I Never Realized I Lived in Squalor...

I have not forgotten you, my fine, furry DIY friends!

I just really haven't accomplished much and what I have is not blogpost-worthy.

I DID finish my wardrobe center and there's a very long-winded post brewing on it. I've been incredibly swamped (if you're not following my other blog) which has lead to the neglect of this blog and basement progress. BUT let's attempt an update:

After checking my last posts, I realize I only had my desk area and the craft area completed and I laughed at how long ago that was-- sorry!

So, ok, we're going to work our way around the basement as I cannot remember the order these things occurred. Yes, Dad's area was completed first because I needed desk space to work. Sadly, the desk is the only regularly open flat surface from which to work so it regularly gets other crap piled on top which then takes me an hour to remove, detracting from my work. Ironically, I turned to marvel at my work and realized *ahem* SOMEONE came down and added several books in non-aesthetically pleasing places on the bookshelf-- which, of course, distracted me from this post for about 20 minutes. The 9-in-1 table is still in the middle of the space and so is the exercise bike, as I've just noticed someone has pulled it further from the wall again. Oh well! Anyway, the space is looking pretty good, is pretty well functioning, and has been decorated. We are categorizing it as an official success.

Finishing the area has required an antique glass-front bookcase to be moved to the other side of the basement as one piece and even unloaded, is ridiculously heavy and has no liftable ledges so that I can raise each corner meekly and shove my furniture sliders underneath (if you do not have these, get them! They are a lifesaver in so many ways even if they do shift dirt, dust, and hair all over the place). Luckily, the bookshelf comes apart into a top; bottom; 4 shelves; 4 glass panels as lids/fronts. But now you have 10 pieces of flimsy and/or otherwise delicate antique bookshelf everywhere PLUS all the stuff that's supposed to go into it occupying even more space. As I decided the fancy glass-front bookcase should have the additional museum quality of having several artifacts from the family, it added a whole new level of annoyance as these items need a space that cannot be disturbed much due to risk of breaking. My only option was to rebuild the bookshelf where it belongs and load it without going through the process of breaking out the paint and floor cleaner and wax to prep the little corner. Moral of the story is, I still haven't painted behind that bookshelf (which is yes, heavy and loaded again with no liftable edges) nor cleaned the floor beneath it because I dread the process of unloading, painting, cleaning, only to reload... It will probably get done very last.

And that's been the ongoing theme: things will get hung up as I don't feel like going through the tedious process of painting or cleaning and waxing an area so it's a waste of time organizing it. One example is the bathroom which has been getting chick-gnarly (plaque all over the sink, long hair covering the floor, dozen upon dozens of lotions and other products that accrue dust and God-only-knows what else between them) since I've moved in on top of the original disuse grime. The title of this post was inspired by my shock when I finally cleaned and waxed the floor the other night-- the process looked like one of those split pictures you see in advertisements (here's what the floor SHOULD look like and here's the nasty crap you've been living with... for months).

There has also been the LARGE hang-up of finding a temporary place for something that needs to be organized but in the grand scheme of things, will not be for years, if ever, because they needed to be gone through by someone else. Because as I'm sitting here thinking, "Yikes, I don't have the room for this! Something's gotta go!" not everyone in this house is under that same mindset. While my mom's stuff is much more pervasive, my dad's response when I approach him about his stuff is equally frustrating. Usually, the message is "It's not a big deal, don't worry about it." But as the film canister situation in my first post illustrates, every little bit counts and by the time you're not worried about 20 different things, a whole lot of space is wasted... particularly this one set of shelves in the work room that is somewhat the bane of my existence.

Which brings me to the work room, another huge hang up. I mean, it is mainly a hang up because I don't want to deal with it. But it was also heavily avoided because it's an area that shouldn't be seen by anyone besides our family. Having said that, it is the only place we can legitimately store things and therefore it needs to be organized for all the seen stuff to be organized. And it's a small space so things are constantly being shifted, toppled, and glared at so intensely with the hopes that eventually it will just disappear. Alas, this has not worked-- when it does, I'll let you know. There's also the fact that the work room has been intensely neglected since my dad's garage was built and he moved most of his crap out (everything but that infuriating set of shelves in the corner with "household tools" that everyone forgets exists and so they go get "garage tools" when tools are needed which is rare and now I've made it a catch-all for stupid shit NO ONE needs like a box of 2 dozen conduit boxes or extra toilet seats or multiple containers of flammable shit that probably shouldn't be placed together on a wooden shelf but God forbid we get rid of them because you KNOW the next month we will need that floor lacquer from the 50's on a 2-foot square place, not warranting a new bottle of floor lacquer but perfect for that can I secretly pitched LIKE AN ASS)

... I got off subject for a moment. What was I saying? Oh yea...

