Have you heard of the One Room Challenge?? It's the decorating sensation that's swept the Internet. Various design bloggers are chosen to make over one room in their house in a short amount of time with access to beautiful sponsored products. It's a huge deal. Well guess what?! My basement makeover is nothing like that.
So here's what happened. I had a mason jar, that mason jar needed to be put away so I went down to the basement to put it on my mason jar shelf. There was no room on the shelf so what you see in the above photo happened. If you don't understand how putting a mason jar away could lead to this kind of mayhem, I repeat - there was NO room on the mason jar shelf.
I'm sure you understand now.
Everything got pulled out, moved, screamed at and kicked until there was no coming back from it. So I went upstairs, made my dinner and pretended none of the previous hour had happened.
If a news crew showed up the neighbours would say, "No, nothing unusual, she mainly keeps to herself. I did see her fling a 6' tall gold sex doll out of her front door the other night. That seemed a bit odd."
They aren't sex dolls by the way. They're life sized gold mannequins which I use exactly once a year when I drag them up from the basement to put them on either side of my living room entrance on Oscar night.
As one does.
Every night for the past couple of weeks I've been going into my Alcatraz of a basement to sort things out. Anything I don't think is worth the space it takes up is brought up to the dining room. Which is now looking similar to my basement, yet somehow my basement doesn't look any better.
I put stuff away in the basement then a day later I'm moving it again, realizing there's a MUCH better spot for it just over here behind the 14 tubs of Halloween decorations.
This just goes on and on.
The whole project just about went sideways on me when I realized I didn't want to do this anymore. It's not horrible to undertake a project that you can see is progressing nicely. Or just progressing. My basement on the other hand just kept getting worse and worse.
I bought storage bins and the basement got worse. I bought parts organizers and the basement got worse. I built a shelf and the basement got worse. It was like when you try to trim your own bangs.
But I think last night I may have reached the peak of the shit storm and am now coming out on the other side.
Still covered in shit you understand, but at least the storm is tracking north.
That's an after photo you see above. It's not maybe recognizable as an after photo so I felt the need to point that out.
My workbench on the other hand looks GREAT.
Everything is organized on the pegboard with 2 new parts drawers lined up side by side. Everything is within easy reach. That was 24 hours ago.
This is it now. You see, I started to clean up the other side of the basement which led to this. I told you. One step forward, two steps back into a tourists-only Mexican Porta Potty.
I should have just thrown out the mason jar. We all know that would have been the most mental health friendly thing to do.
All I want is a basement that holds my very large supply of hobby materials and tools. And I want to be able to access them and put them away without the fear of someone finding me a month later surrounded by an avalanche of plastic pots and sex dolls. I mean mannequins.
Nope. It's not going to be beautiful or inspire you to Pin it or even want to copy it. In fact if you're especially sensitive to messy spaces it'll probably still require you take a pill and have a rest after looking at it. The walls are rubble, the floors are cement and the ceiling is made up of 10% wood, 10% hazardous looking electrical wires and 80% dead bugs. That's not going to change.
I am not in the One Room Challenge. I am One Room Challenged. And I've made peace with that. The only real problem is, I thought it was my living room that was the challenge.
What I'm Eating
I buy most of my meat from either my farmer friend Murray (Murray's Butcher Shoppe) or my local feed store because the owners have cattle. But once in a while if I'm at Costco I'll buy one of their tenderloin roasts and cut it into steaks at home.
Sometimes I buy the denuded roast (has all the guck and silver skin removed) and sometimes I buy the already trimmed ones.
Either way buying a whole roast (whether it's a strip loin, tenderloin or whatever .. it's a much cheaper way to eat steak than buying individual steaks.
If you missed it earlier this week, I've been growing mung bean sprouts. Last week I used them to make a quick dinner with rice, marinated tofu, sprouts and my homemade spicy peanut sauce.
If you have a store bought peanut sauce you like just use that!
I figured you'd want the spicy peanut sauce recipe.
I make a batch of these every few months and then just stick them in the freezer. To cook them you just fry them in a pan for a few minutes then steam them. Easy delicious dinner.
