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The Basement Studio and Playroom Plan

May
22 37
comments

All right, I’ve decided on a rug. I had to turn to my good friend Photoshop to help me figure out which would be the best in the space, and this pink and white one looked best. I found it thanks to some of the comments on my post about the basement rug situation, so thanks for the recommendations! I also put a post together with a bunch of my favorite indoor/outdoor rugs over here. Check it out if you’re in the market.

The värde was c/o IKEA, and we’ve had that orange daybed for years. It was originally in our short-lived guest room (now the nursery). It should be good on the playroom side of the basement, and I’m going to skip a rug on that side. Kathryn pointed out that her kids actually prefer a bare floor to slide around on, so we’re going to give it a go.

We’ve had the 4 Seasons in Chicago (first edition) print for a while now too. Brandon gave it to me as a gift, and I’m looking forward to having it up on the walls. And speaking of the walls… I’m rethinking that grellow color. I chose it thinking that the floor on that side would be offset by the black and white rug, taking up most of the space. now that it’s gone though, I’m not sure I like the way it’s looking. I’ve never painted a room white before, but might like it here. I’m still thinking about doing a paint-by-numbers wall mural too. How awesome would that be?

It’s kind of a commitment though, eh? And you know that if we ever move, it will suffer the same fate as the dragon that I painted over when we moved in.


Update:
I made a mockup.

It looks awesome.

link    Basement, My Home, Play Room, Studio  •  37 Comments  •  May 22, 2012

Basement Studio Progress

July
28 34
comments

I’ve made more progress on the basement studio!

I picked up another Expedit (I call them my “cubes”), and a couple of freestanding kitchen counters from IKEA’s Värde line. I’ve always wanted the one with all of the drawers, so I’m glad that I finally have space for it. All of my supplies will go in the drawers, and my products will be lined up on the shelving.

I like to designate a separate center for shipping. Here’s what it looked like in the previous studio space:

The Shipping Center in My Studio

The Shipping Center in My Studio

I see those pictures and I think “ugh, that looks so messy and disorganized!” But, um, here’s what the new shipping center looks like right now:

Yeah, I have just a wee bit of work to do there. I’m glad to have closed storage now though — that will go a long way in making it look more neat.

The main layout is setup and the big furniture pieces are in place, so I’m going to have to get down there and start organizing. I’m wondering about the windows now. I love playing with color and pattern in window curtains, but the basement windows don’t really call for window treatments. There is a surprising amount of natural light in the basement, and I want to preserve as much of that light as possible. So no curtains? Or yes, but with them mounted extra wide and open all the way? The windows are high and short too, so that may be another reason to eschew treatments.

link    Basement, Studio  •  34 Comments  •  July 28, 2011

Starting on the Basement Studio (Finally!)

July
12 46
comments

I used to have a great little studio. Remember?

My Studio

My Studio

Oh, former studio! You were so good to me and my shop. Then I had a baby. And then another one. And I needed that upstairs bedroom back. So we remodeled and finished the basement to make room, and now (finally!) it’s time to get the new studio up and running. I last showed you the space when it was newly finished and looking rather empty.

Here’s what it looks like these days, with the furniture moved in.

I’m excited to be working with IKEA for this stage of the basement remodel. I already had one of their butcher-block kitchen islands and I’m adding a few more pieces from their Värde line because they work perfectly in craft rooms. And yay, I finally have a space to bring back the striped Stockholm Rand rug! I tried it a couple of years ago in the dining room, but it just wasn’t right for that space.

Striped Rug in the Dining Room?

It’s going to look much better in the studio. I’m bringing another over to the playroom side too for continuity.

I have a lot of organizing and decorating to do. The play room can wait a little, but I’m eager to open Pink Loves Brown up again, and obviously I need everything in place before that can happen.

link    Basement, Studio  •  46 Comments  •  July 12, 2011

The (Mostly) Finished Basement

March
15 137
comments

Ta da! Does it suddenly feel like December again? Because that’s when all of this was supposed to be finished. Here’s the floor plan:

Let’s head down the stairs to take a look around.

And now a before:

And after:

Before:

After:

That’s as good as it gets for empty basement ‘before and after’ photos, because once we reached this stage we started moving in all of our stuff. Witness, we couldn’t even wait at this point to start filling up the storage area.

The play space used to look like this:

Now it’s a play room, and it looks like this:

And of course, we have the bathroom and laundry room sneak peeks you’ve already seen:

Our house feels so much bigger now. I think we added about 600 sq. ft. of living space to our existing 1400. Now it’s on to the fun part: decorating it!

link    Basement, Bathrooms, Laundry Room, Play Room, Studio  •  137 Comments  •  March 15, 2011

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