You may be wondering what I’ve been up to. Where have I been? Besides cursing my camera for starting off 2013 with a non-working auto-focus which forces me to use my iphone camera.

Well, I’ve been right here at home. Working on some no pressure sorts of things at an easy pace. The first of the year had me packing up Christmas

which led to organizing the basement…because I sort of messed it up digging out Christmas decorations and piled up empty boxes in a hurry to resume making the upstairs pretty for the holidays.

All of the decorations are in hiding and the basement clean up is nearly wrapped up. Our scary OLD OLD OLD part of the basement will never be pretty but I do love the additional storage space it provides.  {never say never. I could win the lottery and then…possibilities!} Be warned. These pictures of a 90 year old basement are not for the faint of heart and do look as if they’re still-shots from “Hoarders” {hence, no watermarking. lol!}…not something you’re going to see in the next issue of House Beautiful:

Of course it was one of those “make a bigger mess” before it looks better types of projects”.

• Dig EVERYTHING out.
• Unpack boxes and storage containers.
• Purge.
• Create a pile for donating.
• Fill 3 garbage bags.
• Have tissues on hand…dust can induce sneezing and a runny nose.
• Wash dirty hands every 30 minutes.
• Listen to happy upbeat music, sing, dance throughout the obstacle course you created.
• Separate and organize things in to related piles.
• Pack neatly and in an organized fashion.
• Label boxes and containers.
• Pile it all back up where it will fit.

This may take days. Family might send out a search party. You’ll need a shower with lots of scrubbing. Oh, and lotion for those extra dry hands.

You may wonder why the heck you’ve been hoarding 584 empty boxes of various sizes.

I organized some decorative accents I like having on hand. It’s like my own secret store for shopping from home.

Must have spray paint supply…

I even managed to create a work space using an old farmhouse table. It’s not much of a “project” in the way of fun or pretty or a “oOoOohhh” reveal. But you know how much better it feels to get chaos under control, right?

And it feels sort of like nesting for adding a furbaby to our home in the near future. I want everything to be perfect…even the scary old spidery dusty basement that no one but me sees. Oh and well now, you‘ve had a glimpse too. I know you’re torn between feeling honored and horrified. Sorry about that.

And, all that lead to finding the chartreuse paint that I used on the apartment door…

{Valspar Guilded Pesto}

because yes, the boxes of apartment renovation supplies have been sitting unpacked, haphazardly tossed in a corner from the car. For months. And cleaning/organizing the older part of the basement meant putting those things away too. Finally.

And where am I going with this? Organizing the basement, finding the left over paint? Well that lead to an unplanned mini-project upstairs which I’ll share with you tomorrow.

What have you been up to? Don’t forget to share your latest DIY at the party.