Projects

Baby Steps in the Basement

After a week and a half off from the 9to5, I had full intentions of showing you a near completed basement makeover.  Yeah... things never go according to plan when organizing is involved.  Organizing an entire basement is more taxing than I anticipated. I spent quite a bit of time down there this week trying to organize and divide it into a storage area and a project/work area.  In case you need a reminder, the basement started here: a huge pile of crap stuff.

When I go down and look at the basement currently, I feel like I have very little to show for the time that I put in, but there is a little difference.  I'm still pouting a little bit that it's not further on its way... but I just need to get over it, put on my big girl panties and keep organizing.

What's new in the above view?  Well, you can actually see the floor in the basement for one!  I guess that's really the biggest one.  I also 'installed' my $5 ReStore counter and roughly laid out my new project/work area.  It has a loooong way to go, but at least there's space to work.  It's still lacking additional storage for tools, many organizational elements, and most notably (to me) decorative elements.  Yup, I'm my dad's daughter and need a dedicated work area for projects (and the associated messes), but I'm still a designer and want to make it a creative haven as well.  The later part will be more of a challenge in this basement.

The storage photo shows less progress, but I promise you, it's there.  Very little is left piled on the floor, and it's been organized on shelves.  The 2 big items taking up space in the pic are the desk awaiting refinishing, and a disassembled music studio desk (on the left) which has since been sold on craigslist (HOORAY!!).

In addition to organizing, I've also started refinishing the furniture for my future nephew's nursery, among other things.  Bottom line: I hope to have some exciting posts coming soon, and I promise I won't be fixated on the basement too much.

ReStore the Basement

As I slowly chip away at my mountainous basement mess, I've been daydreaming of my fantabulous work space that the piles of crap stuff will eventually morph into.  It will be a wonderfully organized work/project area that is part basement, part creative inspiration.  So far it's been all basement, but I now have a few items that will help bridge the gap. I finally got a chance to go to the new (as of 8ish months ago..) Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Worcester (where my sister lives).  Since the ReStore is a new novelty in this area, allow me to explain.  It's like GoodWill, but for all things house and building.  They accept donations and all the profits go to local Habitat for Humanty.  It's a wonderful collection of awesomeness furniture, tiles, doors, windows, light fixtures, cabinets, and whatever other home or building items people have donated.  It's a fun place to explore.  A few weeks ago, my parents had gone and told me about a piece of countertop that could serve as my workbench, so I had to check it out myself.

I left the ReStore with the countertop and a light for UNDER $10!!!  Nope, that's not a typo.  Check out my loot and their prices:

$5

$4

I don't have a complete plan devised for the countertop yet.  It's 36"x64" and finished on 3 sides, so I could use it as a peninsula coming out from the wall, or I could cut it down a bit and put it against the wall.  Basically for $5, I can MAKE it be what I need it to be (once I decide what that is).  The light was a no-brainer.  I saw it when hubby went to grab a volunteer to help us move the countertop.  It was love a first sight.  When I saw the price tag, it was love at second sight too.

My new goodies will help keep me motivated through my basement archeology.

Must. not. let. couch. win...

Roadkill Rescue

It's a first for this blog and I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of excited.  I've posted my projects on link parties on other blogs, but this is the first time one of my projects has actually been featured on another blog! Roadkill Rescue is one of the fantastically awesome blogs that I follow and I submitted my coffee table bench last week on a whim.  Roadkill Rescue (as you can probably guess by the name) features trash to treasure projects, so I'm honored to be a part of it!  You should check out the amazing transformations on Roadkill Rescue, but I warn you, you may get sucked in for hours (totally worth it though).