4 Reasons Your Garage Is the Most Versatile (and Underrated) Space in Your House

If you’re thinking of listing your home for sale or browsing listings yourself, you may tend to focus on the bedrooms and bathrooms or the kitchen or living spaces, but a new survey from Stanley Black & Decker's CRAFTSMAN found that one often overlooked space might be more important than you thought.

According to the survey, the garage might just be one of the most versatile and useful spaces, with 76% of survey respondents saying the garage has the potential to be the most productive space in the home.

Garages aren’t just for storing cars and half-empty paint cans. While on the surface, the garage seems like a place to store things you’ve spent money on, many respondents said the garage actually helped them make money — 28% of those who participated in the survey said this humble space played a role in the development or growth of a side hustle.

Whether that means storing the vehicle you use for DoorDashing on the weekends, using the extra space for tools or craft supplies, or even setting up a corner as a home office, the garage might provide the space you need to spread your wings for a new venture.

Gym equipment can be bulky, but the garage is the perfect spot to keep that elliptical or weight bench. Instead of taking up valuable indoor real estate, more than 40% of homeowners use their garage space as a workout area.

Open the rolling door to take advantage of the breeze or add a space heater for cold-weather workouts. And garages are usually close to the kitchen, making water breaks or a post-workout protein shake easy to manage.

Though it’s a versatile space, most homeowners still use the garage as intended — 76% say it’s primarily just to house the family vehicles. Still, almost half of respondents (47%) take advantage of the extra square footage to work on home improvement or gardening and outdoor projects, and 38% use the space to work on their cars.

The garage provides the perfect space for tool boxes and workbenches, and a little sawdust or oil splatter is no big deal. Plus, it can help homeowners avoid costly home repairs by doing some of the work themselves.

For the more musically inclined, the garage provides the perfect practice space — they aren’t called garage bands for nothing, right? Over 11% of millennial homeowners rock out in their garages by starting a new band or practicing with an existing band.

And many people, regardless of what they’re doing in their garages, are listening to music while they’re doing it.

Garages are so important that over three-quarters of respondents say a garage clean-out and reorganization project is on their 2024 to-do list, and 50% say they plan to spend some cash getting their garage in tip-top shape for whatever they plan to use it for — which may help them keep more cash in their wallets in the long run.

A good garage space may not be as important as a bedroom for each family member or enough bathrooms to avoid arguments when everyone is getting ready at the same time. It may not bring a family together like a meal in a cozy dining room, and it may not serve as the staging point for memorable family feasts. However, it’s a versatile space that has different uses for every family.