Old Electrical Box w/ Sam's Guitar

I have been trying to break up the long tasks of making the basement usable by starting to bring in some of the fun accessories for the space. My favorite right now is our old electrical box, now used to hold extra guitar strings and picks. This OLD electical box was actually in use when we bought the house! It connected our ancient oil boiler to the more up to date electrical. Since we replaced the boiler 6 years ago it has been sitting in a box, waiting to be used (after our plumber briefly freaked out and threw it in the garbage). I was really excited to see that it perfectly fits a couple packs of strings and guitar picks.

Blue Beadboard Door to the Backyard

I also painted the old beadboard door to the backyard over the weekend. I am not loving the color, I think I am going to repaint it darker, but I do like that it provides some color to the space. I am leaning towards a dark moody blue-gray. I don’t want it to look too much like I am matching the carpet, so I think I will have to get some more paint chips and see what I can come up with. Also in the works is a new handle for the door. We already have a vintage bell (in the middle of the door) and some old school gate hinges. Now that the door is painted the old wood handle feels a little out of place. I am thinking of something like this or this:

Handle 1: 13" Twist & Clover Leaf Handle, $16.79

Handle 2: 11" Top Knobs Normandy Collection, $10.79

Ironing Board & Garbage Bin

Ironing Board Fabric & Garbage Bin

I haven’t painted the pegboard in the workroom yet either, but I thought I would show you the pretty ironing board cover  that will go on the pegboard that faces towards the laundry area. I also picked up the cutest garbage bin (Knodd Bin) at Ikea yesterday. Anything that will inspire me to do laundry is a good thing!

Basement Window in Progress

I have started to work on a vignette for the basement window (the one that you see as you come down the stairs). I have had these old glass vessels for years (ever since I took them out of a dumpster when I worked in the city next to a certain retailer). It is funny that I had always planned on making them into terrariums, and now I have waited long enough it is really popular so it will be pretty easy to get supplies. I am thinking possibly a violet and fern (things that like low light). I think a trip to Terrain may be in order!

Pantry & Wine Storage Area

I have been doing some research and looking at my options for the pantry and wine storage area in the basement, since the space is now screaming at me every time I pass it. I need a mix of closed storage for my miscellaneous pantry items and wine storage that can be open or closed. I was looking at the Ikea hackers website  when I discovered that Ikea in fact makes a  metal wine rack for its Besta line. I like the Besta line, which is a modular storage for the living room. The nice thing is that they offer the wall shelves with a metal cleat that attaches to the wall (very similar to their kitchen cabinets). The difference is that the Besta are 15 3/4″ deep instead of 12 3/4″ for the kitchen cabinets. The system comes in some suitable sizes but I am not sure if they are quite as sturdy as the kitchen cabinets (which has me a little worried especially if I fill them up with wine). I used Ikea’s Besta Builder and Kitchen Builder to get a general idea of my options. One of the benefits to the Besta is that with the deeper box you could close the cabinet doors even if it was full of wine. The kitchen cabinets would have to be left open without doors since the wine bottles are about 12-14″ long.

Option 1: Besta w/ White Glass Doors

Option 1: I‘ve used the Besta for the 4 upper cabinets, plus a 5th cabinet that would sit on the counter and then a Besta shelf with legs that would sit on the floor. This would leave a gap above it and below the counter and I would loose the back 9″ behind it since it is only 15″ deep. I am also liking the dark brown/black boxes with the white door.

Option 2: Besta with Red Glossy Doors

Option 2: Similar layout to Option 1 but with open shelves for wine storage and bright red shiny doors. I am thinking if I went this route I might use white boxes instead. hmmm…

Option 3: Using Ikea Kitchen Cabinets

Option 3: This is using Ikea kitchen cabinets. The three upper cabinets to the left would be open (without doors). The lower 3 cabinets represent the safe, the fridge & the freezer. This would work although I would end up with white boxes and I’m not sure which door I would use since they discontinued my favorite door.

