Oh! You guys! It has been so exciting around the Boyhouse this week! Not just because I’m going to be rich, rich, rich from the class-action lawsuit for Nutella (not really). Not just because it’s raining so hard that I think soccer practice MAY be cancelled for tonight (I hope). Not just because of the fabulous visiting yoga teacher who helped me grab my own ankles in a backbend today (that was pretty cool). There are many, many other exciting things, not the least of which is that I am home alone in a silent house blogging with only my dog nudging me (he doesn’t realize that it is way too rainy for a walk. No wet dog smell, thanks!). But also: our basement is all done. Painted, reorganized, and I now have a storage room and shelves, so that my Costco purchases are not scattered in six different areas of the house. So come with me, on a tour!
First, here is our new upstairs couch:
Complete with dog, wondering why I’m taking pictures when I could be walking him in the pouring rain! This couch is shockingly big. All four of us can sit on this couch without touching or squashing one another. Did you know couches seem smaller in the showroom than they do in my little old living room? We got a matching chair too:
It’s HUGE. It’s my new BFF. I curled up on it and finished, finally, Anna Karenina. It was a slug, I will say. I liked the romance and all but wow – that was a whole lot of information on Russian politics and farming methodology from the 1800s.
So before I show you the new basement, I will show you the “before” pictures. Here is where the office was:
And here is the main area:
Another angle:
And here is the Wii/toy area:
And now for the “After” pictures:
I always have wanted a wall of books, and now I have one!
And here’s where the boys can play Wii and where our exercise equipment is:
Complete with sniffing dog!
And the office (i.e., computer and desk) has been moved into this living space so that when the kids are playing Wii and desperately want me to see them slay Stormtroopers/ win a Mario Kart race/ whatever, I can just look over.
Wow, that’s a lot of pictures. Well, I’m excited. It’s like I have a brand new house and I didn’t even have to move! Stay tuned for the next thrilling episode, wherein my dog does not do well with the change.
Your basement looks great! I’m glad to see I’m not the only cereal hoarder. That looks like a rather modest stockpile of cereal boxes, though – at last check I had 60 boxes in my house (stored in various pieces of furniture located in the mudroom, the stairs landing and – yes – the bathroom (many of those storage units having been purchased specifically for their ability to conceal large numbers of cereal boxes).
Bea! I thought of you as I went to Benjamin Moore and came out with handfuls of paint chips. WWBD, I wondered? What Would Bea Do? Blue. That’s what Bea would do (a little rhyme for you).
Re: the cereal. This does not include the 10 or so boxes I have in the kitchen, in various states of consumption. But even so, we are nowhere near 60. So I feel better about my hoarding. Hey, if there’s a flood, we can live on that cereal!
I think it looks fantastic!!
So jealous of your basement!!!
No basements around these parts and I miss having one!
Very nice!
Love the wall for the books.
I think I just had a storagegasm (storegasm?) looking at your shelving and new space. Am jealous. So lovely!
It’s gorgeous. I sort of want to tell you excitedly that my big old reading chair in my bedroom is the same print as the green and white-striped couch in your picture, but it seems to be gone, so I’m kind of afraid that you’ll then say “Oh, I hated that thing, we took it to the dump”. Anyway. Basement’s gorgeous.
We did get rid of the couch, but only because it’s 14 years old and it was just time. I still liked it, but it’s fabric and with all our allergies around here, I’m going for things that are dust-able.