Basement Organizing & Renovations

Basement organizing: To some of my client’s these two words bring out a bunch of random expletives, head shakes and utter dread in the mere thought of organizing  basement spaces.  We all know that the basement tends to be a dumping ground for random items that many people just don’t know what to do with, just can’t part with or just don’t know where to start in order to make decisions regarding with what items to part.   Our unfinished basement has been pretty well organized for the last 6 years.  Stuff has come in, stuff has gone out but more or less there is an order and a spot for everything to live. (My boys, adults now,  have come and gone a number of times, but that’s another story altogether). At the moment we have a designated spot for tools, household maintenance items, archived files, old toys for young ones to play with when they come over, as well as business supplies and stock items and of course our gym/workout equipment . (Most professional organizers would agree that one needs to be in good physical shape to perform this job so working out for me is a necessity.)   That is all changing as of now. Our basement is very soon turning into a state of chaos.  At least by my standards.

We have decided we need to have our basement finished to extend our living space and make the time we do spend down there more enjoyable.  However, this means reviewing and editing what we currently own to determine what we can probably let go of  and then ultimately determine where everything is going to live when the basement is finished.  That there is the key.  In designing our finished basement it ‘s imperative that we know everything that has to live in that space so we can accommodate and design the right size spaces for everything.  We have a lot of metal racking down there that has to come down and we’ll have a scrap metal company take it away.  The items that have been living on that racking now need a new home. That’s where some 5 tier black resin shelving units came into play.  At $39.00 on sale the price point was great! We popped those up in the workroom area (which we are not finishing) and found that 3 of those shelving units can just hold all the items that need a home.  The remainder of the items that used to live on the racking (toys, photo albums, files) will be repositioned in the new rec room area once the basement is finished.

The biggest road block we are going to face is with my business supplies and overstock that I need to perform the job of a professional organizer. At this point in time I still don’t know where all those sorting bins, marketing materials, etc. are going to live but I’m working on it.  It’s a work in progress people, a real work in progress.  Stay tuned for more on this basement reno.  I’ll either survive it or tear my hair out trying!  Wish me luck!!!