For months I have known it was coming. When I’d have to move all the stuff I’ve been storing upstairs in our mostly unused two bedrooms and three closets, to the basement while the upstairs gets completely gutted down to the studs. If you are new to this space, here’s the backstory regarding our renovations and us living in a 90-year-old historic house.
I’m really excited. Really really excited. But getting ready for it has been A LOT of work!
The girls are thrilled to be getting new bedrooms upstairs. With updated features like central heat and air, insulation, new lighting, and a bathroom they can both fit into at the same time – which will entail popping the roof and adding a new dormer to the house!
So we’ve been running our tails off, up and down two flights of stairs, moving furniture after bedtime in the dark, and finding new homes for all the things I save. Some stuff has been purged. But I have to say, I like being the mom who has all sorts of who knows what to pull out when someone wants to create an Enchanted Fairyland. You just never know when those old fabrics from that estate sale down the street will come in handy. And soon enough, they usually all do in some fashion.
Since fall, the girls used the hall closet upstairs as a play fort space with their dolls. And all that had to be relocated, as well as my sewing room, a guest room and a closet full of clothes that I have not worn (and was ironically locked shut) since before I started birthing babies. Seeing it contained my wedding dress, prom dresses, and outdated fun little dresses that will soon make fabulous dress up outfits and Halloween costumes for the girls – I just CAN’T get rid of them now.
This spring, I started this Basement clean out project, but never got to finish it all. The ping pong table where years of children’s art work and baby announcements lived, finally got cleaned off and stowed away.
After we scrubbed the old basement brick walls, I took old curtains and fabrics to make a doll area for the big girls (SEE sometimes it pays to be a save things).
Below is the final outcome. After they spent two full afternoons running all the stuff downstairs and organizing it, starting from a heap of mess on the floor, ALL BY THEMSELVES. I continue to be shocked that every time they play down there, they completely clean it all back up again – setting it back up the way they see as organized. I am happy to stay out of this and thrilled that I am not the person picking up teeny tiny birthday candles that belong to a doll named Molly. Having a friend over that loves “to organize” helped set the motivational mood for creating this space.
We’ll be hiding out here this summer, and in the backyard, as the dust takes over upstairs. The real challenge will come mid July, when our kitchen gets demoed too – YIKES. It almost feels like we are moving out of our house, and into our basement where we’ll be doing lots of arts and crafts in this space. And sewing. Hopefully lots of sewing…in this this space. 
Late Monday night I finished setting up my new sewing space, and I think we are almost ready. Demo day is June 18 for the upstairs! Six days to go!
