How to Sleep in a Garage: 14 Tips
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A garage is a great place to keep the car, work on projects, or store supplies. It’s not common to think of it as a place to sleep. Since most homes have enough space for both lounging and storing, the garage is often used as a backup living area. In the case that you need to sleep in your garage, or just simply want to, I am here to tell you that it is very much doable.
Transforming a garage into a living space is a cheaper option than renovating or extending a property. For one, changing the layout of your garage does not require you to file a building permit since it is within your property.
How to Sleep in a Garage
Sleeping in a garage requires you to make the place comfortable enough to rest. Simply remodel the space for comfort rather than for storage.
First, we’ll go over how to transform your garage into a livable area. Following this, we’ll discuss how to sleep comfortably in a garage.
Prepare the Garage for Bed
Just like sleeping within the comforts of your room, sleeping in a garage requires you to “make the bed” before actually hitting the sheets to relax. Hence, here are some ways on how to make a comfortable bedroom out of the extension of your home:
1. Remove Unwanted Clutter and Debris
Nobody wants to sleep in a dirty room. Despite how sleepy or tired you are, you cannot find comfort within a messy, trash-filled room. Before sleeping in the garage, you might want to tidy up a bit. The garage doesn’t have to be spotless. Focus mainly on the area where you will be laying down.
2. Check for Damp or Wet Areas
Another thing to account for when transforming your garage into a living space is the presence of leaks, flooding, and other damp problems. Of course, you do not want to wake up in the middle of the night with a flooded mattress and soaked sheets. Before sleeping in a garage, ensure that the pipes are working correctly and that there are no leaks or damp spots.
3. Safety and Security
Make sure that the garage space is safe and secure. Check the locks of doors and windows before settling down. Security may seem like a no-brainer; however, garages can be a target for intruders or even the prying eyes of nosy neighbors. Hence, always double-check before sleeping: Doors are locked, and windows are secured.
4. Make the Bed
Prepare the bed early in the day. It’s much better to get this over with rather than piece one together last-minute. If you have an extra mattress or futon laying around, then you can install these into your make-shift room. If you don’t have bedding, use a cardboard box or any flat, elongated surface to act as a foundation. You can then use any soft material such as yoga mats or blankets to create a comfortable bed.
5. Create Privacy
Since garages are usually a common area, you might want to create some form of privacy by dividing your “make-shift” bedroom from the rest of the garage space. Room partitions, curtains, and blinds work best if you have them. However, if you are winging it, simply stacking boxes around your bed works, too. Just make sure that you place it discreet enough to provide you with a small private space.
6. Insulate
Lastly, since the temperature is a requisite of a good night’s rest, you might want to insulate your garage depending on your needs. If it’s summertime, then you might want to install an air-conditioner or a fan. If it’s winter, then you might want to install heating equipment to ensure that you do not freeze in the night. Remember, temperature plays a vital role in the quality of sleep, so ensuring that your space has proper insulation is an excellent way to secure a good night’s rest.
Tips on How to Sleep in a Garage
Although sleeping in a garage might not be as comfortable as your bedroom, there are ways to make it so. Here are some tips on how to sleep comfortably in a garage:
7. Create an Atmosphere for Sleep
Several studies have confirmed that sleeping in a cold room, creates a deeper, more relaxing state of sleep than sleeping in a warm room. Hence, to ensure that you get the right amount and best quality sleep that you can get, create an atmosphere that would be perfect for rest. The room should not be too cold or too hot.
You might also want to regulate the airflow of the space by checking for proper ventilation. Nobody likes sleeping in a stuffy and suffocating room. Hence, ensuring that your area has adequate airflow and proper ventilation can make it feel more open, spacious, and comfortable.
