How to make your garage look like a carriage house

Redo your door

One of the quickest and easiest ways to make your garage look like a carriage house is to invest in a carriage house-style garage door. These doors are defined by their vertical wood slats, high windows, antiqued hardware and additional wood detailing to give the appearance of swinging or sliding barn doors.

Carriage house-style garage doors can be made from a wide variety of materials, so they're available at almost every possible price point. For instance, you could purchase a classic steel roll-up garage door that's simply designed to look like a carriage house door, or you could go all out and purchase a custom wood swinging carriage house garage door. Depending on the size of your garage, the door manufacturer and the material used, prices could range from $1,500 to more than $10,000, so be sure to set a budget before starting your search. Popular carriage house garage door manufacturers include:

• Carriage House Door Company – Custom wood doors designed for the homeowner who wants a truly authentic-looking carriage house garage
• Amarr Garage Doors – Offering high-end custom carriage house doors
• Martin Garage Doors – A wide variety of carriage house options, all with a lifetime warranty
• Clopay – Offering a wide range of prices on carriage house-style garage doors

Add hardware and accessories

If you're not up for replacing your garage door, consider adding antiqued hardware, including oversized metal hinges and handles. You can purchase these online from stores like Garage Door Hardware Direct, Coach House Accents and Carriage House Door Company. Garage Door Hardware Direct even offers magnetic carriage house hardware that can be used on existing steel garage doors for an almost instant makeover.

You can also enhance your home's carriage house appearance by adding hanging lamps on either side of the garage doors. Home improvement stores like The Home Depot and Lowe's offer a number of outdoor lighting options that work for this purpose. Just make sure the metal accents on your lamps match the metal of your carriage house hardware.

Jazz up the interior

While it's certainly not necessary to jazz up the interior of your garage, adding interior decorations can enhance the carriage house vibe. Consider adding the following design elements:

• Hanging lamps lining the walls of the garage
• Wooden support beams separating the automobile bays
• Antique horse tack-like saddles, bridles and horse shoes on display along the walls
• Garage floor lining or paint with a cobblestone appearance

After organizing the space, you could also paint the walls or ceiling with a faux-wood finish and add carriage house hardware to your interior doors and cabinets.

More organization and garage storage tips

7 Home organization tools
Today's great garages
How to quickly tidy up your car

Photo credit: Carriage House Door Company