Downstairs at The ‘New’ House

Hi Everyone! I hope you had a fun fourth of July yesterday. Ours was quiet, after yet another day of unpacking boxes. I’m just amazed at how much ‘stuff’ two people can accumulate. It’s time to pare down! (Yes, I should’ve done that before the move, I realize.)

Now that I have internet service I’m trying to get caught up. Sheesh. Seven days without being online, you can’t imagine what piled up virtually. While I’m wading through my to-do lists, I wanted to show you my part of the new house – the downstairs level. Again, these are all “before” pics because I have high hopes of sharing in-progress pics to a fabulous “after”. Some day. You can find Mom’s level, the upstairs, here.

Okay, in the photo above you can see Sadie on the lower step which leads into the ‘main’ room downstairs. To the left is that wonderful wall of bookshelves and a fireplace.

Did I mention this house has tons of storage? Thank goodness. The ‘boxes’ at the base of the bookshelves have hinges for even more storage.

I want to turn this little area into a sitting room. Somehow. I’m looking at thrift stores now because all of the ‘good’ furniture is upstairs in Mom’s level. I plan on making some foam cushions for the ‘fireplace’ seats. Like window seats, you know?

My decorating vision for the downstairs is sort of a vintage/rustic/country feel. Cute, but not cutesy. Old, but not rickety. Remember that old vintage door I pulled out of the other garage? That’ll be a showpiece, I hope. Some day.

We’re also selling our mountain cabin this summer so I might bring some things in from there. I just don’t want to get too-too rustic in here. Colors? I’m thinking white or off-white, turquoise (natch) and maybe some red accents. I’m scouring Pinterest, now that I have internet again.

Moving on . . .

There are two entrances to the outside, the slider and this door in the Office. The house came with drapery hardware over every window, although I doubt that I’ll use traverse rods. We’ll see.

Hey, dig the fancy wiring on the overhead light in the Sitting Room. Cute, huh? I told you this place was quirky. I’ll have to head over to Pretty Handy Girl to learn how to do some lighting wiring.

View from the other corner shows the Exercise room and the Kitchen.

 

The Exercise Room is tiny. Just a little over 9’ square, and the movers crammed every single piece of exercise equipment Mom has, plus some of my brother’s, so it’s jammed and unusable. sigh. Some of it is really heavy so I have to get someone to help me move it up to the garage for storage.

I’ve been doing my best to move stuff around with a dolly but when it comes to the uber heavy stuff, I’m licked.

The funny thing is, I’m getting in such good shape just watering the yards, walking up and down the stairs a million times a day, and everything else that comes with a big house, I probably won’t need to use much of the equipment. Other than the Pilates reformer. That’s essential for my back.

Gosh, I’m wordy today. Sorry ‘bout that. Just scroll thru the pics. You won’t hurt my feelings.

Ok, sorry about the fuzzy pics from my phone, but you get the idea of this side of the Kitchen. See the ‘black hole’? Nice, huh? The house is on a slope so the windows on this side look out into . . . . blackness. Curtains will help, but I’m thinking of a little trompe l’oeil mural on plywood with some lighting out there.

That to-do list just keeps on growing.

The laundry is in the downstairs kitchen too. Plus we had the movers bring a refrigerator down here. (That’s a story in itself!) Since three of the downstairs exterior walls are cinderblock, it stays much cooler down here than upstairs. So we eat down here from time to time.

Yes, I let Mom come down once in a while. Kidding! I joke!

Now to the “selling point” of the entire house. Not really, but almost.

Look at that. That is almost an entire wall of storage! The width of the room is 11-1/2 feet. So that’s a big chunk of goodness right there.

With adjustable shelving, thankyouverymuch. (I originally thought this would house all of my art & craft supplies. That was before we moved Mom’s – yes, Mom’s – kitchen stuff over here. Let’s just say we have enough cooking & baking equipment to start a food blog.)

Did I just say that? Justshootmenow.

This room wound up being my office. It’s 11’5” wide by 13’8” long. Huge, right? Loads of potential. That white wall there between the kitchen and the smaller rooms? That’s where I’ll shoot my painting videos & classes. (squeee!)

You can also see in this pic how dark the kitchen is without a light on. Ugh. At the top of my wish list was good lighting, but it’s at a premium here with mainly north eastern exposure. Oh well. The rest of the amenities make up for it.

The Studio. The brightest room downstairs! Not huge (11’8” x 11’2”) but, combined with the outer office, I have a ton more room than before.

Notice that little corner oddity? That, my friends, is peg board. It’s like some angel read my mind when this house was listed.

A smallish closet, but ample. And the view out the windows! Oh, I’ll have to take Marlon’s Nikon and take some good photos to show you. Seriously, I was a ‘hermit’ before but now . . . it takes a lot to get me outta here.

Back towards the door, with my ‘shadow’. She’s actually adapted really well to the move. Although, Mom hasn’t left her yet. Tomorrow is the day though, when we both go to Sacramento to get our hair done. Too hot for Sadie to ride with us. I think she’ll be fine though.

My cave bedroom. I chose this room over the other for two reasons: 1) it’s carpeted and 2) I needed the light in the Studio for painting. Lemme tell you, the cinderblock walls and dim lighting is most conducive to sleep. That is, when my legs don’t wake me up at 4 a.m. with cramps.

It’s been a ridiculously hot week here.

Same size as the Studio, same closets. I don’t have a ton of clothes so it works just fine.

 

Going into the bathroom is a nice wall of built-ins. Yep, more storage.

Standard bath. It looks brighter than it actually is because the window goes to the ‘black hole’, like the Kitchen. But it’s really okay and I love the handrails. (Yes, I’m getting older, mkay?)

It’s a blank slate so, of course, I have a ton of ideas to decorate it and ‘make it mine’. Just like the rest of the downstairs.

Can you feel my joy? This house is a blessing beyond belief and I’m really, really ready for a fresh start.

Last stop on the tour is the inside of the garage. This isn’t downstairs, it’s up above the house a bit.

One bay has a work desk, and shop lights. (!)

The other side has a wall of shelving. Unbelievable right? Not to mention that I already have some nice plastic units to put up too.

But these pics were taken on our walkthru. Right now the garage looks a tad bit different. As a matter of fact, I’m headed out there this morning to unpack some boxes and shuffle things around a bit. It’s the first morning under 80 degrees we’ve had in a week! Then I’m doing some painting today.

All of my paints & brushes are unpacked and are in some semblance of order so I’m so anxious to get back to painting! It’s been nearly three weeks and as my paintbrush goes, so does my peace of mind. Which should give you a glimpse of what I’m like to be around right now. (not pleasant) But today is the day! The rest of the boxes can wait while I get my paint flowing.

How about you? Are you painting anything fun? Or maybe even a wall or two?

Colleen

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