Room of the Day: Detached Garage Turned Teen Cave

Christina Britt Lewis and Tim Lewis were living a big life in New Hampshire. “We had the big house, the big cars, the big corporate life and along with all of that, we had big expenses,” Christina says. “And we were actually quite miserable.” They decided to move to North Carolina, downsize and live the lives they wanted. They knew with all the money they would save, they could get into new careers that made them happy, have money to travel with their family and live the life of their dreams. “We bought a small house, not thinking it would be permanent, but we were like Goldilocks — it was just right,” she says.

“After” photos by Angela Statzer


Teen Cave at a Glance
Who lives here: Christina Britt Lewis and Tim Lewis of Cococo Home; their sons, Camden and Cole; and dachshund mix George
Location: Huntersville, North Carolina
Budget: Under $2,000

BEFORE: With their sons quickly growing (eldest son Cole is 6 feet, 4 inches tall), the family was feeling like the space was no longer “just right” and instead a bit squeezed.


AFTER: As the boys entered their teens, they needed space for recreation, playing video games and hanging out with their friends. The couple looked to their detached two-car garage one weekend and decided it was just the spot.

The family spent a Saturday purging and painting. They sprayed the walls and used an epoxy on the floor. (Christina notes that the floor has been scratched since, so she doesn’t recommend this unless you like the “character” provided by the scratches.)

Christina then got to work doing what she does best and now does for a living as a designer: collecting things they already had to furnish and accessorize the space, bartering for a few items and filling in with items from shops like HomeGoods, Ikea and West Elm.

The two daybeds had been Cole and Camden’s first big-boy beds. As the boys entered the teenage years, their parents replaced them with queen-size beds. The ottoman was a piece they already had from a local vendor, The Comfortable Couch Company, and Christina scooped up the rug at HomeGoods and the black chairs at Ikea.

The black and yellow piece is a disc-golf goal. “The boys love playing disc golf, and they like to throw them in here,” she says. “We haven’t had any broken windows yet. We’ve had a few pieces of art hit the floor.”

Butterfly-print pillow: West Elm





Christina created a gallery wall with mementos that mean a lot to the family.

Both boys love to snowboard, so she framed the trail maps from their favorite mountains. “They love to point out the trails they’ve conquered on these maps,” she says. Other mementos include their old “Live Free or Die” New Hampshire license plate and a set list from a favorite concert they attended.

Skateboards have become art, stored on the wall with bikes.

Bronze deer head: HomeGoods; string lights: Lowe’s; lamp: West Elm


You are probably wondering what happened to all of the usual garage stuff. The family did a huge purge to whittle down what they needed to store out here.

Bill Britt, Christina’s uncle, built them this closet, and she picked up Ikea’s Ritva panels to conceal everything.


In her design work, Christina has found that people keep so many things they don’t need. “I went from five boxes of Christmas stuff to one; one is really working for me,” she says. The yard is small, so they don’t need a lot of landscaping equipment.

“We forced ourselves to do a big purge, and there is nothing we got rid of that we miss now,” she says.





Christina bartered her design skills in exchange for the Ping-Pong table. While looking through a client’s belongings at their first meeting, she discovered the table folded up and unused in a storage section of their basement.

“They were on a supertight budget, and I saw this gorgeous Ping-Pong table they were going to get rid of, so I said, ‘I’ll take it!’” she says. She wrote up the table as part of their payment in her estimate.

George the dachshund mix loves to hang out in the garage with Camden and Cole.





Tim found this photo of Charlotte at Ikea, along with the utensil holders, which they mounted on the wall to hold the Ping-Pong paddles and balls.

Kallax shelves from Ikea serve as a console under the TV and provide plenty of storage for books, equipment and board games. Not wanting to spend money on an expensive TV wall mount, they improvised with rope.





Two portable heaters warm the space in the winter, while a ceiling fan and two industrial fans paired with opening up the garage doors keep it comfortable in the summer. “There are so many beautiful days throughout the year in North Carolina; we really think of this as an outdoor space during warm weather,” she says.

The boys are in heaven out here, and it’s a favorite spot for their friends as well. They even have sleepovers in the new teen cave.

“Tim and I pretty much have the house to ourselves now, and it’s so quiet,” Christina says. “In fact, everyone is coming over before prom next week, because they want to take their pre-prom pictures in the garage.”

More:
How to get more living space from your garage
Get ideas from more garage conversions on Houzz

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