So, the place has collected, in it's neglected state, about 10 years of mouse poop and dust. Pretty sure I've acquired ever toxin known to man, picking up containers, wiping them, and placing them on newly shop-vac-ed shelves. The CDC is 2 seconds from quarantining me permanently to the basement, while seizing the ancient (and now dead as the 20 year-old filter which has been limped along is officially done) shop vac as the most disease-ridden things known to man. I have digressed again, but I'm just trying to illustrate how UNMOTIVATING the whole "working with the storage areas" has been.

Meanwhile, I had to re-vacuum all my previously cleaned and waxed floors as I have now neglected them for 3 months or so. But I did that a couple nights ago and cleaned/waxed some more surface area AND AND AND PLUS PLUS PLUS finally laid out my area rug that I got on sale way back in freaking September. It makes me smile.

My bedroom is also mostly done except for a pinch of painting and hanging up some pictures which requires me open up my scrapbooking jank, which requires me to sort through the crafting supplies. But Lauren, I thought you already sorted through all your crafting supplies? Oh, I thought so too, dear reader, but that's the magic of this horrendous basement project, you find all sorts of things like little plastic animals and mason jars and as someone with an avid pinterest problem, you cannot throw gems like that away! So, the next thing on the list is to re-tackle the crafting odds and ends, which means that the pie safe I was using, just isn't going to cut it. I tried, but it just doesn't work for copious amounts of crap. Only pies.

...which may need to be made... in celebration... for if and when this horrible process is done.

Ah, All My Crafting Stuff is Organized... Now I Have No Desire to Craft

In the short life of this blog, you may have read between the lines and realized that this household has a serious craft supply problem. Not wanting to spend money on tons of bins or a whole insane Martha Stewart just pwned (that's right, I brought back "pwned") your closet system, I gained inspiration from my dad's old workshop and got PEGBOARD! Brilliant, right?! But before you get too excited, let me say I quickly began to second-guess my brilliance.

So, peg board comes in one size and one color-white. If you noticed in my spray painting post, the white got sprayed a lovely blue that is honestly too dark for the basement but I'm so in love with the color that I really don't care... plus I'm not spray painting it again.

ANYWAY! I'm at the Home De-pot, and I figure, "I wonder what they have here for pegboard accessories?" (so I don't have to make ALL my own). I found this kit that gave me a little of everything (perfect!) but due to hesitations, I didn't open up the box until I was done hanging the board... that's a key detail.

Luckily, I figured out at the Home De-pot (as opposed to going home and finding out I'm totally missing five things- which I'm pretty good for) that the board has to sit away from the wall about a half an inch in order to attach any hooks. Oh, well, that works out because now I can go buy some 3/4 in. thick wood and mount those to wall and then mount the boards to the wood and they'll be more sturdy. I even had the foresight to spray paint the wood since I knew it would be exposed on one side and would show through some of the holes! I thought I was on a damn roll, people!!!

But then karma just had to be nasty (totally unnecessary, I didn't do anything to karma).

First off, I have come to assume that none of the walls in the basement are flush or level with... anything. They're just a 2-dimensional amorphous blob shape. But we're going to work with it! I really just wanted the boards as flush to each other as possible and as flush to the ceiling as possible. This is when we learn that I have scrawny little arms and that wielding a cordless power drill while holding up a bulky piece of pegboard AND the piece of wood behind it equals disaster waiting to happen. The walls even have a brick face on the lower half of the wall which provides a nice brick-wide lip to the wall. Surely, in the amount large amount of crap in this basement, I can find SOMETHING to prop on the bricks and help me stabilize the pegboard...

... Oh you think that? That's adorable. Because it's false.

