Monday, January 16, 2012

Comfortably Hideous: A Tour

I've always thought our basement was ugly. It was certainly not a mark in favor of purchasing this particular house, though it wasn't quite ugly enough to outweigh all the good things about the house.

Our big project of last week was cleaning out and rearranging the basement in preparation for a new semi-long-term house guest who will be living there for a few months. I must say, the new organization has served to spruce up the place a bit...but I still think it's ugly.

Perhaps you'd like to judge for yourself?

The stairs themselves aren't so bad.


At the bottom of the stairs and to the left is the utility room. I don't really expect this to be pretty, and for sure, it isn't.




To the right of the stairs is the guest bedroom/my craft and writing room. This is where I go when I have moments of free time away from the kids. I thoroughly enjoy this room. Or at least what I can do in this room.



Straight ahead at the bottom of the stairs is this bookcase. Side note, I own all of the Work and the Glory books except volume 7.


To the right again is the laundry room. Currently, we've moved some portion of our food storage into there.



And back out of the laundry room...Hello brown linoleum and wood paneling.


Dining room. I guess. When we're not using this as an apartment, this space is fairly useless.


Basement bathroom.


Nothing amazing, though it does contain this cupboard that is quite annoyingly deep. Not helpful to a short person. I can't actually reach the back.


The second kitchen. These cupboards were originally upstairs. The man who built our house was an accomplish carpenter and built three sets of cabinets for this house through the years. He also did a lot of the finish work in the chapel where our ward meets.



Last but not least, the puzzle room. At least, that's what it was. Back when we kept working on the puzzle. Someday we'll finish it. Hopefully.



Ugh. I hate the wood paneling. Whenever we have the time and the money for remodeling, that'll be the first thing to go.


I'm sure there are uglier basements out there, but this one very much meets my standards of hideous. Even if we do arrange the furniture nicely.

8 comments:

Erin said...

what it lacks in beauty, it makes up for in organized and clean! The house I grew up in had wood paneling... I hated it!

Tannie Datwyler said...

I like this post. :) That's all...

Lisa said...

You could always paint the wood paneling mustard yellow like previos owners of our house did:)

Brenda said...

Wow, that is truly a transformation! So does that mean you are calling the room at the bottom of the stairs the craft room instead of Brenda's room? I'm sad to see it go! You've done a great job using your space though.

Liz, Karl, Madison, Brooklyn, Aubrey and Zachary said...

So who gets to move in with you? You did do a great job at organizing that place... even if it's not the prettiest of basements. :)

Molly said...

If I had paneling....I would paint it white! like...Layla at the Lettered Cottage. Sigh. But I like that coastal look. :) I think its awesome you have a basement apartment! Peter is living with us, which means...Nix and Claire are sharing a room, and Max is in our room. I'm sick of sharing my room with anyone but Steven. :) Love you!

Michael said...

Our place has wood paneling that has been painted over with white... and if I had the choice I would take the paneling over the white. Someday I hope to live in a cabin Laura and you will just need to say nice things if you come and visit ;)

Ruby in the Rough said...

I hate wood paneling too!

That countertop in the bathroom is a treasure, though. I hope you keep it!