Garages with mechanized overhead doors have revolutionized the house as we think of it in America. While it’s true that there are still houses that go sans garage, they are increasingly rare, and for good reason. Not only do garages give our cars respite from the elements (both in the natural and criminal sense) but they provide a level of dynamism to a home. Neither considered to be outside or inside, one can go out into the garage and work on something without feeling tethered by other household responsibilities. It can be a home away from home, attached to your home. While this may be over-analyzing the comfort a garage can afford, its convenience in the form of a storage unit with a mechanized overhead door cannot be over-stated.

Lots of people may scoff at this idea due to the obviousness of the fact that without a garage, a house could be exactly one garage-size bigger. Who needs extra storage space? It would be there anyways if we didn’t have the stupid garage! Fair enough I suppose, but the aesthetics of a garage once again allow for a kind of space that is both connected to your home, yet strangely detached. Having a concrete floor and aluminum shelves and cabinets, a garage allows itself to fit the schema of a storage space without hurting the overall look of the house. While guests are well aware that your garage is part of your house, it is far more acceptable to have stacks of cardboard boxes in the garage versus the guest-room. In fact, the garage can even lend it’s own sense of style to a house. A nice overhead door is one of the highest valued contributors to curbside appeal that a home can have, and if it’s well furnished on the inside with wood cabinets and the like, a well-maintained garage can be a selling point in and of itself. One possible reason for this is because of what the garage houses; as a home for one of the most expensive commodities most people will ever buy in their life (a car) we are almost reverential about where it gets parked and spends it’s time. By glamorizing our garages, we are able to imagine that our car too is more glamorous, even if it only cost us a few nice bits of furniture instead of a huge credit-card payment on a brand new car.

Garages fill a variety of functions for us, not the least of which is creating a space in our home that is truly unique and ours. It may be dusty and a little dark, but it’s a keeper of Christmas decorations and cars, maybe a small gaming table—it’s a roomy part of the home that holds exalted status because of its rather under-the-radar charm. If you’ve always had a garage, try living without one.