exclusive. {also, i'm a hoarder}.

so we've been living in our new house for over three months now and i've been oversharing keeping you all updated on the work we're doing around here. however, one thing i haven't included on my little blog here yet is our basement. and for good reason: it's a disaster. it's an unfinished basement with a two car garage. our washer and dryer are down there as well. along with all the ridiculous amount of stuff i have in storage... but here today i want to give you all an exclusive first look at our basement area. and share with you the plans i have for it. 'cause i've got big plans.

well, here she is. in all her disastrous glory. first, the tool/paint/furniture/lawnmower storage side.

yikes. austin and his dad just built a new workbench that's going to go against the wall to the left with maybe some pegboard tool storage above it. i want to get rid of that shelving against the back wall that was supposedly used by the lady who used to live here to hold a ton of sewing supplies. we've been told square dancing costumes were her thing {?}. one of those doors leaning against the wall needs to be re-installed on our office and the other is not needed.

just to the left there you'll find our torture chamber/tornado hideout/hula hoop storage room. talk about multi-purpose.

really though, this little room is where i have had to hide {multiple times!} from the severe weather rolling through our area. it's a tiny little room, probably about 4 foot by 7 foot, and i'm hoping it's the safest place to hide out. and it's the perfect size for me, austin and all the animals in their crates. and when we safely make it through the storms i can hula hoop to celebrate!

here's the garage bay elaine sleeps in {austin drove her to work today}.

but check out all the storage we have on these shelves. they were already here when we bought the house, but austin added some two-by-fours to sure them up a bit so everything didn't come crashing down and scare the bejeezus out of me in the middle of the night or anything.

i have to admit, though, that there is basically zero organization to these shelves. i desperately want to take my label maker to the whole thing and put things in their own little place, but i know 100% that austin would refuse to stick to my organization... sigh.

and here's the other garage bay where austin sometimes parks, but we usually use as our workspace. obviously the washer and dryer are here, too.

and now, are you ready for the worst part? you should be nervous.

there's a lot going on over here. duct work {that somehow reminds me of the movie e.t.} so large i could crawl through it. extra furniture. carpet rolls. laundry hanging from the ceiling. an abnormal amount of rubbermaid totes filled with clothes, shoes, house decorations and anything else you can think of. it's really out of control. i look like a hoarder {it does run in the family}, but at least i can say that every box is labeled with its contents and the boxes are organized accordingly. so maybe there's hope.

let's move on. and i'll distract you from our disaster of a basement with our pretty patio area. down here we've got sliding doors that lead out to the patio. at least that's what we've determined this concrete slab is to be.

and since i haven't shared our patio area since we got the furniture {remember when i painted it?} set up on it, so here ya go.

looks so inviting right? everyone should come over and play!

and since we've been fighting poison ivy around here, especially in this little area between the patio and the house, we decided to just kill all the weeds and ivy there and mulch in the area.

the plan is to add lots of green plants {like hostas from mom} with a bench to make the space pretty and functional. i'm also planning to to paint the concrete. and although that sounds janky, i mean with the kind of paint covering specially made to restore concrete and you can get it in lots of different colors.

since we're on the topic of plans, let's talk about what i hope to do in the basement. so obviously we are going to need a new ac unit and all new {much, much smaller} duct work. i also am desperate to paint the whole basement because although the green, gold and white does pay homage to my elementary, middle and high school colors {go highlanders!} they do not work all that well as wall colors. they really didn't even work all that well as school colors either {see: any embarrassing cheerleading picture of me, ever}.

but basically imagine this entire area {from that pole on the left across to the patio doors and back to the wall} closed off and finished to make a den/media room situation.

we'll have a little wet bar right by the door for entertaining on the patio and hopefully even a little laundry nook so my washer and dryer aren't just hanging out in the garage all exposed. the stairs will be included in the finished part, but austin will still have his workbench area to the left of the stairs for tools/storage/whatever.

and yes. i sometimes just stand in one spot and imagine how pretty of a place this basement could be with just a little t.l.c. ok, so maybe it will take a lot of t.l.c. and a lot of money. but still. a girl can dream, right?

so there. and exclusive look into the most embarrassing part of our house. please don't judge. and i swear i'm not a hoarder. but please do come hang out with us on our patio. i'll make some cookies or something.