Remember how I gave you prayer advice?
Never pray for organization….especially if you are a borderline-hoarder and have a giant dumping ground of a basement. I stand by that statement. Put that on a kitten poster or something equally influential.
If you are new to the party, we have friends moving into our basement temporarily (read more by clicking here). They are planning on staying for a few months and we needed to do a full clear out so that they would have room for their important things…like their three kids. Our basement is pretty big….like the most actual square footage of any floor in our entire house with ten foot ceilings….and in the past we didn’t really use it for anything more than storage. We did host my sister’s wedding down there at one point, and Jeremy’s old office was there, and we use the storage areas for our holiday stuff and our old workroom….but over the past four years, every single room just became a dumping ground. That’s a lot of dumping ground. And it wasn’t pretty.
So the plan was simple….clean out everything. Take everything out of every single room and sort, burn, trash, and store. Sounds simple right?
Our back storage hall needed major cleaning out….this is when we actually took out every Christmas and holiday box and half of everything else. Don’t mind my window hoarding….I have dreams of a future green house 🙂
The future kitchen was loaded down. I called this space “where toys go to die” because OHTHETOYS! Seriously….it’s like every toy was procreating down there and having triplets. That entire pack-n-play was filled with play things. That couch on the side….from my college days. And that tv….it doesn’t even work.
The big living space was our sort zone. Things went into a couple different categories….yard sale, craigslist, Monroe House storage, personal storage (like holiday decor, entertaining stuff, etc.), burn, trash or to-be-put-away. That last category was for things that already had homes…office supplies went into the office, lost cups went into the kitchen, etc. It was crazy how much we actually burned and threw away….crazy how much garbage we were holding onto for years for no good reason.
It took about three weeks from start to finish and we got help several times from my mom (she is a wizard with work like this), my brother and his fiancé and even our friends family came over once to act as pack mules, carrying stuff from the basement to the garage. And just before the first move-in load arrived, we got everything done! Here is the cleared out living space….
And the future kitchen will go here…(we can’t wait to share that whole process!)
The dining area got completely cleared out too (sorry about the blurry photo)…
And both bedrooms were empty….here’s the smaller one that Brook and Kent use….
And the bigger one is large enough for their three kiddos (they fit a couple dressers, a bunk bed, a rocking chair and a crib in here!)….
The back hallway was ready to become their ‘homeschool classroom’….
And our hallway? We are gonna split this with them. We need half of it for our holiday storage and the other half will hold their storage stuff (things they decided not to put in their rented storage unit). We plan on installing hookups for their washer and dryer, redoing the stained floor and are going to be putting a partition up. Can’t wait to show you how that goes!
And our back storage room is basically where we put everything else….all the furniture we are saving for this space (when they move out), and our extra decor items and anything we held onto for the Monroe house. We sold a lot of big pieces like my white and blue painted china hutch, the boys white dresser that got a spectacular makeover, etc. and all that moolah is going back into the basement kitchen.
And everything else? Well, there was TONS and TONS of junk. Think JLo’s and all the Kardashians trunks filled to the brim. My mom had even cleared out some of her storage and donated to our yard sale pile. It was mammoth.
We held the yard sale over the past couple weekends. Just on Saturdays. When it was all said and done, we had so much junk it filled our table displays inside the garage and poured out into the driveway.
Stuff was everywhere. Most everything you see was a dollar. Every offer was accepted. It was crazy how much we had.
And the best part was that we got rid of everything! Note I didn’t say SELL everything…we had family and friends go through stuff, our neighbors came by at the end and picked through the remnants and after we were completely done, we called a charity that did same-day pick up and they took everything in their truck. It was amazing to finally let go of so much stuff. Like a giant purge! And the best part was that the money we made went straight into our Basement Kitchen fund….so it definitely is nice knowing that we are gonna get something useful and beautiful out of all that work.
So that’s my update on our basement. Total success! Since January is usually the month dedicated to fresh and clean and organization, it felt really appropriate to get it completed this month. And since our friends ended up moving in earlier than expected, it couldn’t have happened too soon! Maybe after this I will have to hand over my ‘hoarder’ pageant sash….or maybe I could just start collecting more sashes and tiaras too…perhaps I’ll wait till they move out so I have more room for my collection 🙂
That is a fancy basement! Crown molding, trim and all. Mine looks like a legit cave. I am needing to do a yard sale but the work to do is what is holding me back. Well that and the fact it is freezing cold and no one goes to yard sales in winter in Wisconsin, problems. Cant wait to see the basement kitchen!
