Basement Tour

 Starting the house tour.... in the place that we spend 80% of our time.  The basement.

Now, keeping it real here.. I did not pick up or put anything away.  Well, maybe I made sure that all the dirty diapers were in the garbage, but nothing else.  Yes, I could have made sure it was spotless, but I want to remember it how it usually is.  Kids on the floor, laundry waiting to be folded, empty bottles, and toys all over.

Once again, here is the new desk.  Look at how shiny it is... I love the enamel. Yep - didn't even straighten the picture above the couch. um... maybe I should re-think this keeping it real thing.

 Also new in the room - the coffee table/cube.  Well, it was two of the $7 side tables from Ikea.  We put one top on the bottom of the other coffee table, and boom- instant moving cube.  Then, to make it useful - we added the cute basket.  And by we added, I mean I made :)  What did I make it out of?  A diaper box, some rope and some material. We have more than enough diaper boxes around here... and every time we would recycle them, I was thinking that I could use them for something.

Enter pinterest... and a little stretch of the imagine... and a cute box.  Okay, so the downfall.... this thing used a lot of rope... and buying a basket pre-made would probably be cheaper.  But, I needed to try, and I was able to make it custom how I wanted... striped with teal.

Here I am standing on the fireplace hearth - taking pictures toward the upstairs.   The door to the right is the laundry room.  I may give you a tour of that someday - although it is such a gross room.    The Big Iowa art work is something I painted for Nate...

Now you can see the 'L' shape - still standing on the fireplace, looking more toward the back of the house - and the play room.

The other weekend Nate and I built that half wall, we wanted something that could be removed when we were done with our 'gated community', so just used some 2x4s.   There is a lot to be done in this room... covering up that ugly hole on the back wall.. and trying to organize the toys.
 

The old computer area.  See that box?  Another diaper box... this one was much cheaper... 2 roles of duct tape from Michael's with a coupon, and added to the box.  Apparently I love diaper boxes that I can put stripes on.  The best part of that box? We have put the kids in there and filed it with some toys... they play in there for a long time.  They like the fact that the toys can't get away from them.

 Now, here I am standing on the stairs.  Henry and Zoey have now moved to the jumpers.  Now you can see our fireplace.  The fireplace is huge... I could sit it in with space let.

I know most people look at brick and instantly think about painting it - but I can't paint this... it is too cool looking.  We did paint the fireplace doors - they were ugly gold.  That was one of the first DIY things that we did... if only we knew what we were starting  :)

So - what do you think??  It is now time for fire weather... can't wait to start the first one in the fireplace.