Basement Update

Did you think I had forgotten about my basement? You know....this one?

Promise. I hadn't forgotten. In fact, I wanted to take an entire corner of the basement and turn it into my craft room. I've been scouring Pinterest for pictures of unfinished basement offices and I'm actually pretty impressed over peoples ability to make concrete look cute. So, that's my plan. 

A couple Fridays ago, I sent Avery off to school and tackled my nightmare of a basement. I got an insane amount done. I swept and I unpacked and I sorted. But I still hadn't done much to my craft area. 

This is what it looked like prior to tonight. 

I had moved all the boxes that had my office/craft things over to that corner. I moved a couple of bookcases and made a craft table/desk (more on that in another post). But that's about it. 

So I decided to work on it a little more tonight after Avery went to bed. After an hour and 45 minutes of working, this is what I had done. 

I've unpacked almost all the boxes that contained my craft things. I've organized my canvases and paints and other odds and ends.

I still have more organizing to do. I'm going to paint one of the walls and get some more storage bins. Thank you to everyone with an order that been patient. Now you see what I'm tackling before your stuff gets done!

But I have two really big projects I'm wanting to finish before I can really call this little corner of the basement home for my crafting. Because this is located in a big open room of our unfinished basement, I need a way to section this part off to make it secluded. You know, give it walls without giving it actual walls (because finishing our basement won't be happening for a little while longer). First, I thought of room dividers. While I haven't actually measured exact dimensions of the room, I know it's a pretty good space and it would take quite a few dividers to close this off. So, no dividers. Too expensive. 

Then, I thought of bed sheets. But I really do want this to be a cute solution and I'm afraid that hanging bed sheets will make it look.....silly? Shoddy? I don't know.

Then, I thought of curtains. But again, it's a big area and, unless I found the curtains on an insanely good sale, this would also be an expensive option. 

So, there's project number one to be figured out.

Project number two: I need a rolly chair. Because this is a big room and my things will be located in different places, I do want a chair on wheels. But office chairs are expensive. I looked at them today at Walmart and they were $59 and up. Not an option. I would like something comfortable, but also cute and cheap. Too much to ask? 

In short, no, I have not forgotten about my basement. But it's still a massive work in progress. Any volunteers?? 

The horror story that is my basement.

Earlier in the week, I told you all about how I cleaned and organized Avery's horrifically messy playroom.

What I didn't tell you is that there's an area in my house that is so messy, so disorganized, so panic-inducingly messy, that the playroom looks like something out of a magazine in comparison.

*sigh*  This is what I'll be tackling this weekend (and probably the next 5 consecutive weekends from now).....introducing, my basement.

Sweet Cheese and Crackers.  This is my basement y'all.  Once upon a time, it was full of packed boxes.  Stuff that wasn't immediately needed or didn't have a place in our new house went straight down to the basement to be unpacked later.  As the time has gone on that we've lived here, instead of slowly unpacking these boxes, we've just rifled through the boxes to find what we needed and left the mess sitting.  *double sigh*  I'm ashamed.  

And I'm sick of it.  I'm sick of having all this space that I could be using for organized storage, for a giant play area and, most importantly, as my area to craft.  So, from now until as long as it takes, my sole focus is going to be cleaning and organizing this madness.  To donate crap to Goodwill.  To pick stuff out for yard sales.  To organize what will stay.

For your further enjoyment, more pictures of the madness. 

Avery's toy and things she's outgrown.  Goal:  turn this corner of the basement into a downstairs playroom (temporary playroom, until we can finish this area).

Part of my craft room stuff.

More stuff from my craft room.

Even more craft room/office stuff.  Okay, this is just getting sad. 

Marty's poker table and the remains of a desk who's screws were lost in the move and now we can't put it together.  Lovely. 

Odds and ends crap that has no place.  Goal:  find a place.

Wish me luck.

The day has finally come.

I.  Did.  It.  My junk room no longer exists.  Instead, I have my office/crafting room back.  There are still a few organizational/storage projects that I'd like to do, but, for the most part, this room is d.o.n.e.  And I can breathe again.  I can actually walk through the room to get a pencil or pick out a dress for Sunday church instead of crawling over boxes and hangers and God knows what else.  I feel accomplished.  Organized.  Successful.  And....dare I say it?  Supermommy-ish.  Without further ado, pictures.

