprint of your garage cabinets you can project a visual impression directly onto the space itself. This will help you visualize the height and width of your new cabinets so that you can easily and quickly make changes or adjustments. Most importantly, you’re getting the ball rolling on your project. Rather than just daydreaming about your perfect garage, you’re taking the steps to make those dreams a reality.

Why painter’s tape? Painter’s tape is our tape of choice for this task since it’s designed to peel away easily, without leaving adhesive residue behind. So it doesn’t damage your paint or drywall after you remove it.

Planning for Depth

You should also tape out the depth of your ideal cabinets onto the floor (the industry standard depth for base/lower cabinets is 24” deep). This will help you get a sense of how far the cabinets will come out into your space. You’ll get a feel for whether walkways are adequate, and whether there will be enough room between open car doors and the cabinets you’re envisioning. You might learn that your space can only accommodate one wall of cabinets – or maybe you’ll be thrilled to find you can fit three walls’-worth of glorious tool chests and armoires. One thing’s for sure: you don’t want to learn this after the fact, or else you might end up with a space that feels like a packed subway car instead of the spacious and comfortable garage you daydreamed about. No one wants to have to climb out the window of his Lexus in his own garage.

The Endless Practical Value of Taping

Taping out your proposed cabinets supports the rest of your garage redesign, as well. Knowing where your garage cabinets will likely reside can also help you visualize where neon or antique signs or other decorative accouterments will be placed. This knowledge is priceless, especially when it keeps you from jumping the gun on inserting fasteners or cutting holes into drywall.

Lastly, and perhaps most practically, taping out your cabinets and decorative materials can help serve as a tangible and specific guide for the electrician that will be wiring your space (or the plumber adding any new piping). Again, this planning means fewer holes in your walls, but it also means fewer return visits from specialists you’ll likely be cutting a check to.

Get Taping!

This taping tip can help you settle on a layout that will best meet your space, storage, and budgetary expectations before you’ve ordered your cabinets or cut a hole into drywall. It’s not only a practical tool for laying out your space, though – it can be an inspirational one. Visualization really is one of the first small steps towards making your dream garage a reality. Your next step, of course, should be your free consult with VAULT’s owner Chad Haas. When it’s time to fill those tape outlines with the most durable and attractive garage cabinets on the market, give us a call.

So tape away, my friend, and get your dreams out of your head and onto your walls. And let us know how it works out for you! We’re here for you and your garage project, every step of the way.

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