Ideas for teen garage hangout

[Globetrotter]

We redid the garage with cabinets all around and storage. But I also took away the playroom since DS is now in high school LOL He and his friends need a place to hang out, so I'm planning to use the garage. So far it has a ping-pong table, and I'll be putting a dartboard up. Any other ideas? It's a two car garage so not all that big. The ping-pong table can be folded and kept out-of-the-way if necessary. I was thinking of putting some sort of seating, and they could use his large laptop to watch Netflix or play video games. He doesn't have Xbox or anything like that, nor do I really want him to start that. I feel like he's already spending too much time playing video games on his phone, since we got him a smart phone and took away the playroom.

He loves to throw a ball around and enjoys sports. I kept a six foot blank wall to store the ping pong table, but that wall could be used for something else. He wants it for wall ball lol
We are storing our wooden folding chairs in there, so those could be used for seating, though they aren't the most comfy.

[essnce629]

When I made our garage a hang out space I added a couch, love seat, armchair, outdoor rug, coffee table, side tables, and lamps. Only thing I bought new were the lamps and rug. Everything else we already had. We also have a fridge in there and a trash can.

It's no longer a hang out space and DH has turned it into his home gym and has since added a TV.

Our garage is also insulated and has a wall air conditioning unit.

[mom2binsd]

I was once told by another mom, if there are teens watching movies, playing video games on a couch, no blankets! Easy to hide stuff going on under a blanket (I remember my days on my parents basement and a blanket probably saved me a few times lol).

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[HannaAddict]

Where do you park with no garage? I love my garage as a garage!


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[Mommy_Mea]

Where do you park with no garage? I love my garage as a garage!


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This! I live in the Northeast and feel lucky to have a usable two car garage, and would did almost anything to keep it usable.

[georgiegirl]

Where do you park with no garage? I love my garage as a garage!


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They park in the driveway. It happens all the time in California. The weather is nice so you don’t need to protect your car. Plus people in CA don’t have basements, so sometimes junk is stored in the garage. I knew several people who had pool/ping pong tables in their garage. So in CA, garage often doubles as a basement for Rec space or storage. Im in the Midwest now, so of course everyone keeps their car in the garage.

[mom2binsd]

Yup, without basements and often much smaller homes people in California use their garage space as extra living space. I also remember seeing more carports out there too!

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[speo]

They park in the driveway. It happens all the time in California. The weather is nice so you don’t need to protect your car. Plus people in CA don’t have basements, so sometimes junk is stored in the garage. I knew several people who had pool/ping pong tables in their garage. So in CA, garage often doubles as a basement for Rec space or storage. Im in the Midwest now, so of course everyone keeps their car in the garage.

Yes. I am in SoCal and I would say the majority of my neighbors (us included) do not park our cars in the garage. We live in an older development with small closets and little storage other than our garage.

[essnce629]

Where do you park with no garage? I love my garage as a garage!


Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkAlso, most of the older houses have detached garages in their backyard. All the houses in our neighborhood, except for the new builds, are like this. It would be a pain to squeeze our car through our narrow gated driveway and try and park in our garage. So we park in the driveway in front of our gate and on the street directly in front of our house. We used to have a separate storage shed in our backyard but had to get rid of it when we put our pool in. So our garage not only doubles as DH's gym, but also must store all our seasonal stuff, entertaining stuff, camping stuff, outgrow clothes, emergency earthquake water, Costco bulk items, etc, etc.

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[HannaAddict]

It seems like so many people on these boards have newer homes when they describe them or show photos that they would have useable garages. Our first bungalow had the narrow driveway to detached garage we didn't use, but happily squeezed my large/wide car into garage at next house (1917 vintage) and now have large garage in the back (gated drive) and I love having a garage, even though mild climate.


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[Globetrotter]

I’m open to any ideas at this point!
Yesterday we had three boys over. Well actually one was 25 LOL he was a cousin who is visiting for the weekend. But they all played ping-pong the entire evening! It was so nice to have that space. Although at this point there are still boxes lying around and it’s a mess , but we cleared them and pushed them aside.

[Globetrotter]

Yes, it is true that in California a lot of people use the garages for storage space. We are lucky to have a fair bit of storage space inside the house, So for us it’s more that we want a hang out for DS and his friends.. Last winter was the first time I didn’t have access to the garage because of this project. I did park in there a few times, but turned out OK. I would like to have the flexibility to park it inside during the rainy season( we finally got rain!) , So I got a ping-pong table that easily folds. I would say half my neighbors park all their cars on the driveway.

[gamma]

A few portable speakers for music, not loud enough to annoy the neighbors. A few favorite board games, deck of cards or poker set. A card table to go with the folding chairs to play games on and eat pizza. Small shelf with paper plates, napkins, cups and trash can.