Better Home Challenge: February Update

Thought I got lost in that basement mess, didn't ya? LoL I've spent an awful lot of time down there, for sure. Between that, working on a custom quilt order, and doing some major computer overhauling, it's been a hectic couple of weeks (and I have the overflowing inbox to prove it -- I'm SO behind!). But I thought it was time for a little project update on my basement rec room, so I put together a few "before" and "progress so far" pictures.

The first thing you'll notice is how bright the room is now (aside from the wall color)! My hubby and I went shopping for some much-needed new fluorescent light fixtures on day one, and he had them all installed that night. That improvement alone was like night and day -- literally!

Looking better! The blue Hoosier cabinet you can barely see in the before pic has been moved to our upstairs entryway. I have plans for it later... Lots of junk has been moved out of the way, and now you can really see how bad the painted cement floor looks. We priced vinyl flooring and it looks like about a $500-$600 improvement that won't be happening any time soon. Repainting is more likely, but there won't be time for that this month.

Next view...

The pool table is still buried, but at least you can see that it's there! There was a refrigerator on the right (now moved to the utility room) and a big blue bookshelf that I cleared off and moved into the storage room. Each of these moves involved shifting a whole lot of other stuff, so it's been quite time consuming. But worth it!

Next view...

Loads of stuff have gone out the door, and I'm not finished yet. We have a truckload ready to go to the dump, multiple electronics to be recycled, several bags of trash already gone, and a pile of stuff to be donated next week. My son's girlfriend located a family in need of a twin bed, and that was picked up on Thursday. The room keeps getting bigger and bigger!

The entertainment center was the first thing I tackled after my husband got the lights installed. It was too small for the TV, so some alterations were in order. Here's how it looked before:

And after:

That new drill I got for Christmas is coming in handy! I still need to attach a support/brace piece across the back, but it's holding together fine for now. Just don't try to move it! LoL

When my husband came home that night he said, "Huh, that's a perfect fit. I thought the TV would be way too big." He didn't even notice I had taken the whole thing apart and removed half the shelves. Sheesh!

So that's where things stand as of today. I'm just itching to finish a few small areas that need drywall, and it would be really fun to re-paint, but there's still more clearing out to do and I feel this month slipping away. Bare minimum, I want all the excess stuff gone and the floor mopped before I call it quits. And if I can get that far by the end of next week... then drywall and painting is still a possibility. ;o)