A Space We Enjoy

Before.

Matt and I aren't much for home improvement and the like.  We're pretty easy to please when it comes to all that which leaves us unmotivated to do more.  If it is functional, it is probably just fine by us.  As an example:  We didn't really change anything when we bought our house.  We were forced to paint the living room because the walls had smoky outlines showing where frames had been previously hung.  Other than that, we just rolled with it as-is, western wallpaper motifs and all.  It might not have been our style, per se, but it was fine.  Adequate.  Acceptable.  That's a good snapshot of our home renovations style.  

After.

We have owned our home for ten years come March.  (Oh, how the time goes by!)  For the first half of it we really didn't use the basement a whole lot on the day-to-day.  Matt basked in the cool down there in the summer months.  We'd watch a little TV from time to time.  More recently we've found that we spend quite a lot of time down there--puzzling, painting sessions with Bob Ross, sewing, tossing darts, and so on.  Our habits and our home continue to evolve over time.  

After.

So, with that as the catalyst, we took one more step towards making it the perfect Matt-and-Beth House.  We stripped and scrubbed the walls and repainted the basement a bright, silvery grey as we rang in the New Year.   Matt did nearly all the prep work--cleaning, patching, sanding--and I did nearly all the painting.  

After.

It proved to be a remarkable transformation--one that had us both marveling aloud about it repeatedly.  As in, "We really should have done this long ago."  Or, "It looks so good!"  And, "I can't believe how much cooler it looks!"  Over and over again.  It was fairly ridiculous how much we swooned about it that first week or so.  

After.

Better late than never, I guess.  I'd like to say that perhaps this will encourage us to keep making additional beautifications--our carpet is beyond worn out, say--but I doubt it will make a significant  difference in our home improvement outlook.

Before/In Process.

Previously the basement had been graced with three different color schemes, partly due to the fact a wall had been removed at one point, prior to our owning the place, making two small rooms into one bigger room.   The different color schemes for the two rooms had never been reconciled.

Before/In Process.

Before. 

Some of the walls were painted white on the top half and blue on the bottom half.  Other walls were half white and half yellow.  One wall was white paint on top with tan cattle brand wallpaper on the bottom.  All of the walls had a strip of wooden trim along the dividing line between top and bottom.   We had basically covered the upper, white part with concert posters on every wall.

Before.  There aren't many photos that feature the cattle brand wallpaper, for whatever reason, but here's one of Ginger in a suitcase where it's in the background.

Before/In Process.

It looks worlds better with a more unified look throughout.  It's like a whole new place!

After.

Of course, we immediately covered up nearly half of the new silvery walls--floor to ceiling--with our ever-growing collection of concert posters.  Still.  We love it.  Now, that's my kind of "wallpaper."  :)

After.

If we're going to be spending a lot of time down there we might as well make it a more enjoyable space to hang.  Improve the vibes of the place and make it resonate with us more strongly.  It was a good project.  I'm glad we finally talked ourselves into it.