The Girl Garage
A favorite place on my farm is the Girl Garage. Attending the Museum of Art's ART of THE GARAGE TOUR sparked the transformation engines, and checking the box indicating I possessed a space ideal for the next tour sealed my fate. When tour organizers called the following May, I said yes and got cracking. Once a thriving mancave, the shop had become idle after my husband's death. The tour provided the external motivation and grit I required to breathe life and possibility into the forgotten space. I chose to use only reclaimed or repurposed materials for the remodel as it felt akin to my reinvention. I cleaned out, organized, painted, and created. Each day brought fresh ideas, new directions, and tears. I shed tears of joy celebrating memories of days gone by, tears of sorrow for what I had lost, and later tears of hope for a future yet defined. It felt as if I was having a love affair with my late husband, and it was beautiful.
Like any project, challenges often arise, and innovative ideas spark during the process. I didn't plan to paint the ceiling, yet I did. Whenever I ran out of one paint color, I filled in with a similar tone and painted multi-colored clouds on the ceiling to pull the space together. I considered painting the entire floor but, in the end randomly stenciled designs throughout the garage. The Barnwood wall looked so amazing that I decided to extend it.
Initially, I worried that my husband would be further removed from our memories with the transformation, but we later discovered it was quite the contrary. I wasn't replacing him; I was joining him. Writing a new chapter and bringing life to the space we now lovingly call the Girl Garage.
