16 Modern Detached Garages That’ll Transform Your Outdoor Space
Your garage, often considered a utilitarian space for vehicles and tools, holds untapped potential. Beyond its conventional role, a modern detached garage can be reimagined for your home’s functionality, boosting your property’s appeal and enhancing your lifestyle through a beautiful and practical upgrade.
Detached garages can transform into versatile spaces, hobby hubs, guest suites, and more. Homeowners are increasingly turning to detached garage revamps for better use of space, enhanced aesthetics, increased property value, and the creation of additional living quarters.
We’ve assembled this list of some of our favorite modern detached garages to inspire you with possibilities for your property.
1. A Modern Backdrop for a California Courtyard
The proximity from the main house to the detached garage can play a large part in the style of the latter building. Creating a courtyard between the structures requires a cohesive design. In the photo, architect Greg Coleman designed this custom home in San Diego, California, with a modern aesthetic matched by the clean cube shape of the detached garage and ADU. Adding greenery also softens the look, making it appear less utilitarian.
Enclosing the space between your garage and home with a breezeway has several benefits. They protect you from the elements when you walk between the buildings, help regulate temperature by buffering the difference between a home and a garage, and can enhance the architectural design of a property—infusing it with a bit of charm. Add some nice outdoor lighting and you have yourself a lovely outdoor space.
Detached garages become valuable spaces—even if you don’t drive a car. You can redesign these versatile buildings to fit your needs and even become a practical space to work out of. For example, Di and Pingyang worked with Ogawa Fisher Architects to turn their garage into a stunning floral studio in their backyard.
A detached garage with a covered carport offers an additional place to park but can be of further benefit if it extends your outdoor entertaining area, like this modern farmhouse in Fort Collings, Colorado. Much like an oversized covered patio, the shelter provides shade from the sun and protection from the rain so your event continues undisturbed.
Convert your detached garage into an entertainment area. The owners of this midcentury home in Glendale, California, decided to overhaul their garage and turn it into a combination casino and ’60s tiki bar. Adding carpet, painting the walls, changing the lighting, and bringing in gaming tables and bar furnishings transitioned this structure from a regular garage to an exciting addition to their home.
A large-scale modern home, like Barenhaus in New Hope, Pennsylvania, has a tremendous presence. Its substantial detached garage mimics the home’s design with a similar height, dark color, and deep roof overhangs. While they are quite similar, there is a visual hierarchy between the structures, which adds to the home’s appeal.
The size and location of a detached garage can be advantageous to homeowners—especially if it’s configured to block the sun through part of the day. Gaining some extra height from a gabled roof, the building can cast shade on a property, making it much more pleasant to be outdoors in the heat.
Installing larger windows in your detached garage increases the amount of daylight that comes in. This natural illumination reduces the need for artificial lights, a benefit for those who enjoy tinkering in their garage. The detached garage at the Wave House in Mercer Island, Washington, is an excellent example of how adding windows enhances the exterior appearance of a garage.
The open air between a home and a detached garage is an opportunity for unexpected style. The Westridge Residence in Austin, Texas, has a beautiful canopy of rebar connecting these structures in a curved shape that echoes the silhouette of the buildings’ roofs. Not only does this canopy provide visual intrigue, but it also provides shade to the area below.
When family and friends visit, it’s nice to give them a place to stay that offers them privacy and a space of their own. Adding a second floor to your detached garage enables you to keep the functional part of the building for your vehicles. This addition allows you to create a beautiful and modern garage apartment or guest room on the second floor that makes visitors feel at home.
Detached garages can become a small annex for your home—enabling you to create more living, hobby, or workspaces. Take inspiration from the garage of this modern bungalow in Los Angeles, California, converted into a multipurpose home office and gym. It doesn’t require plumbing or a kitchen, merely some electricity and design creativity.
Having a detached garage close to the main house allows you to add an addition to connect the buildings but keep them distinctly separate. A visual difference conveys the home’s structural hierarchy even if the two structures are not identical in style. This Dover, Massachusetts, farmhouse has a shared mudroom between the two buildings, allowing for dry and comfortable access.
Detached garages can be another place on your property to express your style. Adding a vibrant hue to the doors helps create a pleasing aesthetic and gives the building a more modern appearance. This asymmetrical detached garage in Reno, Nevada, has a turquoise pedestrian door on one side and a chartreuse garage door on the other.
The little details in a detached garage design make the building stand out. Shadow block details to the building’s exterior add depth, texture, and visual interest to the facade of a building. For example, this midcentury home in Phoenix, Arizona, uses shadow blocking; as the sun moves, so does the shadow design.
Investing in the driveway makes the drive into your detached garage more extravagant. Use this modern home in Tampa, Florida, as an example. Tumbled block makes up the driving surface, giving extra appeal and elegance to the space. They have also built a covered vehicle corridor, adding to the opulent feel of the home.
The existing size of your detached garage may not fit your vision for the space. With the help of an architect, you can reimagine this structure by adding a second level or expanding the footprint. In the above photo, Best Practice Architecture helped a Seattle family build onto their detached garage, turning it into a bespoke granny pad with a kitchen and bathroom.
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