Super Cool Tool Organization

So, what do you do when you're building the most awesome barn ever?  Apparently you build the most awesome tool organizers ever, on the side.  At least that's what Papa does.  Little old me got these awesome surprises!!  A super cool organizer for my screwdrivers.

That also has tiny little magnets across the front to hold my ginormous collection of spackle knives.

And this super awesome little organizer that has a clip for my tape measure (that's now in a place where I can actually reach it without climbing onto my workbench)....AND it holds pencils.

And last but not least.....a special holder for my chisels.  Wow.  If there is a problem to be solved....my dad is the "go to" guy.  He's a details guy.  Guess what's up next in his workshop?  MY TABLE!!!!!!!  Thank you thank you thank you!!!!

One Workbench, Two Workbench

The kitchen took its toll on the basement.  All the cutting of beadboards took place in my workshop....on the floor.  Yes, I'm a professional. ;-)  Then the mess took over my workbench....and the rest of the basement followed suit, as you remember.  Okay okay, the rest of the basement was already chaos and the kitchen helped it over the edge of the cliff.

The VanOort Tornado went through and this is the bench NOW!  Wha??  I could actually DO a project.....ON A BENCH.  Goodbye floor, it was nice knowin' ya.  And the tools....so THAT'S where they were hiding?

On another wall of the workshop was my old drafting table.....covered  in junk as well.  That was the motif I was going for in my basement decor...."covered in junk" chic.

 And NOW!  Hooray....another clear workspace.  TWO WHOLE tabletops cleared....that's a miracle in our house.  As soon as I have any energy I'll be back at the projects....winter is zapping me. 

 On a sidenote....how awesome is the workbench?  Do you know what the table top is?  A BOWLING ALLEY LANE. Completely wackadoo, right?  Found it at the bless-ed ReStore....total bargain.  I left it behind once...then my dad insisted I go back to look at it again....thank goodness for dads.

 Wanna see more of "Project Basement".....check it out!  We're just about done!

Project Basement Marches On

BEFORE

Our tour of my seriously disturbed basement continues.....I'm not even joking about this photo folks. It was really this bad. In this room's defense, this is where my husband had begun making Mount Trashmore while waiting for the big dumpster to be delivered. But this isn't far from how it looked to begin with. (Just take out the stuff in the foreground and you get the gist of its horriblness.) This is the last room in our basement if you take the northern route. It's the room that floods the most, is the darkest and has two oil tanks left from that bygone era of heating fuel. Basically, it's the creepiest (even more than the red room).

AFTER

And NOW! Look at all the clear floor space. And a shelf for all my canning jars and "decorative" items. How do you all organize the things you decorate with throughout the year that aren't exactly seasonal? You know....the candlesticks/frames/etc?

(Pardon my excessive posting this afternoon....I have a sick kiddo, I'm stuck on the couch with a laptop for entertainment and I'm trying to figure out the road to snazzy blogdom.)

Christmas Organizing

Today we said goodbye to Santa for another year. I love to decorate for Christmas....but I also love to take it all down and get back to normal. We worked on taking it all down today. Christmas is safely put away in the CLEAN basement. :-) I thought I'd share a few of my Christmas organization ideas...in case you haven't put Christmas away yet. ;-)

This is one of my FAVORITES. When the boys receive or make ornaments we label them right away....so we'll always remember who/what/when/where. I stole this idea from a girlfriend who has 5 kids....she would never remember whose was whose unless they were labeled.

Sock monkey...so cute...now we'll always remember he came home with us from Door County, WI in 2009. Oh...and Marshall does have ornaments too....I just seemed to photograph TWO for his brother!

I use these little cuties...metal rim tags and a fine felt pen. If the ornament has a flat side sometimes I write directly on it with a sharpie...just depends.



This idea I'm sure my husband would rather I not share. He thinks I have strand light OCD. When we were first married I would put each strand of lights back into their little plastic doohickies....you know the thingies they come in originally that snap each light into place. Yep, I was that girl. Then I tried wrapping each strand around a piece of cardboard....me not likey.
So, this is what I do now. I divide each strand in half, starting from each end and bundle them with rubberbands.




No more boxes or plastic thingies or wrapping around cardboard....such a space saver...and they aren't tangled for next year!! Just make sure you ALWAYS wash your hands really well after handling Christmas lights....I hear they have high lead levels? Eek.

