Taking the Ghetto Out of the Hobbs, Part 2

Our basement is the most ghetto part of our house. Since we're staying for awhile, we've decided to make it hospitable. I bought an entertainment center at the Salvation Army for the toys and tv, moved a couch down from the living room, and now we've covered the graffiti with new paint! We have tons more painting to do before the new carpet comes in on Saturday, but until we've got the final pics up, here is our basement, a history:

When we closed on the house: yellow walls, brown bookcase with only six shelves.

Ewwww, paneling.

First makeover, circa 2002: off-white paint. We didn't address the bookcase at the bottom of the stairs. We were just glad the paneling was covered up.

The sump-pump failure of 2003. The previous owner of our house fancied himself a handy-man. He even installed the sump pump himself. That brilliant man installed it incorrectly and it failed the first winter we lived in the house. We fixed it, but not without a price. This flooding thing seriously freaked me out. I wouldn't even set foot in the basement unless absolutely necessary for about a year. I was sure our house was cursed and it would flood every time it rained. Thankfully, our pump has only gone off three or four times in the ensuing years, and I actually don't mind the basement...except for the ghetto part. So...

This weekend: Wow! I love "Classic Taupe" by Behr paint! We were made sure we crapped up the carpet as much as possible in the process. Die carpet die!!We are painting the ugly brown mantle white and I think I like this brown color for the fireplace surround. I found the dark brown in the oops section at Home Depot for $1. So far, it's only primed, so we'll keep you posted on that one.

Why did it take us six years to realize that we could just cut some more shelves for the basement bookcase to make it functional? I guess we just didn't ever care before! Here, we try out the new shelves before painting them.

Everyone climbs on the pile of stuff in the middle of the room. Check out my sweet entertainment center! Only drawback is the huge hole the previous owner cut in the back to accommodate their apparently huge tv. I'm going to cover it with fabric or wood or something.

So there you go. Don't call us for anything this week, we'll be painting. haha!