Bless you! I cannot imagine how much work that all was! I thought boxing up our tiny apartment and picking up furniture from my mom’s storage units (she has two houses and three storage units full of stuff) was a doozy. So feel better about your “hoarding tendencies” 😉 You are a collector! I cannot wait to see the transformation of the basement.
Oh man…that was the worst part…we don’t keep ours heated either and I had to wear hat and gloves and coat while sorting. Jeremy of course wears shorts 🙂
xo – kb
That must feel like such a weight off the shoulders!! I feel lighter for you! Looking forward to seeing how the kitchen turns out.
Speaking of the Monroe house, what’s been going on with that lately?
That’s amazing and doesn’t it feel awesome to just to get rid of everything! About twice a year I just get rid of stuff I have laying around that I swear I’m going to use…ha! Never do! 🙂 Hope your friends are settling in well in their new home! 🙂 Very sweet of y’all to open your doors to friends!!
Damn girl! You need to get to a shopaholics anonymous meeting stat! 😉
Wow Katie. This looks like an enormous undertaking. You and Jeremy did an amazing job. I’m sure the family using the space truly appreciates all of the effort you went through.
Wow, good for you! I just have a tiny attic for storage, but I feel like I have a lot of stuff. I need to go through it, but the thought is overwhelming. So kudos to you for actually doing it. I imagine it was hard to let stuff go (I always have this thought of, “but maybe I will use this someday!”). Any tips to share about how you got over that?
Good for you! It always feels so great to clear out, have a yard sale, and take a big load to donate. We have to wait until Spring/Summer to do that around here, though. No one wants to go to yard sales in January in snowy Ohio. 🙂
I just went through a pile of stuff in a corner of our basement and decided it wasn’t worth a garage sale and plan on donating it all.
Awesome job!!! You have simultaneously shamed me and motivated me to get going on my basement! 😉
I really appreciate you posting this, especially showing the things you are hanging onto to give them new life someday. I feel like this is the part of DIY no one talks about. I see a beautiful picture of a reupholstered chair, for example, and the blogger is like, “I found this at a yard sale for $3 back in 2011 and knew it could be beautiful!!” And I think, “Sure enough, it’s beautiful — but where has it been stored for the past 3 years, waiting for you to get to it?” That is a huge tension for me. I like getting things at a bargain and restoring them, but it almost requires that I have somewhere to put them when I happen to come across that great deal — which I don’t. We have a small house, and we work hard to “keep only that which we find useful or beautiful.” You know the saying.
Have you ever posted on this issue, of trying to walk the line between being a creative DIYer and crazy junk hoarder? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Looking forward to the basement renovation (I use the term “basement” loosely: that space is quite nice 🙂 )!
I would have killed (metaphorically) to go to that yardsale! I never went to any when I lived in the Atlanta area, and I’m still a little upset about it. My experiences from a much smaller town were never great (the stuff at the local Goodwill was not only better but cheaper too) and now I’m in Ireland no one even holds them! Glad yours was so successful, it’s amazing how much stuff we hold onto when it’s out of sight.
I am amazed at all that unfinished basement storage you all have. That is awesome! You guys definitely bought a great house for something like this. I think it’s wonderful that you are willing to rent-out your basement for your friends.
wow! that was huge garage sale! Your basement/house must be breathing a sigh of relief!
Wow, this is mind boggling to me. I guess living in CA, where we don’t have basements and big houses are millions of dollars, I can’t fathom having an entire space large enough for another family to live comfortably just being used to store lots and lots of stuff. Congrats on getting organized and I do think it’s awesome how willing you are to help out a friend in this way. I also hope you enjoy the clarity and peace of mind that comes from living with less.
Isn’t it crazy how quickly stuff just piles up? I am not a hoarder at all, not even close, and yet currently our entire basement is just filled with crap. Some of it is baby stuff that I am saving for a possible 3rd kid, some is decor and furniture that has been down there since we moved in, and some of it is just junk. Cannot wait to purge! But, it will have to wait until Spring when I can have a garage sale without freezing to death!
Not sure if you need more, but we have 13 windows under our front porch I would LOVE to get rid of if you want them! And we are in Gwinnett, so not far…
Curious as to how much the yard sale netted $ towards the kitchen.
