Down Under

 

I finally got around to painting the patches on the  basement wall, where we had had a water leak from the now replaced sliding door in the dining room above it.  It has only taken me the better part of a year to get around to painting over the repair.  

Since the walls have now been repainted and the kids have all gone away for the summer, I took the opportunity to deep-clean the basement, wiping down baseboards, washing the floor, vacuuming under everything etc.  And then of course since it looked so nice I thought I would take you on a tour. 

We had the basement finished three summers ago and have thoroughly enjoyed having the extra space.  The first thing we did, prior to having the basement finished, was have a larger hole cut in the foundation and a window about twice as big as the previous one installed.  It has made a huge difference in the amount of light coming into the room.  The sunlight pours in until about noon time, and since this is the only window in the family room, it was well worth the money.

We let Kate have a big say in decorating this room and she wanted something younger and more modern feeling.  She chose the turquoise colour for the walls and then we went to IKEA and bought orange accents in the area rug, runner, and the wall decorations (more about that later).  We only painted the walls in the TV area turquoise so it wouldn't be too overwhelming for a basement room. 

When you go downstairs and turn to the left there was a small area that I had the builder make a recess and hubby built shelves to hold the DVDs.  We have a rather large collection and they no longer fit neatly on the shelves, but at least they are relatively contained.  The painting on the cabinet was done by my grandmother at our cottage.

Then looking right from the bottom of the stairs, you can see the family room past the piano and the foosball table. 

 The foosball table was given to us by good friends of ours when they downsized and gets a lot of use whenever the kids have friends over.  We just happened to have the right size area for it between the piano and the laundry room.

We didn't have the sofa at the time we finished the basement, but my parents gave it to us last year when they were changing things around at their house.  Fortunately it works with the colours we already had used and is fantastically comfortable.

I made the wall art using a very inexpensive duvet cover from IKEA (something like $20), which I cut into squares and stapled to art canvases.

The TV is sitting on a radio-record player console that my uncle bought in the 1960s.   The TV and DVD player fit perfectly on top and it helps add that mid-century modern touch.  Argh - all I see in that photo are all the wires hanging out below - what do you do with all the wires?

I added a little giraffe that my grandmother brought back from Zambia when she taught there in the 1970s.  I love the contrast of the rustic giraffe outline against the turquoise wall.

Kate and I went to a Pier 1 outlet store and found this unusual table with four cushions that you store underneath it.  It often gets pulled apart so everyone can sit around the table and sip their tea or play cards.

And looking back toward the piano and foosball table.  The door behind the sofa leads to William's bedroom, which hubby and I built about 7 years ago.  We had never built anything before but just bought a book and built his room.  It was a ton of work but we were very proud of ourselves.  We would have built more of the family room part of the basement but we needed it done quickly, so we had to hire someone to do it for us.

We hung a series of three black-and-white photos of New York City from the 1950s over the piano. 

Yep books and more books, always more books.  Our movers told us they had never moved so many books before and it is sometimes a challenge to fit them all onto shelves.

That about wraps up the basement tour.  Behind the four closed doors are William's bedroom, a furnace/storage room, a storage room, and the laundry room (which you can see pictures of here, along with some shots of how the basement looked before it was finished - yikes).  

How about a game of foosball before you go? 

My Frugal Cottage Laundry Room

When we had a family room built in our basement, a few years ago, the laundry area was walled-in but not finished.  That left the back of the new walls exposed - studs and back of drywall - and the existing basement exterior walls, which consisted of plastic-covered pink insulation, a cement floor, and an exposed ceiling.  Not very inspiring, to say the least.

(I could only find photos from prior to the basement renovation, but you can see the yucky floor and pink insulation that was still visible in the laundry room even after the family room was complete)

Funds were low after the basement work, so I plotted and planned how to makeover this space using next-to-no money.   I love the colour red, but it just didn't seem to work anywhere else in the house, so I decided the laundry room would be a rustic cottage room in white and red.

Here's how I dealt with each area:
  
Ceiling: I figured that I don't look up when I do laundry, so the ceiling could remain unfinished.  Hubby added a light - a real up-grade from the bare lightbulb ghetto look.

Floor:  The previous owners of our house had painted the cement floor with the wrong kind of paint, so it was a peeling, unsightly mess.  I thought it would be too much trouble to remove that paint and paint it again, and there was no way I was going to actually finish the floor properly because then we would have to move the machines.  So I took the lazy (but clever!) way out.  I bought dollar store woven grass beach mats and covered the floor with them and then put a red IKEA floor runner on top.

Walls:  I painted the back of the drywall and the exposed studs white, so it has that cottage look I was going for.  I only used primer and I am, frankly, quite happy with the clean white look.  The exposed pink insulation was much more of a problem.  I had some huge old painter's drop-cloths that I decided would do the job.  It wasn't easy to measure around the pipes and window etc and it was even more difficult to secure the drop-cloth to the wall.  I should warn any pro-home builders to go and read other blogs right now or at least skip the rest of this paragraph while I describe how I attached the drop-cloth to the wall.   I managed to fit the cloth behind some of the pipes, and the pipes do the bulk of the work in holding the drop-cloth in place.  I then used some straight pins and double-sided tape and they do the rest.  It isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it has been in place for well over a year now and still holding strong.  I had to make the wall purty, so I spent some time at the local thrift stores in search of wall decor.  What I finally found was a vintage tablecloth with just the right feel, and the colour red.  So home it came and I pinned it in place.

Covering the very bad, very ugly, no good areas of the laundry room:  Two main areas fit this description, the sink and a storage area under the stairs.  I was very fortunate to find two tablecloths with the same pattern, in two different thrift stores - and in a lovely cottage red and white check, no less.  I used double-sided velcro tape to secure them in place and they are holding strong.  They don't get moved much as there is another access to the storage area and nothing is under the sink.  I also painted a board and lay it on top of the sink.  It is a good spot to dry clothes.

Pretty Touches:  I added some metal buckets from the dollar store to put the dryer sheets and stain removal stuff in.  Of course I got them in red.  I also had a tin with a red lid that I put the laundry detergent in.  Hubby installed a shelf for the laundry detergent so it is near the washing machine.  I also added a laundry basket for dirty clothes and a red dollar store bag to put lost socks in.

We all want to know the bottom line on projects, so here it is (although approximate as I did this over a year ago and I can't remember exact amounts):

COST:
paint: already owned
dropcloth: already owned
tablecloth on wall: $8
2 check tablecloths: $12 ($6 each)
velcor tape and pins: $5
board on sink: scrap wood
beach mats: $3
red rug: $30
ceiling light: $6
shelf and brackets: $10
bag for lost socks: free (gift from sister-in-law)
red buckets: $3
TOTAL: $77

There you go - a fresh cottage laundry room for $77.  How about you - have you ever made-over a room with more muscle power than money?

This post linked to Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous

Metamorphis Monday at Between Naps On The Porch
Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick