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.
No comments:
Post a Comment