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35 Amazing Garage Design Ideas (Pictures, Helpful Tips and More)

When you design your home or remodel it, consider your garage a separate project and start with a workable design from these ideas.

Modern home with a big brick driveway and garage.

When you design your home or remodel it, consider your garage a separate project. A new home can start with a workable design that offers built-ins for tools, camping gear, and other items. A remodeling job might require more work.

Remodeling your garage space may only require a new door, or door wrap to make it look new. On the other hand, your storage inside it may have gotten out of hand. Have you reached the point where you do not even know what you stored inside it? If so, cleaning it out completely, then tackling its redesign works best.

Whether you need single-car or 2 car garage design ideas or a garage with numerous bays for many vehicles, we’ve put together 35 ideas to help spur your designs. This article also offers some tips on how to make your garage door last longer. Most designs should last up to 3o years but lack of care tends to do them in sooner than that.

Simple Garage Design Ideas Pictures

If your garage currently resembles the picture below – a messy disarray with a broken door, let our list of 35 great ideas for garages inspire your remodeling. Whether you choose a building design with an attached or detached garage design ideas like these offer ways to organize it and spruce it up.

Interior of a garage with a wooden accent
Interior of a garage with a wooden door and foundation.

The Outside of the Garage – Garage Door Designs

The door of your home’s garage contributes or detracts from your home’s curb appeal. A dented or torn up door doesn’t offer much appeal, but a clean, spotless garage does. These doors come in many designs and colors, so you can match it to your home design and trim.

Garage space with a grayish tone 
Garage space with a grayish tone in modern design.

1. Modern, minimalistic architecture often uses the black and white combination to complement any landscape, including this verdant green lawn with trees surrounding it. This combination of colors lets the homeowner use a black or white garage door to complement the house’s overall design and palette.

Plants surround the garage sight
Plants surround the garage  wonderfully brilliant sight.

2. A custom wood garage door offers a unique design that lets you choose the wood type and glass, as well as the paint and finish.

Brick house with aluminum door frames.
Front of a red brick house with aluminum door frames.

3. The entrance and garage door on a single-family home can match for a uniform look that works well with any brick or siding. This red brick and aluminum sheet home works well with the matching doors.

Elegant-looking modern garage space in a dark color.
Elegant-looking modern garage space in a dark color.

4. The modern luxury home uses a variation on the typical garage entrance on a forest lake background.

Clean white wooden exterior garage
Clean white wooden exterior surrounding the garage.

5. Dress up your garage with a white paneled wood door like the one used on this attached garage. The small glass panes add interest and light the interior of the garage.

Garage space with a forward-facing space
Dark-colored garage space with a forward-facing design.

6. Most modern home design features attached garages. These may appear flush with the home, or they may use recessed doors. Typically, the doors used come in white, black, or wood color.

A two-car garage painted in two colors
A two-car garage painted in two colors with a door in the center.

7. As design developed into the 21st century, architects stopped putting garages side by side in designs that offer more than one bay. This layout features an iron brown door between two symmetrical garages using white roller shutters. This offers a cottage look to the garage.

A stylish garage entry  marble exterior.
A stylish garage entry with a marble exterior.

8. This contemporary house in Athens, Greece, shows how garage design, once considered an American fixture of design, has permeated other cultures.

Design garage entry with a brick stone wall.
A great design garage entry with a brick stone wall.

9. The garage door also figures prominently in designs in Vancouver, Canada. Simply replacing your door can update the entire look of your home. This homeowner chose a classic look.

A brown tone garage door matches façade.
A brown tone garage door matches the house’s façade.

10. Since your doors typically remain shut in your garage, you’ll need to choose a door that blends with your home exterior. This closed brown garage door with windows complements the home on which it’s used.

Metal garage door with a wooden accent framework.
Metal garage door with a wooden accent framework.

11. Garage doors don’t have to open up. Not all garage doors roll up. The design on this door uses automatic swing gates with wood accents.

A rolling up garage with a high ceiling
A rolling up garage with a high ceiling for big cars.

12. Those who drive larger vehicles like a Humvee might choose a garage design with two wide gates instead of the typical design.

A garage and driveway in a neutral color scheme.
A sophisticated garage and driveway in a neutral color scheme.

13. Here, a white garage door offsets the brick home, welcoming a vehicle through its driveway.

A contemporary garage with a stone driveway
A contemporary design layout garage with a stone driveway.

14. The driveway and the garage should work well together, as does this stone driveway, opening into a garage with a shiny cement floor. The shininess comes from a clear coat that cement layers add after the cement dries. The stone drive also borders the home’s large garden. With the door shut, the driveway doubles as a patio.

A garage with a steel design exterior
A modern garage with a steel design exterior.

