I can’t remember in the 3 years I’ve been blogging, if I’ve ever mentioned that we have a basement rec room in our home.
I know for certain I’ve never photographed it or featured it in a post, because if I’m being completely honest with you all — this level of our home typically looks like it was hit by an Armageddon-sized toy bomb.
It’s where 99.9% of my children’s play things are located and even though we do provide them with cubbies, baskets and shelves for storing them, they’re not always extremely diligent in cleaning up after themselves. And most of the time, because it’s outta sight, it’s outta mind down there.
However.
The battle of the toys ain’t over yet.
And this mom is finally declaring war on this situation.
Because basically, I want this space of my house back.
I’m tired of stepping on toys everywhere I look and quite honestly, my children have far too many “play things” that they don’t really need.
So, about a month ago, my husband & I embarked on a mission to reclaim this space in our home.
We weeded through ALL of it.
Took a TON to Goodwill.
Handed down or sold OUTGROWN items to cousins or friends with little ones.
And finally…
Here’s where the changes can begin.
But first, a little back story on how this finished basement came to be.
We started pecking away at finishing this basement ourselves about 4 years after we built our home. Since we don’t believe in buying “stuff” on credit, we put aside money for about 2 years and decided to try tackling this project with the help of a family friend who had a construction background. We were able to negotiate a decent wage for his labor and still purchase all the other materials needed ourselves.
By doing it this way, I can’t even tell you how much money we saved. Thousands. We had gotten a few quotes back from professional construction firms that were completely out of our price range. So DIY was the way to go to keep us on our conservative – and debt free – budget.
This space became the designated play zone while our kids were little and we never really thought twice about the potential it had to be anything more until the toys started taking over.
Aside from an old TV and some falling apart chairs, it has also never really had much…pizzazz.
So, we are working on improving that.
We are making it into a space that will feel more like a fun, family hang out spot instead of just a toy tornado.
I am diligently working on this project, in hopes it will be ready to reveal here on the blog soon, so stay tuned.
I love projects that force me to completely rethink a space in my home, and this is definitely one of them!
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