From Gruesome to Gorgeous - my basement

Let me begin with a story. When we bought this house, one of the things we had great plans for was the "partially finished" basement. The previous owners had panelled it, built in a pantry, had a small non-working halfbath down there....we saw possibilities. After some investigating, though, we figured out that creating a true "finished basement" would be too expensive for us. So we had EVERYTHING torn out - including the absolutely nasty half-bath - and waterproofed it, added a bit of functionality, and decided to leave good enough alone.

Ha.

Not me.

I just altered my dreams a bit....

So here is a photographic record of approximately the same angle in our house. (Beware, some of this is just plain nasty.)

1 - the basement as we found it, looking toward the stairs. The pantry is on the left of the picture, at the foot of the stairs, and the door visible on the right divides the "living space" from the washer, dryer and furnace.

2 - the stairs after the panelling was removed. Gross!

3- waterproofed and painted. Pretty! And light! And with cabinets (on the left) that actually work and don't look like a place to stuff naughty children! Oh, and the door to the laundry area (right) is now a vinyl accordion door.

4 - crafty bliss! This was what my dad and I did over the weekend. The "L-shape" I had envisioned wouldn't work because the counter piece he brought was HUGE...but I like this just as well. It is VERY securely anchored to the wall, and my old bookcase (plus a bit of shim, since our basement floor is far from level) makes a lovely and functional endpiece. The cabinets are nothing fancy, just Closetmaid put-together pieces, but they are the perfect size at 15" wide by 24" tall. Dad also added the outlet and powerstrip, and put it all on its own circuit. After he left, I added the corkboard panels, the dowel to hold my ribbon spools, and my piece de resistance, the under-cabinet CD player. hehehehe Oh, and the space heater because it is still, after all, an uninsulated basement.

So if you're ever at my house and can't find me, check the basement! Most of my craft stash will be migrating down there soon....but the file drawers with patterns and cross stitch fabric will probably stay upstairs, just to avoid any possible moisture problems in the basement.