15. Garage doors come in many colors now and in color combinations. You can purchase a modern garage door in black and gray to match your home’s exterior and trim. This means the colors come baked onto the vinyl or steel of the door, so you won’t need to repaint it.

Garage space in a modern classic style with arch-type doors.
A three-car garage space in a modern classic style with arch-type doors.

16. This Vancouver, Canada luxury home offers a massive three-vehicle garage with matching doors. While the homeowner could choose a contrasting color for the garage doors, this design matches the home.

A polished wood garage door design complements the brown brick foundation.
A polished wood garage door design complements the brown brick foundation.

17. This two-car garage on a brick home offers another look at typical garage door designs.

A large entry garage door with a white and brown color
A large entry garage door with a white and brown outside color scheme.

18. Many traditional-style homes favor wood garage doors to complement the wood framing and siding. This two-car garage uses just such wood garage doors.

A modern house in dark gray with wooden accents
A modern minimalist design house in dark gray with wooden accents.

19. Combining aluminum and wood offers a modern look. This home uses aluminum for its main material with a gray gate portal, but a wood garage door.

The wooden shutter mixes in nicely with the façade.
Automatic wooden shutter blends well in the exterior.

20. Let’s look at urban design, too. Since most new homes go up in suburbia, it gets most of the focus, but this new building in the city uses an automatic electric roll-up gate that the homeowner can also push-up. Called both a shutter door and roller door, in this case, it opens up to a concrete-floored garage. The house also uses brown automatic shutters.

The Outside of the Garage – Wrapping the Door

Perhaps you want a new look for your garage but do not want to spend the thousands a new garage door costs. How about spending less that $100 for a new look? While you could choose paint colors, you’d need to repaint often otherwise your door would peel. Perhaps you’ve noticed cars with vinyl wrapping on them that make them look like rolling advertisements for a pizza place or computer repair shop, etc. You can purchase the same type of vinyl wrap for your garage door.

21. By using garage wraps, you can change the look of your garage door for the holidays using this festive Christmas garage door wrap.

22. This Nativity scene offers another vinyl wrap option. You can easily match the holiday lights used on your home to the garage wrap.

23. Here’s a less busy Merry Christmas wish wrap that also complements most home decor.

24. Perhaps you want to decorate the door, but you don’t celebrate Christmas. This simple winter scene offers a pine forest with snowy trees and a completely secular garage door mural wrap.

25. Use magnetic vinyl for garage doors to add accents or cover dents. Many options on Pinterest offer faux windows, hinges, or accents for the square cutouts used in some designs. This adds instant curb appeal to your property.

26. Jazz up the front of your home in the month of October with this Halloween wrap featuring a customized message.

27. Here’s another option for dressing up your garage door during winter. These cute snowman in a winter scene of snow covers the entire door. If your garage door got dented, but winter set in and precludes you replacing the door, you can cover the damage and make your home look great until spring thaw, when you can have the door replaced.

28. Add faux windows with these decals to dress up your older garage door. They look real at a distance, so from the street, it adds curb appeal without any great expense. Most decals like these cost $30 or less.

29. Add vinyl door hinges and windows to update the look of your older garage door with little expense. This set also costs less than $30.

30. Customize the garage bays of your business with custom vinyl decals like these skull and crossbones with your business name.

The Inside of the Garage – Flexible Use Interiors

Once you open the doors to your garage, you need to show the world an organized space. If you open the doors and the neighbors see a disaster area, you’ve ruined your curb appeal. You also probably lost quite a few things you intended on knowing right where they were. You can fix that problem by cleaning out your garage and reorganizing using these ideas that still leave you plenty of space for parking your car inside. Read on to draw inspiration from these garage design ideas, pictures, and tips.

Space interior with garage workshop.
A wide space interior with garage workshop.

31. Car parking, bicycle parking, and a workspace make this concrete garage a workable solution. Using organizers and floor to ceiling shelving provides the owners of this garage with ample room for their belongings and parking their vehicle.

The interior garage is gray and crimson in hue.
The interior garage is gray and crimson in hue.

32. Create an exciting garage interior with interior cladding. That’s not real brick behind the tool bench. It’s cladding – a cross between wallpaper and exterior cladding that offers texture and looks real. It helps your garage walls look as nice as your living space in your main house.

Layout for garage flooring design.
A great layout for garage flooring design.

33. Even if you park on it, your garage floor can look nice with the right flooring. This tough tile stands up to everyday driving and looks gorgeous. Add a floor coating over the tile to help keep the garage clean. Even a one bay garage can shine with designs like these small garage design ideas.

Garage with a workbench and equipment
Garage with a workbench and maintenance equipment.