I FOUND AN APPLE IN MY CRISPER! Not just any apple, an apple from my tree. I thought I'd eaten all of my apples, but no. So I'm going to make an easy curried chicken salad with it this week. The jury is still out on whether I'll eat it on a lettuce leaf or two huge toasted hunks of bread, golden brown and dripping with butter. Actually - the jury has reached a verdict.
I hope the rest of your weekend is good. It's Sunday! Stay in your pajamas, make a roast and then come on over and help me clean out my basement.
→Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←
Mary W
Another post confirming my decision to read your 'stuff' even when I don't think I'm interested in the subject. I have no basement BUT I have a house that looks like a basement. That is why I escape by reading your posts.
Thera
I had my basement neat and organized, then "After Christmas" barfed all over it and it looks even worse than yours, so there is hope and I too thank you for keeping it real!
Karen
It cannot look worse than mine. It just can't. Can it?? If it can then I want to see pictures, lol. ~ karen!
Colleen D Cailes
I would love, love, love to take the butcher block off your hands. If you lived closer I would be firing up my old 1991 4Runner and making my way to your house right now to pick it up. My garage is just like your basement. Good thing I don't have a basement or it would look like that too. Keep the witty remarks coming.
Karen
The butcher block is staying, lol. Even though I don't use it upstairs anymore I absolutely love it. I wish there was a place for it in the main portion of my house but since redoing my foyer and kitchen there isn't anywhere for it. Isn't it beautiful?! ~ karen
Mary E
I think this is the root of the problem. You’re not getting rid of things you don’t use.
Karen
Just the butcher block. Every time I look at it it makes me happy. :) And I do use it as a potting table down there.
Roxanne
I truly do not have any room in my small cottage for my butcher block right now. But it is staying. In the past, though, I put my tv on it (no room in my old kitchen).
Dave in Peel
My people! I've found my people! I knew there were others out there like me.
In the last 3 years I've cleaned out 1) My aunt's house, which had previously been my grandparents, that had been accumulating treasures since they moved in in 1939. That basement was similar construction to yours. 2) My parent's house, accumulating stuff since 1971, but included things from their previous house, my other grandparents house and my father's gas station. Plus numerous sheds etc.
Now I look at mine, and I'm just too tired. In his last few years my father would look at it all and laughingly say "Well, it's all yours now". I'm thinking of practicing that line on my kids!
Karen
I literally have no idea how I got into this. I mean I know how I got into it (the mason jar) but I just SNAPPED! Every cupboard, drawer, and rafter is getting dealt with. It's got to be easier in someone else's house. You'll find the energy to do your one day. Maybe. If not, just lock the door to the basement and call it a day. ~ karen!
Chris
Your pictures and struggles are real...and I applaud you for that! Your wit is magical - but I have learned NOT to drink my coffee as I read - yep, you have caused a few messes in my lap...and I thank you for that! "Sex dolls and Porta-potties" I love, love, love how real you are! Thank you from the bottom of my messy basement to yours! I live vicariously through you - wishing I had the time and energy to "do stuff" as much as you do - you are inspiring!
Karen
Thanks Chris! Sorry 'bout your lap. ;) ~ karen!
Elizabeth Jackson
Keep the stuff. Just keep a fire extinguisher down there too.
I actually envy your basement, cool stuff and a space to work in.
Nancy
Hi!
First don’t listen to Sondra (you can keep everything, you might need it for something, someday). I spied two things in your basement that I have (somewhere) that acorn-looking metal mold thingy and the egg scale!
Just get some more bins and hide your stuff. If you want to masquerade as organized, put labels on them.
Sondra
Words of wisdom.....hon, you CAN NOT keep everything you've touched in this life! Not even people. Things change, come and go and come again....
I had a husband that was a finance guy in a suit that became a gentleman farmer/tinker/collector after he retired who accumulated two decades of THINGS that after he died I was given the "privilege" of going through and getting rid of. Take a deep breath, get some big boxes/ bags and figure out what needs to go to the trash and what the Goodwill will take and start to haul it away! Haven't used in a decade but still good? Gift it or sell it! Projects you never will do again or basically useless? Trash it! Projects that came and went? Goodwill it! You get the picture.
