Show us your basements (fun spaces)

Well hello there! I’m back on this beautiful (chilly!) Monday with another Show Us Your House link up! This time we’re sharing basements, playrooms and rec rooms. (Does anyone call them rec rooms anymore? How old am I?)

As many of you know, we finally finished our basement this year. I say finally because we’ve lived her for 8.5 years and every four months or so of the past five we’ve said, “now we’re going to finish it!” And never did. :)

I thought it would be fun to show you some before, before pics of the basement, back when it was truly storage and a DUMP, and then show it now. Just because before and afters are my favorite. :)

I’ll start with the grody stairs:

When we decided to start using the space (years ago), even while it was unfinished, my first goal was to make those steps safe for my boy, who was just a wee one back then. We had cheap carpet installed and a I painted the walls, which helped a ton.

But now it’s even prettier with new (nice) carpet, new paint and light. Oh and a wood wall:

Like I said, for years the basement was purely storage. Storage for the insane amount of crap I didn’t need:

I organized that area and made it into my craft room:

But you can tell by that pic that it rarely stayed organized. I had a STUFF problem. :)

Now, that spot looks like this:

Hallloooo…so. much. better!

Here’s where the real scariness began:

Told you. :)

And here is that same area now:

It actually looks even better now, cause we got furniture! WHOO! It’s made a HUGE difference down there. Can’t wait to show you.

And the amazing amount of stuff continued around the corner:

I have to tell you – I have gotten rid of an INSANE amount of clutter over this process. It has been a true eye-opening experience for me. For years I would purge the basement, and then it would become a pit of despair again…and I would do it all over. It made me aware of just how much stuff I don’t need – I don’t miss much of it. If any.

Now that spot looks like this:

Well, it did a few weeks ago. I’ll show you the new furniture soon. :)

Here’s another before shot looking back into the space:

And here it is when it was finished:

(Can you find the little photo bomber?)

I say “finished” lightly – still so many things to do. The bathroom is still only about a third done. I’m getting anxious to get that moving – I’d love to have it done for the winter movie nights we plan to have down here. :)

We LOVE this space and I have so many plans for decorating it! I’m trying to force myself to get the bathroom done before I start on more fun stuff. :)

You can see more of our basement over the years and the finishing process here. And you can see more of our loft, (including the book nook!) which used to be the playroom, here.

Now let’s see yours! I love spaces like this – playrooms and basements are my FAVORITE. I have lots of favorites. :)

I’d appreciate a link back, especially if you’d like to be considered for the highlight post:

<div align="center"><a href="http://thriftydecorchick.com/" title="Show Us Your House" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/image34.png" alt="Thrifty Decor Chick" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Here you go! Can’t wait to see your spaces! (And meet me back here tomorrow to see my fall mantel!)