February Renovations

Anna was cleared to paint

After 11 years (and with one teenager in the house), the time had come to update the basement.  Since the time we moved into the house, the basement has served as Anna's play area with a side area for Joe and Theresa to telework.  For those that have not seen it, the basement was decorated with 1970s wood paneling (light wood, not dark) and included a bar area.  Judging from the marks on the carpet, a pool table had been in the mix at one point in time.  There was no need to change it for Anna's purposes - art projects, playing with friends, soccer in the basement, jam sessions, etc.....  Since Anna has outgrown her toys and perhaps needed to graduate from hunching over her kid table with the sewing machine on it to an actual adult size table - now seemed the time to renovate.

Like all renovations in the Fagella house, they are often delayed because there is not agreement on what exactly to do.  There was agreement on what the basement would be used for - a teen hang out area.  We started with grand visions of removing the paneling and completely re-doing the basement. After considering the time, money, and effort involved with this idea, we moved to painting the paneling.  This would also require a lot of effort that would inevitably domino to other things (ceiling, carpet, etc...)/  We decided that paneling will come back into style as soon as we paint it, so why don't we just clean the paneling?  First decision made.

Regardless of what else we decided, at a minimum the basement needed to be cleaned out.  This involved Anna going through toys, Theresa also going through her own toys (there are a lot of Barbie dolls) and Joe going through his work stuff (it took some convincing, but he finally relented that his computer manuals were woefully out of date and could be trashed). This was a multiple day effort that yielded many donated items.

Next on the list was furniture.  Thanks to the doorway, there is only certain sizes of furniture that will fit into the basement.  One idea was a small sectional, but the only thing that would fit was from IKEA and was admittedly uncomfortable.  This required a visit to IKEA (that is a field trip in itself) that left us overwhelmed with ideas.  The other idea was to move the futon from upstairs down to the basement.  This would solve the issue of fitting through the door and would allow space for a long desired piece of furniture in the office space:  a recliner.  There was much debate about this and the advantages to having a futon upstairs (including for nap purposes).  After much recliner research by Joe (this involved ordering 3 different recliners and canceling two of them) we decided to go with that option.

In preparation for the arrival of the recliner, it became apparent that the office needed painting (it truly is a domino effect).  Thanks to some of the neighborhood open houses, a new paint color was identified and this past Saturday was spent painting the office.  Anna's painting skills have advanced to the point that Joe lets her do the edging (Joe is very particular about this so it is to her credit she was cleared for this effort).  Her ability to roll the paint was not there yet after lots of splattering (she walked off the job after her supervisor gave her feedback on the quality of her work).  When it was all done, the office looked great and is waiting for delivery of the new chair this week.

So, where are the pictures of all of this?  Well, it is not done yet.  The futon is laying in pieces in the basement because two of the screws were bent.  It is also awaiting a new cover....and for Anna to put the IKEA coffee table together.  The chair arrives this week.  Stay tuned.....