Here are the long-promised photos of the basement space we've been working on. As you can see the first thing we did was paint the ugly gray walls white. We'd started that process on some of the walls before we moved in 4.5 years ago, but it was never finished.
Before (when a space is ugly, it just collects crap, doesn't it?):
During (it took 3 coats of this white, dirt-fighting paint):
After (more shelves for pantry space, since my kitchen is small):
Before (the shelving unit that was the "pantry", which will now be only for seed starting--you can see the light fixture which we used for seed growing last year): 
During (construction of the new laundry lines, with thanks for the inspiration to Heather at Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op):
After:
There are holes drilled into the sidebars, with one piece of 100 foot long laundry line strung throughout all of them. This way if we need to tighten the line, it can be done by loosening only one spot.
It's still just an ugly basement laundry area, but it looks better than it did and it's very functional now. The laundry line has enough space for a full load of laundry, and it's much less awkward than two folding drying racks that had been taking up all the space in this room. Now, I can hang my laundry and still have lots of space to work around.
Thanks to my husband, George, for helping to design and then building the new laundry line, and for putting up those nice shelves. And to Elijah for drilling the holes! The whole project cost a total of $35. We bought all the shelf brackets new, at about $1.50 each. We also had to buy lumber for the laundry line since we used most of our scrap lumber for the chicken coop and other projects last summer. Tip: lumber is cheap right now, with prices so deflated. If you have any projects in mind, hit the hardware store soon!
During (it took 3 coats of this white, dirt-fighting paint):After (more shelves for pantry space, since my kitchen is small):Before (the shelving unit that was the "pantry", which will now be only for seed starting--you can see the light fixture which we used for seed growing last year): During (construction of the new laundry lines, with thanks for the inspiration to Heather at Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op):After: George actually hung the two-by-four supports from the floor joists, giving the unit stability. It also meant the line could only be 13 inches wide. That's okay, the room is pretty small anyway.
There are holes drilled into the sidebars, with one piece of 100 foot long laundry line strung throughout all of them. This way if we need to tighten the line, it can be done by loosening only one spot.It's still just an ugly basement laundry area, but it looks better than it did and it's very functional now. The laundry line has enough space for a full load of laundry, and it's much less awkward than two folding drying racks that had been taking up all the space in this room. Now, I can hang my laundry and still have lots of space to work around.Before (a mess due to lack of space):
After:Thanks to my husband, George, for helping to design and then building the new laundry line, and for putting up those nice shelves. And to Elijah for drilling the holes! The whole project cost a total of $35. We bought all the shelf brackets new, at about $1.50 each. We also had to buy lumber for the laundry line since we used most of our scrap lumber for the chicken coop and other projects last summer. Tip: lumber is cheap right now, with prices so deflated. If you have any projects in mind, hit the hardware store soon!This might be a project for the magazines. I can see the headline now: BASEMENT LAUNDRY ROOM REDO FOR UNDER $35! I don't know if it's quite beautiful enough to qualify, but I'm certainly happy with it.
Comments
Judy
But I will say, I actually like your gray wall, haha!
Also love your bg choice, almost got this one myself. And are they your aprons in the new header?? :D
Those aprons are my "decorative" ones, you can see them above the washer and dryer in the bottom pics. I used to be able to buy these types of aprons for about 25 or 50 cents around here, but now they're collector's items so too expensive. I have a few more vintage aprons, but I do try not to collect things unless I can use them so I stop myself from buying more.
I am jealous--no basement in an apartment! Our last house had a basement, but it was very damp and unimproved, and the only access was an exterior staircase. Not too fun in the snow and ice, and not at all good for storage.