Yes I know, cliche but SO true! What a difference paint can make!
The basement of our house is multifunctional. Part of it is Chef Kev’s media room (or “man cave” as some may say… but not me, because that term kind of annoys me) and the other part is a one bedroom (currently vacant) income suite. And ALL of it was UGLY.
For reals. Industrial blue/grey carpet, painted brown trim and doors (nope, not wood but deliberately painted milk chocolate brown trim and doors). And yes, it was oil based. And the cherry on top? Well, not a cherry but rather mustard. Yes, mustard yellow walls to go with the blue carpet and milk chocolate trim and doors.
Yum.
It was all kinds of special. The top two floors of our house had been nicely updated by past owners but heading down the basement was like entering a different dimension. We are going to renovate the basement down the road and will update the carpet at that time so for now it stays. However, milk chocolate had to become white chocolate and mustard had to become grey. It was an order (by me).
But enough about that… you want before and afters right? I’ll share the space leading down to Chef Kev’s non-man-cave but save the suite paint for another post.
Oh, and due to the MONSTROSITY of this job (four coats on all the trim and doors anyone?), we hired it out. Thank goodness for Uncles who paint #unclechrisforthewin! #andhisfriendmike
Opening the door to head to the basement used to look like this (not too ugly yet but just you wait)…
(See, the real ugly is starting).
But now it looks like this:
And now…
We still have a ton to do in here (details in this post) but it’s starting to take shape!
Before:
Oh, notice the brown venetian shades too? Evvverywherrrre down here…. But gone now… We have some white ones that are going to be installed this weekend.
The other side of the room before:
And now:
And one more thing to note, looking towards the hall before you will see we had three doors in about 6 square feet (the one you can’t see is the one I showed earlier which leads to the hall between our side and the suite). THREE. Weird.
So, now we have one (the one you can’t see from this angle but I promise it’s there). Because, ain’t nobody got time for three doors!
So, here we are! Still a lot to do but SO much fresher and brighter. And the carpet doesn’t even look half bad now since it’s paired with colours that MAKE SENSE! Sorry, to yell, just passionate that milk chocolate and mustard never ever need to meet again.
Progress!
Last month I left you with our progress on the double desk in our office/bonus room. At that point it was looking like this:
The desk was complete but in need of stain (if you are new to this blog you may wish to catch up on the vision for this space here).
Well, wait no more. Ta da!
Stained!
We went with a nice rich brown that was deep, but not too dark. Here is how we did it…
First, I taped around the wood desk top along the walls and cabinets. The desk is fixed to the wall so I could not pull it out.
Then, I gave the desk a thorough light sanding (220 grit sandpaper) and followed that with a tack cloth to pick up all the dust.
Next, I did a coat of wood conditioner. Wood conditioner is great for prepping your surface to receive the stain uniformly. I used Miniwax Water based Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. I chose the water based product because it has less fumes and clean up is easier.
I applied the wood conditioner with a brush and used a rag to rub it in and pick up the excess conditioner. After it dried I did another light sand and followed again with a tack cloth.
For the stain, I tested a water based stain (on a scrap piece of wood) but was not happy with the results. In the end I went with a oil based version as I liked the finished product better. I chose Varathane Ultimate Wood Stain in Chocolate.
To apply, I used a foam brush and applied quickly in sections. Then I followed with a rag to rub it in and pick up the excess stain. You can use a brush or rag to apply but I opted for a foam brush because I could just throw it away when done. I hate cleaning brushes after they have been used with an oil based product. Blech.
I only needed one coat of the stain, so once that was dry I applied my first coat of polyurethane. The poly protects the surface and helps seal in the stain.
For the poly, I went with Miniwax Oil-modified Polyurethane.
I’m sure most of us can sympathize recognize this…
So, I organized. Awhhh yeah! My favourite word (oh wait, there is “wine” and “coffee” in the dictionary too). Okay, so maybe my third favourite word. Anyway, now the pile-o-clutter looks like this.
Serenity.
To achieve this calmness, I first separated the stack-o-chaos into piles. The point of this was to see what categories I could lump them into.
I came up with:
1) “Reference” (for things like recycling schedules, Chace’s school notices etc)
2) “For Review” (notices about programs I may want to check out, forms I have to read still etc)
3) “Action Required” (forms I need to fill out such as book order forms, field trip forms etc) and
4) “Projects” (ALL the paperwork that comes home from Chace’s day – spelling, art, poems etc.).
A note about the “projects” folder: when that folder gets full I take the paperwork up to our office where it gets placed in a larger box. Once a year I go through the box and save the best pieces or my/Chace’s favourites. I recycle the rest (will he miss a piece of paper with an orange crayon line across it when he’s 20?). In the end I am left with one large manilla envelope for each year filled with all of the papers I’ve kept for that period.
The file compartments attach together easily by simply sliding in and latching together in the back.
I used these Martha Stewart adhesive metal bookplates to label my files, but from what I’ve heard they are hard to get now or discontinued. I don’t know why though because they are awesome! To print the words, I used my label maker (aka my third arm).
To attach the file system to the tile backsplash I simply propped it up and used a few 3M Command picture hanging strips to keep it in place.
Tucked in beside the fridge, I now have a tidy, clutter free system that helps keep me organized.
Do you have any tips and tricks for keeping clutter at bay? I’ve been using this system for awhile now and LOVE it.
They’d look like this! Get it? Frosty? Ho ho… oh.
I'm Elaine. A graphic designer, mommy, wife and blogger. I have trouble sitting still and am always looking for a project. Follow along as I post about life – in a pretty and creative way of course.
