Operation Playroom: Phase I

We have decided to turn our basement into a playroom for Piper.  Over the course of the last 2 years, since we moved into this house, our basement has transformed many times.  First it was a dumping ground for all the boxes I didn't want to unpack.  Then it became a somewhat tidy storage area.  Then when Piper came along and we needed to turn the guest room upstairs into her room, we turned the basement into a guest room.  And now that Piper is becoming more mobile, and since we never really have guests anyway, we've decided to turn the basement into her playroom.

To do that, of course, we have a lot of work to do.  We are going to need to sell a lot of stuff, throw out even more stuff, and reorganize what's left.  This weekend we started on Phase I.

We started with the storage shelves.  We had 3 large 5-shelf units bulging with crap, with even more crap piled in front of them.  But I wanted to replace these shelves with permanent shelving, attached to the walls.  Not only would this look nicer, but Piper wouldn't be able to pull them down.  So Thursday night I listed the shelves on Craigslist.  And I got an email first thing Friday morning.  Within hours we had someone lined up to come over on Saturday morning to pick them up.

But that meant we had to clear them off.  So Jason spent Saturday morning taking everything off the shelves and "neatly" piling it on the other side of the room.  It really doesn't look that bad, does it?

Okay, now you can see what I meant when I said we had a lot of stuff to go through.

Once the area was cleared out and the shelves were gone, we were able to paint (and of course when I say "we" throughout this post, I pretty much mean Jason).  Jason also went out in the pouring, dear god will we ever see the sun again, rain on Saturday afternoon to buy all the supplies for the new shelves.  2 coats of paint, let it dry overnight (miraculous considering the humidity from all the rain we've been having), and we were ready to hang the new shelves. 

Then came the daunting task of putting everything back.  But of course, this included deciding what we were going to keep, what was getting tossed, and what we could either sell or donate.  We're currently about half-way through this part, I'll call it Phase Ib.  Hopefully I can finish this part up quickly so the room is neat enough for me to take pictures of the remaining furniture and list it on Craigslist.  Unfortunately, we can't really move on to Phase II until the furniture is gone.  The bed is the biggest thing that has to go.  Keep your fingers crossed that someone out there will just happen to be looking for a queen-size bed with frame, headboard, and footboard, 2 nightstands, a filing cabinet, 2 oriental shades, and maybe even a coffee table too.  Oh, and don't forget the broken kegerator.

Perhaps my dream of having this room done in time for Piper's birthday may be a bit lofty.  How does her 10th sound?