Slip the whole show back into its labeled bin and there's a little piece of organized Christmas. :-)

And for my final trick.....hanging garland. What do you do with your garlands? Smush them into rubbermaids? Hang them? I've tried both....I'm all about hanging them now. Just grab a hanger, a big ole nail in the floor joist and we're in business.

Happy Organizing everyone!! :-)

The Pain Cave

To be honest I can't really believe I am sharing our basement transformation with the world. Now I wouldn't say HOARDING is the word to describe our basement...well....perhaps....no no, nothing like hoarding. ;-)

Close.

All of you with little ones out there can relate....you know there is a box that needs to be taken to the basement so you set it by the stairs to take down. When the small window of opportunity arises you make a mad dash for the basement....the 3 year old's 'mommy beacon' is deployed and he instantly starts shouting "MOMMMY, MOMMY, MAMA, MOM, MOMMY". Time is short...toss the box on the floor and run back up the stairs. You see where I'm going with this? Now multiply that by 7 years and two three year olds. I'm not sure of the exact math on that....but it equals BASEMENT DISASTER.

This was the "red room." Don't ask. We don't know why it's red. It creeps me out though. This is where I kept my canning jars, Christmas dec's, and about a billion other things. Two walls are lined with heavy duty shelving (we tried our hand at organization a couple years ago). I'll show those shelves when Christmas is put away.

To begin, I should mention there are four large rooms in our basement, plus a double sized room....so really six large rooms in the basement. This would be great if I had an organization plan from the beginning. Alas I did not....so it was SIX ROOMS OF PURE CHAOS.

And we whipped them all into shape.

Today we'll take a look at the new "pain cave". As I mentioned before, my husband would be of the insane Ironman triathlete variety. Frankly, it just makes me tired to look at him sometimes. Anyhoo....these triathlete types enjoy the pain of training, and therefore like to make up wonderful names like "pain cave" for the place they do said training in. Levi wanted a cave of his very own......so here we go. The photos above show the room packed to the gills.

With this super snazzy paint job. Kinda like Valentine neopolitan ice cream...if ice cream involved peeling paint and creepy red walls.

Paint to the rescue. It took. A.LOT. Concrete block walls painted red and black (yes one of the walls was black.) Satanic? I'll let you decide. Now they're WHITE! Fresh and clean and bright. My dad had so kindly installed a fluorescent light for us some years ago which really helped the ambiance...picture the red/black with one hanging fixture. Can you say "horror movie" with me?

Look at the happy triathlete in his own environment. Indoor bicycle trainer, treadmill, mat for doing endless situps....he's in heaven. And I can breath easier knowing the clutter is GONE!!!

Taking a Break from Regularly Scheduled Programming......

BEFORE

Hello! I am, indeed, still in existence on the planet! You wouldn't know that from my complete disregard for anything blog related for the past 73 years but I'm back! The kitchen project is on hold. As soon as I can find a contractor who ACTUALLY DOES what they say they'll do....I'll have a ceiling. That's right folks, no ceiling yet. In fact I think I might start my own contracting business. Would you hire me? My motto will be "I'll do what I say I'll do".....the clients will flock to me. ;-)

Anyhoo....enough of my crazy lady kitchen rant. We've had lots of downtime over the holidays...and the kiddos are still downtiming it at Mema and Papa's....so......it's back to work for the hubster and I. Work on what you might ask since the kitchen is in a perpetual state of limbo? THE BASEMENT. It.is.a.disaster. Or maybe I should say......WAS a disaster. Okay, honestly it's still disaster-esque...but that's just because the dumpster hasn't shown up yet to take away the mountain of trash we have collected.

Today a sneaky peak at my favorite transformation so far.......for years I have wanted a shelf to put ALL my paint on. Since my sign biz has taken a sharp upturn in the last year I NEED all this paint (did you hear that dear? i NEED it.) he he he. Anyway, this is where I wanted it....doesn't it look spiffy? I painted the wall behind and swept...my dear husband did the assembly.

AFTER

(ignore the total mess in the back and foregrounds....we're workin' on it.)

MORE BASEMENT LATER!!!! My husband would like the world to see his new "pain cave"....don't ask...he's a weirdo triathlete...they enjoy pain in the form of endless treadmill running and indoor bicycle training. Weird.