Sketch Elevation in AutoCAD

I also put the elevation and plan into autocad to check some dimensions. Now that I have double checked the measurements I can pick a fridge and freezer (which I have been reluctant to do until now). It also shows me that I’ve got to deal with the gap above the cabinets. This section of wall has plywood instead of the horizontal beadboard, so I don’t think it will look nice if I keep it exposed. Depending on the color of the upper cabinets maybe I will paint it to match. hmmm…so much to decide.

Our Little Man, Rocking Out in the Mancave

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! We managed to get some work done in the basement and find time to hang out outside. : )

Two weekends ago we took a break from some of the more boring basement tasks and hung up the guitars on the wall. Is it really a mancave? More of a boy cave? Mr. S. has been waiting patiently for the last 11 3/4 years to find a space for his guitar, bass and amp. Well we finally have the perfect spot! The boys had been rocking out up in the dining room/study area, but it was really too tight and not suited for an amp. So now they can REALLY rock out down here. Sam and Maisie have also formed a band called the ‘Weirdo Fish’. There are a couple of song in the works but no record deal yet. Maisie has been joining in on drums on occasion (which are a set of old stools). There is already talk of a drum set. There is still much to do in the space, but fortunately the kids are happy.

Mechanical Closet Door: Maybe chalkboard paint?

This door is opposite the guitar wall. I was planning on finishing it off with beadboard, similar to the back door. But while I was down there this weekend I was thinking that maybe I would use chalkboard paint instead. I thought it could be a good place for the kids to draw and work on their song list.

Workroom w/Drywall

Workroom w/ Painted Walls

Workroom w/ Shelves

This past weekend we rolled up our sleeves and got to work on some of the outstanding projects left. We primed and painted the Workroom, moved the shelves and built a workbench.

I think this is the most boring color I have ever chosen! We went with the same warm off-white that we used as a whitewash for the beadboard walls.  I considered lots of colors, but in the end it is a dark basement room, that we will be using for lots of projects, so I thought I would keep it neutral. I am still planning on painting the pegboard a fun color as an accent. I am also considering painting the center of the concrete floor, to give it a little more contrast and even out the very rough look (old paint mixed with old adhesive). Please excuse the messy state of the room. Believe it or not a lot of stuff is in the right general spot, but it needs lots of tweaking (never mind making it pretty)!

New Workbench

We also managed to make and install a new workbench for the bay area. We have had the kit for a couple of years, but never got around to putting it together. It is by 2×4 Basics and it consists of the heavy duty plastic legs and screws, then you buy the 2x4s and plywood to make the bench to whatever size you need. Given the final size we needed, we only used 2-2x4s, 2 2x3s, 1 piece of plywood and an old hollow core door cut down to size. It has space for a shelf in the middle but we decided against it, to give us room for larger storage. It went together in under an hour, once we had all the parts, although it is definitely a 2 person job (to help hold everything together as you screw). I would definitely recommend it! It is super sturdy and quite affordable!

Future Counter & Pantry Area

A good chunk of our basement work has involved moving stuff from one corner to another, to make way for all of the work. Now that most of the walls are complete, we can finally begin putting things in the right space! We are far from done with prettying the space up, but it is big step forward to actually put most of the stuff in the right general vicinity, which means that we finally managed to clear out the pantry area. There will be a wood counter in this area with an under counter fridge and freezer. In addition there should be space for a small cabinet or roll out for extra pantry storage. I have been waiting to buy the fridge and freezer until after we had space, so I am excited about filling out this space!

Winecork Backsplash via Pinterest

Bottlecap Backsplash via Pinterest

I haven’t decided on a backsplash yet. I am considering wine corks or bottlecaps (or maybe both).  Definitely something fun! We decided to use our old upper cabinets in the workroom, so I need to also decide on what we want to do with upper storage. I could do open shelves, but I am a little worried about dust collecting. I also have to contend with the pipes in the ceiling. I would also like to have a fair amount of wine storage above. I’ve been looking at old wooden crates as well.

What do you think?