Again, unnecessary, karma. For reals. And in case you wanted to make my life MORE miserable, I think you should make the screws too long... oh wait, you just did. That's right folks, the screws I had were too big and while I could go into yet another rant about screws (let's all have a moment where we laugh at unfortunately too long/short sexual screws), I'll just tell you DIY lesson number *I lost count*: just take the damn screws into the hardware store and get exactly what you need the first time. Ok, so now we're back, we have the right screws which we are screwing into the wall to form the hole, unscrewing, mounting the back 3/4 board (yes, I did select the word "mounting" to go along with the "screwing"), removing and then mounting the pegboard as the final piecemeal step.

Did that sound tedious to you? Because it was. DIY lesson: find someone who can be paid in food/alcohol/sex/money to get some of the heavy lifting done in a manner that will not piss you off.

 Prepare for this "simple" process to take all day. Oh, I'm sorry, did you have something else you wanted to do today? Yeah... we don't play that here.

Let it be known that by the time I got to the third pegboard, all 6'5' diesel mechanic of my Dad had come home and proceeded to ask me why this was taking all day as I stared at the wall, indignantly. He then lifted the final pieces into place with one hand (not needing my help at all, in fact, I was in the way), used the electric screwdriver (which I had long since abandoned because I'm apparently too special to even remotely use that thing) and zipped the screws in better than I had negotiated all day. In case that didn't want me to punch him in the face bad enough, the screwdriver slipped at one point making a large scratch down into my paint... you know, the spray paint that gets everywhere when you use it and there's no possible "touch up" with. If I wasn't so exhausted, I would have gone on a homicidal Hulk-esque frenzy. Lauren. smash.

BUT THEY ARE UP! So now, I'm cracking open my little kit, all excited to make this pegboard an organized happy place instead of a I-cannot-believe-this-took-all-freaking-day,-I'm-going-to-kill-someone place. I sorted through all the little metal pieces and wished I still had that child-like imagination of "You see a chair? I see a fortress and a camel and a ___!" But no, this hoop to hold a hammer looks like it can hold... a hammer... maybe scissors. OH! I have scissors! *places on wall and sets in a pair of scissors, ecstatic* And this identical hoop can hold... a hammer. Damn. This is why it was critical to note that I did not open this package before finishing the pegboard adventure-- at the bottom of the box, I found a little baggie that contained 4 screws and 4 big bead-looking things measuring about 3/4 in. long. It took me no time to recognize that THESE are the things that you are supposed to mount pegboard with-- buying extra wood and worrying about it lining up and it being the same color as the peg board and blocking holes and etc. are totally unnecessary.

No really karma, not cool.

I also had the brain surge (small miracle considering the blinding rage) that my tedious bunch of punches will not hook onto... hooks.... or really anything for that manner as for my paper cutters and tape runners and scrapbooking tip books. But come Hell or high water, all of my scrapbooking supplies are going on this God-forsaken pegboard. And this is when I realize that I have about a dozen metal baskets from the Container Store that held my extensive DVD collection once upon a time and that they could easily be hung from the wall by hooks, be see-through, and yet sturdy enough to hold an over-abundance of supplies. I took some wire cutters and made small hols towards the top of the containers so that they could be slipped onto the hooks, no problem. Ok, they sit out a little more than I would prefer and they are not beautiful nothing else in this basement is turning out perfectly and it was fo' free (and used up 3 of those baskets which I feel so guilty I spent so much on a while ago and are now going to waste). I also found a stretch mesh bag that I think had Halloween decorations but now hold all my pens. That looks a little too ghetto and will be changed at some point.

I also finally assembled the World Market craft table weighing in at 1 ton that my Mom bought awhile back. I knew I wanted the table to be on casters so I can tuck it away when people are present but also pull it out and turn it to face the TV when I'll be crafting 100 years from now. Thank the good Lord that I had the foresight to add the casters WHILE building this heavy monster (which, no, does not weigh 1 ton but it's particle board made to look fancy with about 20 coats of lacquer). Rotating casters costs a lot more than regular back-and-forth casters but GET THEM. I have a cheap printer cart from Walmart that has 2 stationary casters and 2 rotating ones which render each other USELESS and moving the cart is like trying to predict a lion when you have jerky in your pocket-- either way, this will not end well.

The stool that came with the table is another story where essentially, we were sent 4 identical legs and 2 of them needed their holes in other places. DIY lesson: check inventory of a kit when you buy it (not months later) and before you start to assemble it.