‘Merica!
Incredible transformation! I am looking forward to seeing the kitchen!
I am so jealous of that basement! Can I move my family in next? 😉
This makes me with I lived in Atlanta so I could have shopped your sale!
I kinda love that basement trim! Hunky and chunky and little bit funky. Rhyming nerd alert
So, I’m super proud of you for getting rid of all that junk, but I have to ask: do you think you’ll be as inclined to buy stuff after this? Or do you think you’ll be more selective with purchases? I ask because within the past two years, we have moved three times (not normal for us- at all!) and each time we move, I donate/sell/toss even more stuff. We honestly have about 1/2 the amount of stuff we had in our very first home and I’m getting ready to do a garage sale next month. I cannot even stomach the thought of shopping just for funsies anymore. Also, what was the grossest thing you found? We found a petrified scorpion once that someone had put in a zip loc baggie when cleaning out our garage 😛
I am giddy thinking about throwing that much stuff away!! It makes my single basket toss out this week seem link a walk in the park. http://instagram.com/p/ynhvr6E9JV/?modal=true
Honestly NO! I got rid of so many toys that it was crazy. And we did a big playroom organization effort (more on that later) but now I look at toys and think “they have so many that they don’t play with already…why get any more?” and the same applies to me and my dish ware hoarding….until I have that completely organized and assessed for my NEEDS and not just PRETTY THINGS….I walk right past the stuff in the stores 🙂
xo – kb
I don’t know exactly because we just kept adding to our Basement Kitchen Fund…but I think Jer and I put all our christmas money in (about $300) and I returned my Christmas jacket ($200) and sold the furniture and road bike on Craigslist ($600) and so I am guessing it was about $600 or $700 from the yard sale because our pot was about $1700 plus we returned about $400 of unused tools to Home Depot. So we have a solid pot to start things off.
xo – kb
I am sometimes amazed too. And just to clarify…we are not renting it. I don’t think anyone would pay to live down there 🙂
xo – kb
I haven’t posted on that yet but I can add it to the list 🙂
xo – kb
I just kept thinking…”it hasn’t been used in two years….time to let someone else use it” and that really did give me some peace. I think sometimes just having someone else help really gives you more clarity…like a sister or a mom who is willing to say “you can do better”.
xo – kb
Not much. We got new chimneys but that’s about it. We are hoping February will be the month of approval and March will be the month of the new roof! It all comes down to finances though!
xo – kb
Wow!! Big congrats. Sorting is exhausting. You guys did a great job!
I’m a CA girl (now in Ohio) and still am shocked at how big houses here are, with so much storage space, for half (if not more!) than what we would have paid in CA. Basements were/are a big thing to me, I had NEVER seen one in CA.
What an awesome post! Well done! I love that you are being such a blessing to your friends – You will be rewarded for opening your home up to them 🙂 I am super excited to follow along with the kitchen and everything else you having going on down there. Now, come do my basement… LOL
WOW!! Great job. 🙂
Nice 🙂
Thanks, Katie, now you make me feel like a total failure! I didn’t get to purge our basement in January! I packed like three boxes for a yard sale, but there is definitely much more junk and unused stuff, and toys and and and……
You were obviously hugely successful cleaning out your ginormous basement! Congrats! What an accomplishment for so early in the year!
And what am I going to do now? My basement is a fraction of yours (maybe the size of your ‘living area’ in total) and still looks like a dumping ground for all kinds of things……… I envy you! Your basement is cleaner than my entire house!
Wow! What an amazing transformation…I’m sure it feels so good to get rid of untouched/unused things (and, for such a good cause)!
http://www.lee-lee-land.com
You can do it Regina! Take one box at a time! I believe in you 🙂
xo – kb
Good job! Yard sales are too much work if you don’t sell much. Sometimes I would rather donate the items then earn $200-300 for 3 days of ‘work’. I hate that those same items were probably $500+ new.
super shady crack stove in the storage area 😉
jk jk
your basement is amazing. Like, bigger than my whole house. It looks great!
Your heart is as big as your basement…
You did so much great work! Congrats! The place looks fantastic! Thank for the post I really enjoyed it! Greetings, Storage Morden Park Ltd.
You did a great job! My basement needs to be cleaned out, too! I want to make it a cool room for my teenage son so he can invite friends there! It would be great! Thanks for the post! Greets, Storage Longford Ltd.