Organizing Space

WARNING: Picture heavy!

Hi - back again, with the promised pictures of what is currently in progress in one of our basement rooms. But before I share the pictures, let me share that today is the birthday of one of our wonderful Bloggers, known to so many of us: Bonnie of Stamping with Klass. If you have a few minutes, do go over and enjoy some stunning cards by Miss Bonnie, and leave her some birthday love.

Now for the pics (don't laff too hard, it's still quite a mess.) This all started when I asked if DH could fix a table that is high enough for me to sit comfortably and have my Genesis cutter in a more comfortable location for me. Where it lives currently is just fine for an occasional trim, but there's stacks of 12x12 that need to be trimmed to fit in folders that will hang in a new filing cabinet that you'll see. I can't stand that long without my back getting angry with me - good excuse for procrastination, no? Anyway, there was a table top being used in the garage and he decided to buy some metal legs which would make the table high enough for a stool to enable me to sit. Methinks it may have been cheaper in the long run to just 'go buy something', but this occupied him with many trips to our local home improvement center, working with his drill, etc. And I got something workable from his idea. Here we go:

 

 

The metal legs made the table as high as the airbrush table to the left. The leg underneath the table will be added at the back to add more stability - which I don't think is necessary...but I'm not arguing with him. As you can see, there's still mess on the top and underneath. I'm thinking I'll set the sewing machine I occasionally use for card stitching on this table - as well as the Genesis cutter. There's precut holes in this thick top for electrical cords too. The white file cabinet to the right is one found at a thrift store, painted white, put on rollers so I can move it about easily. To the right of the cabinet is a bookcase which was already in the room, but lots of the books have been donated, and some seasonal MS punches are on the shelves.

 



Airbrush area to the right of new table -  with sprays, pan pastels, compressors, copic refills and the stool that can move from the air brush table to the cutting table as needed. Holding up this table top  are 2 very old bookcases scrounged from an estate sale up in New England. The top was another salvaged item.  Bookcases are handy for storing SU cases of stamps, some craft books, and other items which desperately need a sort through. The stacked pizza boxes are meant to contain overspray but usually I don't bother.

When I mention the small windows in our basement, here is one of them in this room. These are set in the walls at ground level, so don't allow much light into the room. The basement was constructed of 3 walls of thick solid pour concrete in molds, delivered on flatbed trucks and placed into a prepared trench with a large crane. Coming as we did from Florida, basements were unknown to us, but we've been pleased with this one. DH & a brother finished off the inside and made 2 big rooms, with a full bathroom too.

This view shows the door going into the 'tv room' and the light from the other basement window is reflected up at the top. There's a plastic hanging shoe bag on the door - stores fiskar punches, empty spray bottles and various other supplies that fit in the pockets. On the side walls are Recollection shelves from Michael's that were being discontinued, so got at sale prices. The same type of  Recollection file cabinet shown has some of DH's airbrush stuff, that needs going through and moved. More sprays and paints are kept in these wall shelves.

 

another view of the bookcase with punches, and the table where a lightbox lives (thanks to Cornelia for this super idea, which works great). The table was an island that initially resided in our kitchen upstairs. Got replaced as a kitchen item and found employment in the basement.

 





Better view showing the ott lights for the light box, and all the 'schtuff' on the island shelves. To the right is the very nice file cabinet we discovered when on a recent trip to the local Goodwill store. DH put castors on the bottom so that it can be moved easily. These drawers are going to house the paper supplies, once I can get them trimmed to folder size, assorted by color. Presently the stacks I had piled everywhere are placed inside some of the drawers, so that we didn't have to keep moving piles of paper as we changed things about.

 

 

Better view of the cabinet. The end table was for a bed that was previously here;  has a drawer in it. The tool box was a birthday gift years ago - just for me - and houses cutting plates, extra cutting platforms, etc. On top of the tool box is a dusty Cricut and the stickles holder. Next to this is a very rickety storage shelving unit - purchased for $10 years ago. Now I see them for $69 in places...totally overpriced. It is not sturdy at all, and needs to be propped between something else so that it doesn't tip. I'm glad we only paid $10 for it.  Stamp Scape stamps live in the drawers. An old crock & wicker basket hold rolls of Christmas paper that I had ideas for, which have not come to fruition yet. Also DH's hat rack is still on the wall. In the far corner not shown, is a cubby where he has ballcaps stored.

 

 

Going clockwise around the room from the last view, this is a short wall which is to the left of the basement bathroom.(didn't think that would be of any interest - but you can just see the door molding!)  Another nightstand with some drawers - and another Michaels Recollection shelf sale item. We got 5 of these - going to 3 different stores - when we found the sale. To the right of this view, is the entrance to our basement coming in from the garage, and all the magnets on the metal doors were collected on our travels. The small shelving rack was brought in from the garage and cleaned, will make excellent storage. Same with the white shelving in the foreground. This was another old bookcase from an estate sale, which had been in the garage. Now has large punches, flat EK punches.

 

The white bookcase was placed under a pegboard which had been put up to hold punches..something I saw on a blog. I wish DH had gotten the white pegboard, but he didn't, and I didn't ask him to take it back either!! We used curtain rods for the bars instead of the Ikea racks that I've seen used elsewhere. Works fine, and cheaper too. The hutch and shelving unit were purchased some years ago from a local stamp store that was closing...I think we paid $50 for the set. All the cd's that are in the top shelves are going to be loaded to flash drives - eventually! - and the cd's will be going by-bye..so more storage. The wall behind this area is the stairwell to our main floor.

To the right of the hutch, is another double unit similar to the rickety one...but this one is more sturdy. Has embossing powders, glitters, and the top has whatever didn't get put away. With the vacuum as a wonderful decoration to it all!!! Just haven't put it away yet, as we keep needing it each time we work on this project.

Hope I didn't bore you to death, but at least now when I talk about my basement stamp area, you know what part of it looks like. There's another same size room on the other side of the stairwell, that has our tv room - which has now become my stamp room, and it's in even a worse shape than this area! But one of these days...hopefully...

That's it. Hope you liked the tour and didn't fall asleep. If you've got any good suggestions, feel free to tell me! Hugs and Happy evening. Come again when you can. I'm off to do some visiting of some lovely bloggers.