Garage Design Matters

Garage doors can have a major impact on the exterior facade of your home, and with three door garages; that number can have an even bigger presence! 

With this in mind, integrating them gracefully into a home’s architecture is just as important as the door selection itself, with more consideration than opting for white, black or beige or the standard frame and panel design. There are a lot of custom and semi-custom options out there.

If you use your garage for home improvement projects or it contains a workbench you may think about adding more glass to let in light or have a view of who is coming and going. If you are among the growing population of vintage car enthusiasts you may consider a full glass door so you can enjoy your ride even when there isn’t time or weather available for the ideal Sunday cruise. A full glass door on the back of your garage can turn that space into a casual meeting space or just make it more fun to work on that car inside.  

One of the challenges with the front façade with garage doors is often the negative space between the top of the door and the bottom of the second-floor windows. The garage floors are typically lower than the first floor stretching that space further. One common treatment is a transom window to shorten that distance or install a pediment molding above that. In some cases, this can offer an opportunity to create a connection to the entire front or a stand-alone decorative statement. The addition of a browed trellis is used in both of these applications shown.

We were recently challenged with a custom home we designed with construction about to start (stay tuned, it is going to be exciting).The owners wanted 10’ ceilings on the first floor, and to help with the grade out front (and make room for a future car lift) the garage is lowered 4 feet from the main floor… 14 feet! That required a stronger and larger statement to this modern farmhouse with a nice metal brow roof that will look great and keep the water off the doors and the entrance.

Hope this is food for thought when it is time to add a garage, design your dream home or create a three season hang-out!