Project Home: Unfinished Basement Upgrade

One of my big projects on my maternity leave was to make our unfinished basement a nicer place to be without breaking the bank.  The ceiling is very low and it would be too costly at this stage to do a total finish down there, but it had the potential to be a nicer place for laundry, which I am doing A LOT more of and also a place space for kiddos.  One thing in old houses is you don't find the huge bonus or great rooms that you find in new homes.  We wanted to be sure we could find a space that Jake could get a little crazy during those rainy months.  It is also a great place for art projects, riding a tricycle or having some of those toys that we wouldn't want in other spots in the house.  The pictures (both before and after) aren't the best, lighting isn't great down there, that will have to be a future project.  

Take a look at the changes and some of the details that make this a much more inviting space, before on the top, after on the bottom!

 

We have to use the basement for storage still, but Brian had a great idea of hiding some of that big stuff under the stairs and then using curtains to cover the view.  So I went through everything, threw stuff out, donated and used my label maker when possible to organize boxes.  We got all of our big items under the stairs; snowboards, golf clubs (mine), patio furniture, luggage, etc...  The stairs didn't have backs on them so Brian put those in.  We still have to paint. Brian's Mom hemmed ikea curtains for us and 3 panels did the job!

There was a method to the madness in how things were stored before, it just didn't look that good, now things are cleaned up and we have started adding some kiddo touches.  A friendly giraffe from Grandma and Grandpa, a banner from my cousin at my baby shower, my old dollhouse, a beverage fridge and of course the kegerator (for the parents of course.)

This is looking the other direction.  There is a little storage room through the door where I keep some crafting stuff, gift wrapping things and back-ups of household items.  I got two quote posters off of etsy at this shop.

I also got the alphabet cards on etsy at this shop. I love their stuff.  I have the number cards hanging in Jake's nursery.  

The quotes read: 

"Love lives here"

and 

"Whatever you are, be a good one"

I got the black checked rug at Ikea and the pub table is Brian's from his bachelor days.  The poster on the far right is from printstagram and it is about 50 instagrams of Jake from his first few months.  It will be fun to show him someday too. 

The laundry area was a big priority since I find myself there more often than I used to.  I thought grays and black and white would be fun down here.  I got the rug at ikea and the ironing board cover at target.  The laundry sorter is also Ikea and the window curtain is actually the cut off hem from the curtains we used under the stairs.  Since I don't sew I used iron on fabric tape to make a hem...quite proud of myself on that one.  The letters were an idea off of Etsy and my Dad spray painted wood letters from Michael's silver for me.  They are lightweight so are just held up with poster tape. Everything is organized on a shelf also from Ikea.  

The whole project cost about $450 dollars and will be a fun place to do projects and my daily laundry!