So now that my masterpieces are set, I loaded up the craft cabinets from the spray painting post and they are the best looking and most organized pieces.

Oh, karma, you really didn't need to make this project any more frustrating...

And we had some run-off that is now squirrelled-away in a pie safe in the other room. No, the pie safe was not my furniture of choice but it needed a home and a function in the household so the craft-overload was happy to oblige.

But here's the finished product!

Final DIY lesson: Elementary school teachers are always more than happy to take your 5 boxes of extra craft crap treasure (including a solid 4 superfluous glue guns). So when the stuff doesn't fit into your nice, new, organized craft corner, GIVE IT AWAY, NOW!

... Yea, that just became the Red Hot Chili Peppers rule. You didn't even know that song was about organizing, did you? Learn something new everyday...

I Think I Saw a Beautiful Basement... But That May Be the Spray Paint Talking

The answer: One may do this in order to match a bunch of crap furniture from Ikea and Target.

What is spray paint, Alex?

Before starting on this journey, I started to review a bunch of "how-to" spray furniture. Some things were helpful, but for the large part, it wasn't. So I'm throwing my little experience out into the universe so y'all can complain about my blog as I have totally judged yours.

First, I found the sites where that was the key words/title but then it would continue on to say, "I grabbed this piece of furniture at a thrift store and proceeded to spray paint it. Here's 5 pictures of my baby/cat/dog in front of it- adorable, right?!" Um, no. I wanted to know how to spray paint, not look at babies. Then I found the people that started to show how to spray paint but then for the sake of time, I guess, said, "Ok, do that for the rest anddd you're good." But as I was looking to spray paint cabinets, I'm wondering how you thoroughly cover everything without it gooping up and looking like you spray continuously in one spot? There was also the cute sites that say you can sand out the imperfections. Um, you want to tell me how? Or there's the person whose post was titled "Spray Painting Pre-Made Furniture" and the first direction was to take apart the furniture. And what if that is not an option?

Moral of the story is, it was like going to Google directions and typing in from San Diego to Tokyo and having it write "Drive... Sail across Pacific Ocean... Drive... Sail across Pacific Ocean... Drive some more." (Kid you not, try it).

So all the sites said to use primer. I can do that (and I used Rust-oleum but I've heard good things about KILZ and Krylon). *This is where I would insert the "Before" picture my camera apparently chose to delete*. I do not remember any sites writing "Use 2 layers of primer" but I would recommend it. Now that my pieces are said and done, I can see some panels where the primer thinned out and you can see the exact sprays I did back and forth.

Luckily, I don't care.

HOWEVER, the sites did say to sand the primer before you paint. Being lazy and again, not particularly caring about texture, I didn't do it. To figure out how you feel about the texture, run your hand over it after it dries- that's how it will feel like with paint on it. I also read somewhere that "if mixed properly" the primer would not be grainy. I did a little voodoo dance in the backyard with the paint and it was still grainy so I'm inclined to think I'm crazy and so are the people who said that.

Bottom- start/stop technique; Top- continuous spray

• A tip I found super helpful was "You will not cover everything in one layer." Had to remind myself of that one several times.

• Also, the Krylon People (it's amazing how they know their stuff!) had a pretty good video that showed a technique that was spraying in short spurts. This is a great technique but really works your remote finger, which I desperately need, and didn't really last the entire project.
• Now, while the video linked above is good, it recommended to change up the direction you were going. I would suggest doing what is ever the most comfortable for you and, therefore, will yield the most consistent results. I thought to go left/right with my first coat then up/down with my second. It didn't work out. Spots were left bare while others were built up and dripping. Consistency was the best policy.
• Finally, if I had to do it again, I'd have a paper towel in my hand constantly to wipe big build ups before they dry (which is pretty quickly with spray paint). Sanding them didn't work (more below).

Moving on: The following was what I found to work with these cabinets. You can start with the interior or exterior first, I'm going to describe inside then outside. Be sure to remove any adjustable shelves and spray them on their own.

Start by spraying the back first and then just move down to the bottom. Then spray side panels and finally the inside doors. Don't forget the space next to/behind the doors!

You'll notice in this picture, there's a little squiggle that looks terrible. That is end-of-can-desperate-to-get-every-drop-of-paint-out. Even if you are cheap as me, don't do it! Look at the evidence! It's not good!