8. Find a Good Spot for the Bed
No matter how cold, dark, or quiet a room is, if you do not have a comfortable bed to lay in, sleep may be challenging to achieve. Hence, to ensure a good night’s sleep, choosing where to place the bed is very important. Try to find a space for your bed away from heavy, bulky equipment and machinery. Since you do not have control over yourself when you sleep, you may toss and turn, and knock something over.
9. Reduce Unwanted Noise
Sleeping in a loud, noisy environment also won’t guarantee you a satisfying beauty rest. Before sleeping in the garage, make sure that no one is working with heavy equipment and other machinery that would be deafening. Ensure also, that there are no loud guests, cars, or other circumstances similar in nature that would disrupt your peaceful sleep. Otherwise, you might want to invest in sound-proofing your garage walls to ensure that the area remains tranquil and undisturbed throughout the night.
10. Remove Any Toxic Chemicals
Since garages are homes to cleaning detergents, toxic car fumes, and other odorous chemicals, you might be exposed to these hazards when you sleep. Toxic chemicals pose a serious health risk, which may have detrimental health effects when inhaled or contact with skin occurs.
Before diving into bed for the night, do a clean sweep and keep hazardous materials away and on the furthest side of the room. Check that the lids are tightly secured and that there are no unwanted emissions from them.
11. Use Throws Instead of Pillows
Using throw pillows instead of regular pillows is both space-saving and multifunctional. During the mornings, when you’re not using the space to sleep, you can use it as a lounge area for yourself or guests. Also, large pillows tend to take up too much space and are difficult to put away when you’re planning to use the garage space for a completely different function. Throw pillows (view on Amazon) are not only a more decorative alternative; they are also practical and convenient.
12. Control the Light and Darkness of the Room
Bright lights tend to impair an individual’s quality of sleep. Garages usually have bright and clear lighting. To downplay these lights at night, you might want to install fluorescents and soft LED lights instead of blue or white lights. Warm lighting is much better on the eyes and may help you to see in the middle of the night. An alternative is to use a motion-detection light (view on Amazon) which only turns on when getting up.
You might want to bring small night lamps instead and turn off the bright lights entirely when you go to bed. Doing so will help you sleep better and faster. It will also help you save on electricity.
13. Fill the Room with Aromatic Scents
Since garages are prone to musky scents, you might want to fill the room with aromatic fragrance before you go to sleep. According to studies, sage and lavender scents produce a state of calm and relaxation that is perfect for rest. Hence, to eradicate the pungent odors of car fumes, construction project chemicals, musky, damp odors, and any other unpleasant smell, you might want to invest in a humidifier (view on Amazon), incense or aerosol sprays that would fill your make-shift bedroom with relaxing and aromatic scents.
14. Provide Enough Space to Stretch
Unlike sleeping in bedrooms, sleeping in garages do not provide us with an ample living space conducive for sleep. It is up to our imaginative abilities to discover how we can find comfort in a garage. One way is to provide enough space to stretch. Bedrooms usually have a prescribed size for beds – single beds, double, queen-sized, or king-sized. However, in garages, there’s no limit to what size bed you can use.
Granted that you share the space with other storage stuff, but it doesn’t mean that you should limit yourself to a cramped space. If that’s the case, you’ll end up with sore muscles and an aching back every morning.
Thus, to sleep comfortably, allow for a convenient and comfortable space for relaxing. Ensure that there is enough legroom and that you can stretch your arms freely without knocking things over. That way, you’ll be much more relaxed and sleep more soundly than you ever would in a single-sized bed!
Conclusion – How to Sleep in a Garage
Sleeping in a garage should be no different than sleeping in your room once you set the place up comfortably. Any area can be conducive for sleep as long as the essential elements of comfort, tranquility, the right temperature, and dim lighting are present. Garages, like basements or attics, can be a comfortable alternative to bedrooms provided that you can transform the space for living instead of storage. Sleep comes naturally to human beings, and it is up to our creative imagination how we can be comfortable in an area not meant for rest. After all, our primitive ancestors used to sleep in caves – why should garages be any different?