I've now been at it for 10 months so there's hope that you will see the floor again and maybe even the countertops, promise!! Just think of the thrill of having a cleaned out basement that you can start the process all over again with NEW objects or chasing down the next project to bring home and start the accumulation of STUFF all over again, LOL!
Suzanne G.
Our basement looks like yours. I even bought the book The Home Edit AND Marie Kondo’s book. Made it through the mail that was breeding on the counter (it’s breeding again, unfortunately), but can’t seem to bring myself to the basement yet. The problem? I know where everything is. So, even though it gives me anxiety every time I go down there and looks like, as my dad would say, “The dog’s breakfast,” I am paralyzed and can’t seem to do anything. (In all fairness, I think the dog’s breakfast is more organized....all same-sized similar items corralled neatly in a stainless steel bowl...) if you want help, let me know. I would be happy to help you...I’m actually good organizing other people’s stuff.
Oh, and thanks for the post...you can’t believe how much i appreciate the ‘real’ pics, as opposed to perfect instagram or Pinterest shots. Shows you’re just like the rest of us.
Karen
Oh! Thanks, that's good to know. These Sunday posts are always just pictures from my iPhone that I've taken during the week. Even if I'd tried to get a great photo of the basement it never would have happened though, lol. No photographer in the world could make that basement look attractive in any way. ~ karen!
Gail
I chuckled all the way through your telling of the storm. Thanks for starting my day this way
chris
me too!
Karen
Me and my messes are always happy to start your day off right! ~ karen!
Jane
I'm working on my attic. Bags and bags to Value Village and Mission Thrift Store. I have a corner clean to put away the Christmas stuff but there's still lots of chaos. I have the feeling I'm gaining control. The basement is another story, can't even see the workbench.
Julia
In Queensland, Australia the houses are on stilts and we store everything underneath. Mine looks like your basement but with more air and loads of old Bougainvillea flowers that blow in. I don't have the gold statues but am very keen to get some, because who could possibly not need them - where did they come from?
Karen
I found them in the garbage around 15 years ago! They were a few blocks away from me. So obviously I took them! I mean who wouldn't??! ~ karen!
Lisa Hodge
I can totally relate. But I have one burning question... what do you do with the fishing lures that are so delightfully hung on the pegboard behind your workbench?
Karen
Nothing. :) They're just there for me to look at. Part of the basement fiasco was going through 7 or so fishing tackle boxes that belonged to my father. I kept the best stuff that reminded me of him and condensed it into one tackle box. Then I hung those ones up just to look at. ~ karen!
KimS
What a great idea!
Ann
I am jealous of your workbench. I have the same shelving rack thing for micro-greens except mine doubles as a magazine rack. I wanted to do gardening outside only after I bought the house did I learn a black walnut tree is poisonous hence the light rack but I have not used it lately.
Susan
Looks like my partners garage. If you need any tool you tiptoe around piles hoping they won't fall over until you find it. Needless to say I don't go in very often. I rather ask him for it as he knows where everything is.
I will help you clean up, just pay for the air ticket. LOL
Josephine Dubois
I cleaned up my store room last weekend so I could move the Christmas tree without having to take it apart. I think next year I'll be patting myself on the back and maybe won't dread trimming the tree.
CathyReeves
Kristi pd Addicted2decorating is doing this to her whole house. She recommended a book to help her out. Today she tossed 8 contractors bags of stuff. Might help you in your endeavors.
Have a good weekend.
Karen
OHhhh I've already done that! About 15 years ago I got rid of everything in my house. It's just my basement that gives me hives. But I'll have a look at her post! ~ karen
Wendy Thomson
Good Grief!
Vicki in Birmingham
OMG...I feel like I wrote that post. I truly thought I was the only person that found the more I did in a room, the worse it got. I will say, that work bench did look great! Thanks for making me feel more normal...nah, that isn't the word I am looking for...for making me feel less crazy, no, not that either...Well, just thanks for posting your pictures and your story!
Linda
Can I be a Picker in your basement??