Basement Dreaming Part Two

I had a busy weekend. Remember Friday, when I was complaining about the attack of the overly brown basement? I put together a mood board, thought I’d need to get rid of everything and start over. Yeah, not so much. Turns out I just needed to get a new rug and shop my furniture hoard. Never underestimate the power of shopping your home. Or the power of outlet stores. I’m really quite astonished by how simple (and cheap) this “makeover” was. After I hit publish Friday, I convinced Nicole to trek out to the Crate and Barrel Outlet store with me. (She got a table. We strapped it to my car. Then we high-fived and downed a couple of beers. Or maybe we just got 900 calorie shakes). I was looking for chairs and a rug, still thinking I need to get rid of everything. Nada. So we went next door to the Land of Nod outlet just for kicks. Where they had a lovely, striped  8×10 rug in perfect condition. This one, to be precise. And some storagepalooza’s to boot (those things were the reason the table ended up on the roof). Several hours of rearranging and cleaning later and the sitting area is looking so much better. I’m not sure why it never occurred to me to divide the space up before. It’s always felt just a bit too long with the couch and TV at either end. That weird little nook by the window threw everything off, not quite big enough for another chair, too big to ignore. Now it feels like the nook has a purpose, cordoned off with the desk and storage on either side. The desk was originally upstairs, displaced when I moved the round dining table in front of the window. The console used to hold the TV. And the black console that the TV is currently on was hiding behind the couch. I’ve resisted getting rid of it for years, even though until now it’s never really fit in this house. It was the first real piece of furniture Finn and I bought together (13 years ago, our anniversary is next week. Yikes.), so I’m pleased to have finally found a good spot for it. The lamp used to be upstairs, where it’s been in the way ever since I bought it. My mom painted those pictures of my kiddos. Isn’t she amazing? Some more photos from various angles (the books are helping the rug pad straighten out).

The rug is not perfect. It’s very thin, practically like having a blanket on the floor, so I’m not sure how well it will hold up. I put a super thick rug pad underneath to help with warmth and softness over our concrete floor. I’d also forgotten that an 8×10 rug is just slightly too big where one of the posts is, I’d cut slits in the wool rug to accommodate. That won’t really work with the cotton one, so hopefully no one trips. I placed the sofa opposite that spot to direct traffic around it. And lest you think our basement now looks too nice, a quick look at what’s hiding on the side of the room. Also, let’s not mention the mouse-hole I found when I moved things around, okay?

Still, not bad for a basement that five years ago had no floor and a (truly disgusting) pink hot tub in the middle of it.