Let’s just say we didn’t buy this house for its basement. It’s essentially a giant black hole of a space where we send our stuff to die…or at least get totally lost, tangled, upended and potentially damaged by rain or mice. Plus the compacted soil foundation is sloped, so you can only stand up fully where you first walk in.

For four years it sat untouched. But now that we have another baby on the way and a whole lot more time on our hands, we knew it was now or never. To spruce up the space without spending much cash, we drafted a plan for a “room” about 12 feet x 8 feet built with mold-resistant drywall. Two of the walls would be the house’s cinderblock foundation and we’d need to leave a large opening to keep the house’s water heater, plumbing, and electrical still accessible.

Here’s a quick synopsis of our process:

Talk about a MESS. This photo depicts years of “Babe, will you take this to the basement?” and then just <I’ll put it here and maybe we won’t need it again anytime soon.> Maybe you have one of the spaces, too?

STEP 1: Take everything out. Make toss/donate/keep piles.

STEP 2: To avoid messing with the cinderblock supports as well as a concrete slab entryway, we marked off a “room” in front of the supports and determined how many cement pavers could be added past the slab to create additional space. We needed to dig out space to place the pavers so they’d be level with the concrete slab. We laid what’s called “paver base” (crushed gravel) below the pavers, topped that with sand, and then laid down the pavers. We knew we’d be covering the floor with an indoor/outdoor rug, so we didn’t need the materials to match or look perfectly cohesive.

STEP 3: To build our two walls, we installed metal studs which are the equivalent of wooden 2 x 4s but moisture-resistant (we don’t have flooding problems, but it’s definitely more damp than inside a home). We spaced the studs every 2 feet and secured them to the cement pavers, cinderblock wall, and ceiling beams. We screwed mold-resistant drywall into the studs, and joined pieces together using joint compound (a pasty substance) and mold-resistant mesh tape.

STEP 4: We screwed drywall into the ceiling beams and cut out a square for access to our electrical box. The flushmount will hug the ceiling with no space between.

STEP 5: PAINT. Paint and more paint. Paint the walls, paint the ceiling, paint the cinderblock (with cement paint). All basic white to make the space feel clean and bright despite being a basement. In the shot above (right) you see the opening we had to leave between the two walls, which leads to the water heater, etc. Certainly not ideal, but real life.

STEP 5: Roll out this cool, graphic outdoor rug from Target that reflects the blue from our exterior siding, feels fresh and modern, and is crazy durable. Install metal shelves to line the walls and store boxes, props, baby gear, suitcases, etc. What couldn’t be stored on the shelves (chairs, bed frames, etc), gets placed just behind the left drywall in as orderly a system as possible. So still not an ideal set-up, but a HUGE improvement given the tight quarters and existing conditions.