Revealing Our Cave of Wonders with Chamberlain

This post is in partnership with Chamberlain

One of the first projects that we did when we bought the Merc, even before renovations began, was updating the detached garage.

If you’ve ever wondered if pinky beige and forest green look great together, let me just permanently sear this image into your mind.

Sorry not sorry.

We attacked it with all of the love and Mandi White paint we could get our hands on and it turned out SIGNIFICANTLY better. To this day, every time my father in law comes over he asks if we’re sure we didnt replace the garage doors because he cant believe how much better they look. (You can see more of the process here)

So even though the outside was spruced up and looking fly (yes, I just said that, I’m also embarrassed for myself) the inside was rough. We’re talking raw cinderblock, wires, and 2 of these ancient relic garage door openers.

That we of course didnt have remotes for. In fact, I dont even know if they made remotes. I’m pretty sure that the way you opened them remotely was to throw a rock at a dinosaur that then started walking in a circle around a huge wooden gear-Flintstones style.

Do you think I’m joking? The garage doors didnt even lock! We had to use a metal rod that Court stole off of one of my hoards to keep them secure. #primitive

When Chamberlain reached out about installing one of their new Chamberlain B1381 Corner to Corner Lighting™ LED Wi-Fi Garage Door Opener, the thought of being able to park in the garage brought tears to my eyes! All of you Southwest-ites can attest to the indescribable pain of trying to drive with a steering wheel that will take your fingerprints off because it’s so hot. We also (obviously) use the garage as our workshop so functional doors and new lighting is just helpful all around.

The Biggest Difference: Lighting

Just for funsies, look at the difference between the lighting with our old opener and the new Chamberlain. (I know it’s a different spot, Court very enthusiastically took down one of the old openers when I told him we were getting a new one before I could get a proper before and after. I’m pretty sure that means I get an automatic fail on my blogger card.)

This is our old one. I SWEAR on my whole life that this is not one of those magic photoshopped pictures.

It is the exact same conditions in both pictures.

I’m not entirely convinced that if I pulled into the garage with the old light on that I would be able to make out if there was someone there trying to steal all of our wood scraps! I’m also not entirely convinced that it wouldn’t spark and catch the whole dang place on fire. It’s like the Cave of Wonders in there!!

BUT LOOK AT THIS MAGIC!

With the new Chamberlain LED opener, we could go into full on project mode at 2 am! Get excited neighbors!! Most garage lights use standard bulbs that put out between 450-1100 lumens depending on the wattage (lumens is the way that the amount of light output is measured. The higher the number the brighter the light.)

In comparison Chamberlain’s built-in Corner to Corner lighting system puts out a whopping 3,100 lumens-0evenly distributing daylight-like lighting to fill the entire garage! The diodes are also extremely long lasting, so you’ll likely never have to replace them!

Smart Home Tech Standard

We LOVE smart home tech at the Merc, and this garage door opener is no exception. It has a built in Wi-Fi powered by myQ technology that allows you to open and close your garage door from anywhere. Great if you’re like us and always lending out tools.

Other smart home features:

• Receive real-time alerts when your garage door opens and close. Know when the kids are home from school, when your husband is hiding from the family, or when your teenager tries to sneak the car out.
• Set daily schedules for the garage door to close. I love the idea of having it automatically close every evening at sundown. Just to be sure that everything is locked up tight. How many times have you walked outside in the morning to find that when your kids parked their bikes they didnt close the garage door?
• Customize how your myQ-connected garage door opener and lights interact with your other favorite smart devices and home automation platforms. Get enhanced features such as voice control, location-based closing or being able to control myQ via a partner app.
• Chamberlain Group and Amazon recently teamed up to offer In-Garage Delivery in 37 cities. I’ve never wanted to live in a large city more.

Aside from its smart home capabilities, we’ll also enjoy the convenience of a built-in battery backup system that enables our opener to work during power outages, so we can still get in and out in case of emergency.

Install was easy and almost entirely a one man job, as evidenced below. When Court started pulling all of the parts out of the box he said “Welp, this is going to be an instruction reading project” and we all know how he feels about following instructions. But it was super easy to follow and he had it done in about an hour.

If you are sick of living in the dark ages of garage doors (hahaha get it!??) you have got to check out Chamberlain’s LED garage door opener with Corner to Corner lighting. You can find where they are available in your area and online by checking out their website here!

And just because I cant believe it myself, let’s have another before and after…

Don’t you just want to break into the chorus of “You light up my life”? I think we’ll need to get Court on that. Learn where to get your own here!