Before.  Yikes.

Do you see why I was having mental breakdowns??

Now.....the new, improved and clutter-free room!  *drumroll*

My new favorite piece of furniture.

The corner desk is AWESOME.  It fits so many things: binders, books, folders, file boxes.  If could spend all day, every day here, I would.  The red "baskets" you see are from Target.  They're actually made of a rubber material and are super flexible.  I bought three and am trying to find excuses to buy more.  I stored pieces of wood for painted signs and mailing supplies in these. 

Organized.  *sigh*  And don't worry...the canvases are getting a home soon.

I may have a slight storage tote addiction....

Are these pictures making you feel as good as they make me feel??  It's organized.  I can SEE things.  Better yet, I can see my floor (did you even notice I had white carpet in the before pictures?)!   It's okay....I had forgotten too.  If you're embarking on your own organizational quest, I recommend Target.  I could have spent Avery's inheritance on totes and labels and file boxes, but their storage and organizational options are endless.  And pretty stylish too.  {note the black chevron patterned boxes in the picture above and to the side....who wouldn't be happy when using that to store their junk??} 

My "Sheriff's Office" antique find :)))

I'm super proud of myself.  I set out to do something and I accomplished it.   I realize that my office isn't the Pinterest-worthy room I hoped for, but it's a million and ten times better than it was.  When I have more time, I'll work more on the design of the room and not simply just cleaning it up.  Until then, next on my list is cleaning up the outside of my house.  Before and after pictures will be included. Thanks for keeping me accountable and giving me a reason to improve my home and make it better for the three of us who live here.  I hope I've inspired some of you to do the same with your junk room.  It's not that bad, I promise.  And the results are wellllllll worth the work and time. 

There are no words.

Remember my post from a few weeks ago where I organized the master bedroom closet? And I promised you pictures of my disgustingly horrible office/craft room/junk room. *deep breath*(I'm just gonna throw this out there....I must realllllly love you guys if I'm about to show you the following pictures. That, or I have temporarily lost my mind).

Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh. I hear you now, because it's the same question I asked myself every single day: How did it ever get like this?? I wish I could say that I have no idea. But I do...and her name is Avery. You see, when Marty and I were just a little family of two, had a three bedroom home. One master bedroom and two bedrooms for us to have individually to store our junk. When we found out that our Avery was on the way, one room had to be cleared out and condensed into two. I love our little house, but I would KILL for more storage. My next home will have closets everywhere you look. We have the problem of too much stuff, not enough places to put it all. Hence, the disgusting room. Any time someone would come to visit our adorable newborn, things would be thrown in the office. I eventually quit painting (something I hope to be able to pick up again) and all of my painting supplies and canvases lay haphazardly around the room. My dresses and coats are in the office closet, some hung up, some laying in the floor or draped across the back of the chair. Boxes thrown in, Christmas wrapping paper lay in the floor, Marty's weight bench blocked much of the walking area in the room. It just continued to pile up, making the room worse and worse. I was beginning to worry that we'd be candidates for the hit TLC show "Hoarding: Buried Alive." Over the last two months, I attempted to tackle the overwhelming mess. I would walk in, move a few things around, become short of breath and panicky and have to walk out. My office was causing me to have a panic attack on a daily basis, literally. The funny thing is, as bad as the above pictures look, it got worse. You know how they say to get an area cleaned and organized, you have to make a bigger mess first? That happened. In my attempts to de-clutter, I made a bigger mess. It was an insurmountable project. The mess was so big, I didn't ever know where to start. So I hadn't.

