Post Falls-based startup GarageSkins featured in summer edition of This Old House magazine

GarageSkins is gaining national attention nearly two years after leasing space in Post Falls for a manufacturing facility.

This Old House magazine featured the company’s garage overlay system in a “What’s New in 2022” article in its summer edition, which hit newsstands earlier this month.

“There is a nice little picture and mention,” Medlen said. “It’s an honor to have been chosen.”

Medlen founded GarageSkins in 2014.

He developed a concept of thin wood veneers adhered to lightweight foam that attaches to metal garage doors via strong earth magnets, transforming the appearance to high-end wood carriage doors without need for alterations.

Medlen obtained two patents, conducted lab tests to show stability of the product and installed prototype systems at homes in Oregon, Texas and Arizona.

Medlen and his wife, Julie, relocated from Oregon to Liberty Lake in 2020.

That same year, the startup company raised more than $1.2 million in early stage funding and leased 60,000 square feet of space for a new production facility at 5405 W. Riverbend Ave., Suite 102, in Post Falls with plans to take the overlay system to market.

Since then, GarageSkins began production of its garage overlay systems and is in the process of shipping more than 200 pre-orders, Medlen said.

“We have hired 20 people and we are growing as fast as we possibly can,” Medlen said.

The brisk real estate market is generating additional buzz for GarageSkins’ overlay system, Medlen said.

“We have been contacted by staging companies and large real estate companies that want our product, and also people who love their home and want to do a little bit more to it,” he said. “This will allow them to complete the façade of their home and drastically increase their curb appeal in just under an hour.”

Medlen is in the process of raising funding to build out the remainder of GarageSkins’ production facility to keep up with demand for its product.

The facility currently operates one production line, but has available space for two additional product lines, Medlen said.

Once the facility is complete, it will have capacity to produce about 2,000 garage overlay systems a month, Medlen said.

Medlen is also looking forward to further scaling the company nationally.

“We are just so incredibly happy to have chosen Post Falls,” he said.