My basement mess

One of my new year's resolutions was to get my basement studio back in working condition. As most who read my blog know, I'm a neat freak and an organizer. I keep everything in zones. Zones are important for setting up specific work areas.

Although I don't have fancy shelving or built in cabinets to hide my "stuff," I try to keep everything neat and tidy because I have so much of it. I can't work in chaos, so keeping everything tidy and in its place is important to me. Stuff can be distracting if it is in a state of clutter and confusion. Therefore, you can see that I've tried to keep my work space tidy and neat.

I am truly embarrassed by the mess in my basement, but I can truthfully say I didn't make it. And I realize that it will look good again, but probably not for awhile.

This is basically what the west wall looked like before the frozen pipe. I had moved my cutter upstairs, along with the beige chair you see to the left. However, just about everything else was here. In fact, this is what I saw when I first entered the room.

Now, this is what I see!!

This shelving, which originally set against my north wall, is now just inside my door.

Before, the door on the right is the entry door, and the one on the left is the closet door. I was unable to take a current photo in this position.

This is another before shot of the closet door and my empty bottles and bath salts.

This is a photo of the door to the room. Everything is stacked in the space where I took the photo above of both doors.

This is the closet. There is another room behind it that houses my central heat and air units and my hot water heater. I can't understand why the restoration company didn't cut the entire walls out, but they only removed the part that was wet.

A pretty dark photo, this is the closet area and corner that used to hold my bath salts and bottles.

Here is another view of the area between the two doors. I had all the west wall (first photo shown) boxed up and in the hall, but in order to get their equipment in, the restoration people brought some of the boxes back in and just strung them where they could find room.

This is my south wall and work bench. To the left is what I called my "adhesive" tower. It held all my glues, tapes, and things I used to attach two items together. Below that, under the work table is a smaller table that houses my framing equipment. Everything is marked and labeled, using printer paper, bold letters, then colored.

This is what the "mess" looks like today. The plumbers moved everything from the north wall to the one area I had cleared, packed, and moved to the hallway.

Here is a better view of what was behind the wall and the mess everyone made storing things in a helter skelter way. This will all be boxed up today so the contractor can come in tomorrow and begin the renovation.

Again, just to orient you to the room, this is the west wall. I boxed up everything stored here and stacked it neatly in the hallway. You can see the button and bead storage area that brightens the north west corner.

This is what that corner looks like now. You can see there is no ceiling anymore, only studs.

Here is a better view. The floor has taken a real beating, too.

This is the north wall. These are the shelving units the plumbers pushed out of the way. I had to stop them long enough to box up the fragile glass on the top shelf of the white unit.

This is what the northwest corner looks like now,and this is the north wall.

I hope the next photos that I have for you will show some progress.