Until this week. Dayna, my middle sister, is in the big kid world and has gone and bought herself a house. An adorable little house that came with this incredibly awesome corner desk. I love my little wicker desk because it has traveled with me from home to college to married/adulthood, but it's outgrown its usefulness. The desk at Dayna's house would be perfect. Best part? Dayna doesn't need it. It's too big and bulky for the room that she'll be using as her office. So we're trading off. She gets the wicker desk, I get the corner one. I was pumped. Until I thought about my office. Where is it going to go? How will we get it in? How will I get the office cleaned in time for it to go into the room? I doubt Dayna would be willing to wait the 6 months it would take me to completely clean the room the way I wanted it. This afternoon, I got a few wonderful hours to myself at home....and I did it. I tackled the junk room. But not in the way I thought I would. Instead of cleaning the room piece by piece, which would probably take DAYS (maybe even weeks) to do, I cleared the room out. I utilized every laundry basket, box and storage tote we own and piled up with stuff and took it out of the room. The room looks empty and amazing......but now the rest of my house doesn't.

Excuse me, I need to go have an anxiety attack right now.

I'm back. Holy crap. What have I done?!?! If you don't want to by my friend anymore, I totally understand. *inhale* *exhale* I know this is the most effective way for me to get my craft room back to its former glory. If I am able to control the items that go back into the room and put it back in a clutter-free and completely organized way, I know that it's going to be a million times better than just making all of the mess I had fit the room. This way, I'll be able to go through each box and bag and label each piece: keep, toss, donate, yard sale. Less will be going in, more will be going out, and I'll FINALLY be able to breathe (and hopefully paint!) again. I posted these pictures in the hopes that, by putting them out there for everyone to see, I will be held accountable to clean the room and make it awesome again. If you would, my faithful blog followers (are there really any of you out there???) gently remind me every once in a while or inquire about the status of this room. That way, I know I'll have to get it clean--at least for the sake of another blog post. If you'll excuse me, I have to go breathe into a brown paper bag now.

One room down, five more to go...

I am happy to announce that Phase One of declutter and organize my house is complete! The first task on my quest to organizational perfection was to attack (I mean that literally) our shared office/my art room. After browsing online and finding picture after picture of one perfectly organized office and craft room after another, I set it in my mind that I could do the same. I could make our office organized, pretty to look at and functional at the same time. When I set out to tackle this room, I never realized the amount of STUFF Marty and I had gathered over a year of marriage. Rolls of wrapping paper, acrylic paint bottles, a mountainous pile of Bluegrass Cellular pens and an endless supply of paper was the clutter that was taking over my life. There HAS to be a way to keep all the junk you need (and I was surprised how much of it we do need and couldn't just simply be thrown away) but keep it organized. With this in mind, my journey began. Target became my best friend. I picked up black media boxes, magazine holders and hanging file organizers for $3 apiece. I found a scrapbook storage box on sale for $2 thanks to a little nick in the side. Anything that looked halfway fashionable but could also double as storage and was cheap, I picked it up. I went through piles of old paperwork, magazines, newspaper clippings...wondering when I picked up the label of "packrat." Now that our stuff was organized, it was time to *gulp* paint. When we were in the process of buying our house, the builders had already painted most of the rooms when we entered the scene. They asked if I was okay with the color, and being the people-pleaser, conflict-avoider I am, I said it was just fine. And it is. It's a beautiful neutral shade of yellowish-tan that goes with almost everything in our house. Problem is, it's ALL over the house. When we started to move things out of the office, I saw the opportunity for color. A trip to Lowe's was planned. I practically skipped to the paint section, imagining all the possibilities. I drooled over Coral Passion, I fell in love with Tantalizing Teal and fantasized about Limolicious. When the time came to make a color purchase, I realized one very important thing: I am scared of color. Sure, Coral Passion looks beautiful on a 2"x4" card, but how's it going to look covering 4 walls of my room? What if I hate it?? How do I know what color is going to look good and make the room appear bigger than what it really is? Reluctantly, I left the paint section uncommitted to any certain shade and more confused than ever before. I showed my favorite paint samples and took a poll of several people and realized that I just needed to go for it...or in the words of my sister "Go big or go home." Yes, I may hate the color, but repainting the walls is an option (not one I would look forward to, but still an option). And if I don't take a risk, how will I ever know if it would have paid off? To Lowe's I returned. Two coats of Laguna Green later, I'm ecstatic. The black and white furniture looks AMAZING against the turquoise-y color and I couldn't be happier. Phase One is complete. :)