Basement Office Progress, Kinda Sorta

Do you ever worry that your "temporary" solution to a home improvement project will become permanent? I'm sure that's what really happened with many of our Previous Owner's weird fixes. They didn't mean to do a half-assed job; they simply didn't have time to go back for a more permanent solution.

But I swear, my basement solution is only temporary! Sometime in the next year, we'll get around to finishing it properly.

My office used to be the workshop. There was a grotty old workbench still sitting below the south window when we moved in, as well as an assortment of ugly cabinets, shelves that were falling apart, and, oddly, an old shipping crate for a harpsichord that had been converted into a low shelf. And my gosh, it was filthy. Dirt, spider eggs, and more dirt everywhere. I'm only sorry I didn't get a picture!

Well, we ripped out the old ceiling boards, which had an inch-thick layer of coal dust and tore down some of the drywall. There is one wall left, which we won't tear out until we work on the electrical. I washed down the walls and scrubbed the floor. We replaced the windows, which I'll blog about shortly, and I set up the day bed--perfect for napping on the job--with the super discounted Tommy Hilfiger bedding I bought. And then I tackled the remaining drywall with the same mint green paint I used in the storage room.

Here's a before of the wall:

Here's the after:

The drywall is in total crap condition with holes and gouges, and it was never installed properly and doesn't reach the ceiling. But until it's replaced, at least it will be clean. It was actually hard to get the paint to cover in some areas; I think the wall was used as a way to clean paint brushes of excess paint or solvent. The wall had some ugly splotching.

I got some simple curtains at Target for both windows and tension rods to hang them (this photo is taken with my back to the desk; for an office, it's not looking too officey in these pics, is it?):

And then I used some of the scrap carpet left over from recarpeting my mom's other house to cover the concrete floor:

What we still need to do for this room, besides the electrical and new drywall for the two inner walls, is to install new ceiling tiles, paint the lower half of the concrete walls with masonry paint, strip the gray paint off the solid wood lintels, figure out a way to buff the bricks and remove some of the paint to give them a more whitewashed look, and decide what we're going to do about the floor--I'm thinking Mexican tile with scatter rugs.

But for now, it looks pretty homey, doesn't it? (I'll settle for clean.)

I just hope it's temporary.