If you catch this little nook, you can open the doors straight out and then sweep across the side and doors exteriors. Cut time out? Heck yes! Note: this does not work on the inside.

I had to take 3 coats to get the paint to look good and solid. You will need to make several trips to home Depot (I lost track of how many cans I used for the cabinets but I believe it was 5 or 6).

Now, for these popular Target cubbies, I found that it was easiest to spray pain the inside bottom of each cubby (and half of the back boards, when applicable), rotate, spray again.

With this technique, you can keep the can mostly out of the cubby and keep the can vertical. The coverage tends to be better when you're shifting the can less and spraying at a comfortable angle.

My final tip: do not place not completely dry pieces on dewy yards, even if there is a drop cloth. Things will transpire that will be very frustrating and make you quit spray painting for 2 weeks... At least that's what happened to me.

I don't want to talk about how I fixed it. Well, mostly because I haven't fixed it yet. Also, I'm fuming a bit just looking at this picture.

Oh right, the sanding... Yea, that didn't work out. Now I've got a bubbly spot with scratches all around it. I'm also not sure how you're supposed to sand a spot with too much paint on it and then repaint the same spot with 3 coats of paint without it building up again... Maybe I'll find a helpful site someday.

Some finished product! Forgive the mess around the edges, this is a before picture.

Ahh, quick relaxing and photo op. Good thing I got primer on my toes so that they got evenly covered- the DIY tan brings all the boys to the backyard.

The Beginning (of My Inevitable End)

Welcome, followers!

Here's the first installment of redesigning the parents' basement.

First lesson: If you have the go-ahead, take the time to hang dry wall and actually finish the basement properly.

I considered doing this... for about 5 seconds. And again, I think on it every now and then for another 5 seconds. Within 5 seconds I remember the extensive and continual water damage; the cost; the time; the lack of space; the lack of my know-how; and the lack of people willing to help.

My dad apparently poured oodles of time and effort fixing up the basement upon buying the house when I was the ripe age of 18 months. At the end of this month, I'll be rolling up on 25 years and in the big scheme of things, not a single things has changed since the original upgrade.

While I heavily criticized this originally, I am quickly finding out why.

Second lesson: If it's not a flat, non-textured wall, it's a royal pain in the ass to paint.

         Lesson 2.5: Painting unfinished concrete is
          the most infuriating and paranoia-building
          experience ever.

So to avoid several hours of, "Is that a spot?!" *paint* in between staring at the walls for hours or building an Arnold Schwarzenegger arm/shoulder pressing paint into walls that resemble English Muffins (nooks and crannies are not delicious in this manner), I highly recommend taking the time to hang dry wall. Also, no matter what color of cute paint and little touches you put on the wall, it's still unfinished cement and not really inspiring to look at.

I have one area mostly done. I say "mostly" because decorations are being saved until last and I have also piled stuff on top of my beautiful, clean, organization making it look like total crap again. Dust bunnies are also being shifted onto clean and polished floor.

Lesson 3: You will do everything at least 3 times.
          Lesson 3.5: If it's moving boxes, you will move
          them at least 5-8 times a piece.

The first time I attempted to clean the basement, I tried to make a massive pile o' stuff to sort and then slowly began to place it around the room thinking, "That's the perfect place. I will never have to move that item again." Oh, silly, me. What happens is you place 18 old film canisters in a perfect box. Then you will find a pocket in the pile with 3 more but since they don't fit in the box perfectly fitting 18, you think, "Eh, screw it" and then throw it out. And then like in some horror movie, you slowly begin to find 4 more pockets of film canisters containing at least a dozen per pocket and after shifting all the film canisters into 4 separate boxes while still throwing half of them away, you finally lose your mind, tear apart the whole pile searching for every single scrap of a film canister, at which point you don't find any and become infuriated that you just tore apart a pile looking for something that doesn't exist so much so that you go into the corner and rock back and forth, waiting for film canisters to attack you.

Ok, maybe that was a little dramatic but it isn't far from what actually happened. This is organization burnout people, DON'T LET IT HAPPEN TO YOU! You (and I) have to resolve the fact that something is not officially home in its proper spot until everything else is officially home. It ain't over until it's over, people.

And this basement is far from over.