Basement Brainstorming

The wheels have been turnin’ over here.

I’ve been living with tool bags and tool boxes along the wall in my dining room since the deck construction began in June. It’s looked something like this pic to the left. Now that the deck (and the pergolas!) are completely done, we’re trying to figure out a great way to store the tools in the basement. I had lucked out over the summer, finding a set of hardwood cabinets in someone’s trash – I stacked them against a wall in the basement and they’ve served as pretty good storage, but for bigger things (the saws, the drills, the sanders, oh, all of the levels, nail guns, and boxes of nails, we’ve decided to come up with a way to make some more storage space in the basement.

Yes, it probably involves more demo and more construction. Smile.

Here’s the current layout of the basement. It’s a fully-open area with a big brick column in the center (the base of the fireplace). The walls are all cinder block, and the floor is cement; it has some minor signs of water damage, but I’ve never seen water down there myself (except when the washer drain was on the fritz, all my fault). New glass block windows were installed, so it’s much brighter during the day than ever before.

The washer, dryer, a hefty double-cement sink, water heater, furnace, and a small table are in the southeast corner (the top left of the floorplan), and in the northeast corner, a framed (not yet dry walled) half-bath (I use the term very loosely) was installed by previous owners. Here are some of the before photos (yes, it’s messy):

Stay tuned for our plan. (The idea’s still being birthed.)

P.S. If you want to see the floorplans for the upper two stories of the house, check them out here.