The Basement

Today I wanted to share the final room in our home-our basement.  When we moved in, the space was completely unfinished.  With the help of our neighbor, Cody finished the room off in order to make a little more living space.  We had some trouble picking out the color for the basement, but eventually we settled on Benjamin Moore Simply White, which is the same color we have in our master.  It's amazing how much creamier it looks down here with the lack of natural light, but we like that it still feels warm despite having white walls.  Through the years, we have done a lot of rearranging of our house in order to make room for extra people/stuff/hobbies.  The basement started to become a catch-all, and at one point was a guest room/craft room/family room/workout room/office/toy room/storage room.  Obviously it didn't all fit, so we decided we really need to pare down our stuff and figure out what was really needed.  We also wanted to add a space for the girls to store their toys since we don't have a lot of space for toys in the rest of our home.  I like having my craft table to keep all my stuff organized and Cody needs a desk for work.  Everything else had to go.  Once we painted the walls and eliminated the clutter, the room suddenly became so much more bright and inviting.  The girls love playing down here and head down on their own whenever they can.

We bought Cody's office desk off Craigslist for $20.  I switched out the hardware and fixed up a few spots that were damaged, but we love the filing drawers and it ended up being a really great find.  This little nook would otherwise be unused, so it is a perfect spot for his desk.  Unfortunately it is the first thing you see when you walk down the stairs and isn't always this organized!

When I first started decorating down here, I had a large gallery wall filling the staircase.  I took it all down to paint and Cody suggested not putting it back up, haha.  He was right though and I like how much more simple it is now.

The clock was something Cody and I made together back when we had time for that sort of thing. 

My favorite part of the basement is the play area.  I used some of the decor from Evelyn's old bedroom to cheer it up a bit.  Now that I look at this photo, I feel like this post should be sponsored by Ikea.  What can I say, they have great stuff for organization.

I don't think I ever wrote a post about my craft desk, which is so unlike me.  It was an easy project we did years ago that involved some cheap bookshelves and a desktop from...Ikea.  It houses my sewing machine, Silhouette cutting machine, fabric, cardstock, and other craft supplies.  Even though it takes up a lot of space, I just couldn't part with it when we were clearing out the basement.  Evelyn loves to climb up on the stool and color where Hazel can't reach her now, so I'm glad I kept it around.

If we have toys that can't fit in any of my many baskets around the house, then I know it is time to purge.  I really try to pare down our toys often, as I find the girls enjoy their toys much more when they aren't overwhelmed with options.  The toys aren't always picked up and perfectly organized, but when we do clean up, every toy has a home.

It has been over six years since we moved into our home and for the first time, I feel I can finally say every room is finished.  It isn't perfect, but I love how each room has progressed over the years to meet the needs of our growing family.  If you would like to see the rest of our home, head over here.  We love this little farmhouse with all of our hearts and feel so lucky to call it home.