Friends, we are about to embark on a journey. Grab your headlamps, vitamin D supplements and your caffeine supply, and tunnel with me down into the basement of my house. It’s a dirty place where dreams come true, love is found, and the sink is always clogged. In total, probably 30 renters have lived there in the past 5 years. Before Eric and I were married he owned this house, and rented all of the rooms (both upstairs and down) to his buddies.

For the past 3 years we have been living in the top floor of our 1930′s Provo home, and renting the basement, a totally separate dwelling, to college-age women. Upstairs we have two bedrooms, a small bathroom, a kitchen and a family room. We’ve been squeezing all of Eric’s music equipment/studio gear, and all of my crafting/blogging/sewing gear somewhere in the cracks of those spaces. Oh, have I mentioned there is only one closet? And by closet I really mean glorified cupboard. I kid you not.

My house is CONSTANTLY a mess. Mostly because I suck at “regular human” duties (ie. cleaning, scheduling appointments, paying bills) and put way too much energy into what I like to refer to (and I quote Joesph Campbell) “following my bliss.” I blame the mess mostly on my inability to prioritize, but also on the fact we are running two business and raising a CRAZY person (Ginger) in a very small space.

However, the income from the renters was well-worth it/needed..until I started to lose my mind. In my defense, I’m NOT a hoarder. I really don’t want space to just fill with random nick-knacks. I try to watch my consumption! In fact Eric has to hide things from me so I won’t give them away in a bout of hysteria. We both just have hobbies/professions that require room to create, and we are finally able to utilize all of the room our house has to offer.

The bottom floor has 3 bedrooms. As far as renters go, we’ve had pot smokers, pregnant cigarette smokers, and finally some very nice non-smoking coeds. Needless to say, the day we decided to say good-bye, was a VERY HAPPY day for me. Because our house is zoned as a double dwelling, the downstairs also has a full kitchen. Ha, so I will have two kitchens!

So here are the three rooms in the basement we are starting with! My studio and a guest room will be the new upstairs rooms.

I’m just trying to go room by room, and not get overwhelmed. My house has been in disarray for so long, that every room will need a major overhaul. I also have solicited some professional help (well professional in the sense that my friends I’m bumming advice from are professional!). To be 100% honest if you’ll notice, I don’t post much about my house or interiors because I don’t have total confidence in my interior design skillz, and I haven’t spent much time developing them. But I hope with the help of my peeps I can get to a place where it really is a joy to be at home.

This is the room Eric used to live in when we dated. We totally made out in here so much, and now it will be Gigi’s room!

So stay tuned for The Great Basement Facelift! We are painting and getting new carpet this week, and I’ll share my decisions on carpet and wall color (prepared to be underwhelmed!) next week.

xo,
Alison