Absolutely inspiring!!!! I can't believe how much larger it looks with all the plantings, paths and "bones". It makes me feel like "I can do it" when I get inspired to take on a job that just seems too big. I just love everything about it. You should pat yourselves on the back for a job well done. Carol

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

Cleo- the original stovetop fit in a bigger hole than the "new" one, so that piece of stainless was jammed in there to cover the hole. Needless to say, it did not stay very well! The tile backplash and counter were original to the home, built in the early 50's, and those switches on the wall were the controls! That is not grout- that was how the tile was glazed or painted or whatever. Heheheh, so many people used to comment on the "retro" decorating, and liked to play with the switches. raehelen- yes, I got a great deal on the granite. The slabs were discounted from 20/sf to 4.99/SF because there were irregular areas in them that limited the useful squarefootage, and they'd been sitting around for a while. There was a stack of reduced slabs, and I asked to see some of the ones hidden in the back of the stack, and low and behold, there were three slabs hidden back there that were gorgeous....... Even the granite guy said something about how that stack had not been touched for a while. I had even been to that granite yard twice before, and not thought to ask to look deep in that stack. I bought 2 slabs, for $464, and there was a bit of waste, but I still have enough left to make a bathroom vanity countertop! The fabrication was $2285. I was quoted between $1800-4500 by other fabricators. Oh, and the cabinets are santos and santa maria mahogany, no stain.

Gosh, you guys are so nice. Thanks for all your nice comments. Here are some answers to a few questions: The Backsplash: I feel so sorry for all those poor souls who agonize over the backsplash--asking for mock-ups, changing their minds a thousand times. It is a hard decision. I just hauled a piece of my granite, a cabinet door, my floor tile, and an inspiration photo around to about 6 different tile stores, sat down, and sat "give me your best idea." The best idea was from Trinity Tile here in Central Florida: Interceramic, Oxide Ceramic tile in Graphite ( a dark chocolate brown) color 6x6 tiles were $3.45 a square foot, 1x6 pieces were $2.35 a piece. The 3x6 subway tiles and the 2x2 inserts were just cut from the 6x6 by a great tile guy. Floor: the floor is a chiseled edge travertine in an Ashlar (sometimes called Venetian) pattern. It comes in 4 different sizes and then the pattern is created Coffee Pot: Is Kitchen Aid Pro and yes, it makes a great cup of coffee.