34. This well-organized garage offers plenty of parking space and a workbench that includes all of the handy person’s tools in easy reach. Along one wall, storage provides a spot for camping gear for the whole family or space to store sports equipment.

The garage space contains a washer, a dryer, and hand tools
The garage space contains a washer, a dryer, and some hand tools.

35. Create a dream garage that offers something for everyone in the family. The garage floors in this design designate the use of the area. The garage offers white tile flooring in the areas for household use, such as the washer and dryer plus the storage area. The gray flooring that begins in the far left corner of the photo offers parking for the cars. Dividing the space in this way saves you from a full garage conversion but uses garage flooring and garage cabinets to create useful areas for both partners to accomplish chores and kids to stash their hobby and sports equipment.

Modern Garage Design Ideas and Maintenance

Your garage needs to open and shut easily, so your door needs maintenance to keep it functioning well and provide easy access. Many people move into their home knowing that the HVAC and the roof need regular inspections, but they remain clueless about the garage door.

Your garage door needs maintenance, too. Lots of things can go wrong with it, so you should have it examined by a professional every six months, at the very least once per year. By doing so, your garage door can last up to 30 years with proper care.

If you regularly use your garage door, you should notice a change in its performance, however slight. Addressing that change immediately can stave off a major problem. Let’s examine the eight most common garage door problems and how to address them. Some items you can fix yourself while others require professional garage door repair

1. Your door makes odd noises or squeaks come from it as it operates.

Your door should operate relatively silently. When you notice clanging, squeaking, squealing, whistling, or vibrating, your door just told you that it needs extra care. Grab a can of WD-40 or other lubricants and oil each of the connections of the lifting mechanism, guide bar, areas of the rollers you can observe, etc. If the noise persists, phone a garage door repair professional for assistance. The noise could come from any of the following:

  • lifting mechanism malfunctions,
  • damaged panels,
  • a deformed guide bar,
  • misinstalled rollers,
  • shaft damage,
  • a worn part.

A garage door repair specialist examines the door’s operation and determines which parts need adjusting or replacing to restore normal operation.

2. The cable or rope breaks.

Under typical use conditions, the cable or rope used in the lifting mechanism lasts the life of the door. Under intensive gate operations though, it can wear out early. A damaged drum can damage the rope, as can pulley wear and errors in installation. Regular maintenance checks by a professional can spot this problem in its development phase and make repairs before the rope or cable breaks as well as address the causal issue.

3. The torsion spring breaks.

Just as above-average use wears out the cable, it does the same thing to the torsion spring. The torsion spring can burst from wear and tear or if the coupling breaks. Most garage doors come fitted with a spring capable of 25,000 working cycles, which approximately equals 17 years of normal use. If the spring breaks, call a pro for replacement. An annual maintenance visit from a pro service technician can spot a weakening spring and re-balance it or replace the coupling.

4. The gate won’t open or close all of the way.

Check the lifting mechanism and the canvas of your garage door for dirt or ice. Remove any obstruction that you spot as these items can interfere with canvas movement. If this fixes the problem, you’re done. If the door operation still experiences problems, check for skewed or dented canvas, meaning the door panels. Contact a professional technician for dent repair, door rehanging and if you can’t locate the problem. It could stem from an internal issue such as a torsion spring with too much tension or an automation problem.

5. A skewed or dented door panel stops the door from opening or closing.

A dented door panel can stop your entire garage door from working if the dent prevents the panels from rolling or folding properly. A door panel can also become skewed, meaning off of its tracks. These issues require a professional to address. Many problems can cause a skewed door panel including:

  • Deformed or damaged guide bars,
  • Uneven cable tension,
  • Drum, roller or bracket issues that prevent proper winding.

Wear and tear plus overuse can cause this problem. Your technician might need to replace or adjust the alignment of the guide bar or the cable. Other common repairs include replacing drums, rollers and brackets.

6. Automation issues cause malfunctions.

Check the remote control first. The batteries may have died. If fresh batteries don’t fix the issue, examine the remote for condensation, water or other evidence of dampness damage. If water entered the remote control, it could stop functioning. Try a new remote control unit.

If the remote control did not cause the problem, the system may have internal issues. A professional repair technician can determine the source of the failure. Typical causes include a drive failure or improper settings. If your automated garage door uses a remote control that provides error codes, check yours and provide the error code to the technician. This can speed repairs.

7. Panel damage and sectional door damage preclude proper operation.

Manually lifting or closing the garage door can strain its chains. Slamming the garage door downward can harm its shocks. Playing with the remote control to open and close the door repeatedly, which falls into the category of improper use of mechanisms, can damage it. Using the automation of the remote control device to open and shut the system under normal use prevents this type of damage. Call a professional garage repair team for panel repairs and the replacement of a door section.