It is kind of annoying how ivillage adds the hyperlinks to our text with advertising... Easy to think someone is a spammer when they might not be. Here's some updated final pictures showing the full basement with a "walkaround" of each corner: http://herbygoodness.blogspot.com/2011/02/final-before-and-after-pictures-of-my.html I still need to do some work on my craft area, but basically otherwise, the basement decluttering and organizing is DONE!!! Waaaa hoooo!!!! One of my future projects will be making it look a little more homey, by adding an area rug to my craft area and adding a LARGE exercise mat under that area. I'll be watching thrift shops and flea markets and craigslist and whatnot for cheap stuff. For this project, no, I really didn't purge a ton. In looking through my before pictures when I started, I had estimated I might get rid of no more than 20% of my stuff. I did take about 4 boxes of stuff to goodwill and 1 box of stuff is designated for the habitat for humanity restore store that is opening in our area in a few weeks. We're also taking an old tv to the electronics recycling event in our town this Saturday (nobody on freecycle wanted it). I put our nordictrack ski machine up for sale on craigslist. If it doesn't sell, I'll donate it somewhere. I had three large garbage bags worth of trash and a number of boxes/etc. for recycling. Mostly though, the stuff that was down there just needed to be better organized and put away somewhere. I bought a few more shelving units (I so agree with you on the infrastructure, talley_sue - if you don't have "a place" where you can put things, it all ends up piled on the floor so your choices are purge and/or make storage options!). I lucked out in that my neighbor redid his garage this summer and threw out three 5 shelf shelving units (one matched our basement shelves, one matched our garage shelves, one didn't match at all - I shared that one with a friend who I have been helping with decluttering her basement) and one 2 shelf shelving unit and two 3 shelf shelving units. So that definitely helped me a lot. Those 5 shelf shelving units (24" deep) that I LOVE LOVE LOVE are from Home Depot. They are plastic and just snap together easy peasy. Cost is about $41 each right now, so they definitely aren't cheap. I really strongly prefer them over the metal shelves. They are so much stronger, easier to assemble and move, and nicer looking, in my opinion, unless you can afford the stainless steel restaurant quality shelving. The one caution I would give anyone starting out in buying organizing supplies is to put totes on the shelves at the store before buying. A lot of totes didn't fit well (just barely too wide to put two side by side or just barely too tall to go on shelf). I did also invest in some new totes (on sale at Home Depot for $1-$5), including a bunch of sweater boxes and shoe boxes. I had a mish mash of assorted totes I had picked up over the years. I'm happy to say I was able to use up a large number of those in this project. I am trying to transition as much cardboard into plastic as possible, just in case it ever floods down there. Finally, I put labels on everything, since in my world, out of sight is out of mind and with totes I can't see through, I might never find things again if I hid them all away. :) Eventually we want to finish the basement, but that's a long way off and even when we start, it will likely be done in stages for financial reasons. For now though, at least our basement is a whole heck of a lot more useable than it was. Here is a link that might be useful: Final Pics of Basement Decluttering

Thank you everyone. Wish I could remember the other GWer who did something similar in a closet. That was where I got the idea from. The whole thing cost $35. The hooks were $5 each, and we already had the baskets and the paint. DH did the whole thing in one weekend. I am NOT handy like that. I just have the ideas, and he carries them out for me. In our last house we had plaster walls, and every time I hung a picture we ended up with a huge hole in the wall. He has banned me from all power tools- LOL Can't wait to show you all before and after pics of my whole first floor!

Thank you justgotabeme! It is true, we find ourselves in the FRONT of the house quite often! The first evening, we poured cocktails and just sat out front and stared. We are very pleased! CEfreeman-Ohhh, what a long, peaceful country driveway that is! I wouldn't want it to look too "maintained!" Hi Lyfia! I posted quite awhile ago, I was very gung ho on the faux wood grain...as a matter of fact, I wanted to do a faux carriage door look, adding the rustic hardware. Most people were against it...and this was when I was planning on painting my house a dark color. Now that my house is so light, I don't want a big dark expanse that takes up such a huge chunk of the front. If my house were bigger, or the paint darker,I would consider it. I do love that look, just not for this house at this time. birdlover-yes, we are thinking two big black pots on either side of the arch...and maybe on the far side of the garage...with bougainvilla or some flowering vine set on a trellis just a bit off from the house walls so they don't actually grow on the walls! The reason we are thinking black pots is...when you drive to our house, you first see the south side of it...with a row of windows with black awnings over each window. So we feel the big black pots will tie the side and the front together. lukkiriish-thank you, I just love those california spanish homes! Thanks for comparing my home to one of those! Ok, again, I really appreciate every single comment. It has been so much work and money and as much as my hubby and I enjoy it, it is nice to see it be well received here!

Thank you all for the kind comments. Honestly - I envisioned more of a midnight blue. The color looked much darker on the chip! And the pulls were advertised to be 3.5 inches wide. Much to my surprise they arrived and measured in at a “beefy” 7 inches wide! When life gives you lemons... I make my own chalk paint. I probably have enough plaster of Paris to last my lifetime. Saving on the paint lets me do cool pulls. At the moment I have a tray with a pair of wine glasses and a chilled decanter of wine on it, and I’m calling it “After The Rodeo.”