Our basement is getting a makeover

My sister has been living with us for a couple of years and is now moving out. She has been living in the space of the basement that I have been dying to turn into a school room. There is a side room in the basement that must have been built to stand as a bedroom or an office. We tried using that space when we first started homeschooling, but it just wasn't a large enough place to let the littles roam around.  I had to keep them locked in to stay out of my sisters things! There are also no windows in that room and the only lighting we had in there were fluorescent lights from the previous owners. It just wasn't fun staying down there all morning in the dreary light.

We've been schooling in our family room, just off the kitchen for the last year. While it has proved a wonderful alternative, it's really an eyesore. We host a small group for our church and there is always a mess leftover (mostly from Gavin) that we are always rushing to clean up. I'm getting pretty tired of picking up pencils, markers, paintbrushes, you name it. I know that all of the mess just comes with homeschooling and having two little ones ages 2 and 1, but that doesn't mean I have to like it! It has much to do with a lack of storage space in the small family sitting area.

My sister hasn't moved all of her things out just yet, so we've been working around that.  First, I had the most brilliant idea to paint our french doors black. I adore the contrast of the painted black doors against white trim and thought it would be a rather quick way to transform the area. HA HA HA! It was a disaster. I know that it was because of the paint I used so I'm heading over to Sherwin Williams today to fix that. That paint was made foolproof for people like me! Nick (sweet husband) has been painting the walls one of my favorite grays. I'm not sure those walls have been painted since the house was built....20 years ago. We filled so many holes from nails, screws, TEN MILLION different cable outlets, and a couple of old phone plug-ins. Painting was pretty much a necessity just to cover up all the drywall repair.

The lighting was also pretty poor in the basement. If we are going to be using that area for the main chunk of our school time, having good lighting is essential.  We headed to Lowe's and picked up a pretty bronze track light and a couple of boob lights. If you don't understand the term boob light, just look at one. See?  There was also a light at the top or our stairs that screamed "I BELONG IN THE 80'S!" Not in the good way. Nick suggested we go ahead and replace that one as well. It's starting to look like a new space!

The kids have even wanted to spend time down there. It's a miraculous thing. Getting them to go to the basement before was like telling them to enjoy a trip to the dentist for an un-medicated filling. Not pleasant. They've been begging to go down there the past couple of days to read, play games, and do school work. I'm almost sure it's to do with the new bean bags. We saw them at Target where they are usually $29.99, not cheap in my book. Yesterday though, they were on sale for $19.99! The kids really wanted them, so I mentioned they could use some of their savings to purchase one.  Gavin of course grabbed one as well and lugged the entire thing through the store (it's twice his size). We couldn't really say no to such a dedicated two year old. I know it's a worthy investment if it gets him to sit still for story time!

We have a long way to go, but I'm really getting excited to spend our days down there!