Oh, the poor lowly basement

The basement has never looked like me the whole time we have lived in this house. It has basically been the place where all the left over stuff found a home, oh, and my myriad of must need items! I use it for my computer area, jewelry making, sewing, any art I might do, and JUNK! I also like to scrapbook and all that takes lots of space, and storage is always lacking. My hubby calls it "no mans land". Yes, I admit it can me a scary place at times when I am in the throws of a project (s).

Here it is in all it's before glory.

It has always had great potential, and guests have always seemed to love it down there. They have their own privacy of a bedroom, private bath and their own private family room with TV. Who would not like that....well I think they only liked it because it is private.


Finally we decided to do something about it and I have had a horrible time making up my mind on what I want to do. I used to never have this kind of a problem, but old age seems to make me different than I used to be. I think it is the lack of estrogen or something. I am the person most of my friends call to tell them what I thought and how to fix their own dilemmas..... what happened to that K. T. ? I have pondered this basement thing long and hard, I ask everyone who comes around what do you think? Totally not like me.....

I love it, rustic, but still did not seem quite right for our basement to me.

then I found this in a magazine......




.......and I went Gaga over it! It is perfect, it looks just like me! Gotta have it, then all of a sudden I said, no I can't do that in the basement with a low ceiling. I would be disappointed with it I think. It is much to grand for there........I will save that for the living room! Yes, the living room as soon as we get done with the basement, we will do that in the living room! The ceiling is 17 foot high up there and it will look perfect! Trust me it will!



So what did I finally decide?










I have finally made a decision how I want the fireplace to look. I know it isn't what most of you thought I was going to decide on, but it will look great! It is warm and inviting and will give that room a cozy and homey look I love. It looks like antique furniture and an old house, perfect!The basement has always had a cold and impersonal feeling to me and it needs some old looking character.



So hubby started in on the electrical work and getting all the task and mood lighting in the ceiling before we put the ceiling back in. He ran speaker wire also for the tv. He has done a great job and now we are ready for the big guns to come to work..........that is if we can find any big guns to work! It is amazing how hard it is to get any contractor worth their salt to come and work. They are all so busy and worked to death with new construction in this town they don't have time for remodels! Didn't they say there was a recession, you couldn't prove it here!





The other problem we are fixing are the large huge UGLY sliding doors. They are only handy when you need to move a very large piece of furniture into the basement. They are 16 feet long and the doors open a span of 8 feet wide when opened all the way. We don't need that so we are going with a wall of windows with a door. It will be just as much glass, but much more attractive and energy efficient.

This is what we are going to replace the sliders with. I can't wait!

The bedroom is going to get some help also. Here it is with all the furniture out so the tile guys could get the new tile laid. You can't tell much about it really, but you will get the idea.

We are going to take the door out you see here and put in a box window seat.



I think it will add character and also give us more sunlight. It has always been lovingly called the migraine room, because of the skinny window which makes it a little dark. At first I wanted to bust out the window and make it a huge box window and close up the door. I thought about that and decided since the outside wall is stone that was not practical at this point. That is another thing, why would they build the house with a window like that when you have a view and privacy like this?



We have a highly recommended carpenter coming to look at the job Thursday morning and keep your fingers crossed he wants and needs the job! I need this finished so I can get my stuff organized! I haven't been able to do anything creative for so long! I need my STUFF back! :)

So the story will continue...........(probably slowly)