Current State of Our Basement

As we prepare our home for sale, I see the need to get our basement in better order. I know many would think these pictures show organization. And they do. However, I know that it could be better. I also know there are things in this storage area of ours that are really clutter. In fact, I went down to the basement on Saturday thinking I could do some work down there. I found myself in a state of overwhelm. It looked like too much work. 

I decided to take pictures so I could share this problem of mine in a blog post (or really a serious of posts.) I've noticed lately when I'm reading other blogs that the pictures are helpful to really see the clutter or zero on something that could be worked on. A snapshot of one area helps that focus. 

The picture below is to the right as you walk into our storage room. I see three lamps my husband had in an apartment. Not using. So need to decide if they should be kept. There are boxes and bubble wrap which may not all be needed. One of the bins on the floor has donations in it currently. The bin on the chair is made up of items I want to sell. Oh, and it's partially hidden but there is a shadow box on the floor by the dresser...nothing in it! 

That rug on the floor was a $20 Craigslist find. Thinking it should go. But may be it helps dress up the room, or maybe it is distracting. I'll probably have to experiment. All the items on the chairs need to find other places to go, likely some of these will move with my husband in a couple weeks.

Check out the pictures of my shelves below:

The top shelf is pretty good. There is just one item up there I would be willing to part with, but I don't think the girls are ready. \

Second shelf needs help! In fact I think half the items up there could go. I feel I need to remove it all and decide what gets to go back and if there is another place for any of the items. I might be able to store some craft items in the empty black drawer in the hallway outside the storage room. There are pictures and wedding keepsakes that need to be considered.

Third shelf is sewing, craft, home decor and kitchen items. There is a little bit of fabric I could part with, The home decor items are not my favorites and they are not out currently. I'm holding on thinking the could be helpful staging items. I want to get the kitchen items back up to the kitchen. I think this is possible because of some recent purging I did there.

Fourth shelf is electronics, boxes for electronics, scrap booking tools and paper on the left side. The right side is boxes of keepsakes of the girls. They should be gone through, but I think they can stay for now.

Fifth shelf is really all keepsakes, except for that area where there is a step stool and lids for containers that are elsewhere in our home. The gray bin on the right is all pictures, some are in albums, others are in frames, and other just in a box. That bin could have it's own week or month for purging!


The picture below shows a section of our basement to the left of the shelves pictured above. See the toys and games? I would guess only two shelves are anything our girls are even interested in, but some of it we keep for when younger children visit. I see a ball and an electronic game that I think we could part with from the shelves. There may be a few other smaller items in a bin that can leave. That desk chair, two footlockers, cedar chest and exercise ball all need to be considered soon as well. And finally, I see a stack of bins that I'm pretty sure are filled with art, or maybe Lego sets. Just need to dig in a bit and see what we can combine or let go of.

I'm keeping that fan! I may need it in the colder climate we are moving to. The dollhouse it probably being kept for now, which reminds me there is hidden doll furniture in a bin on that last shelf! Right in front of the doll house is a box of items I'm currently accumulating of things that stay with the house. Right now there are appliance manuals, and extra parts for things installed with the home.

Oh look! Finally an area I can see is just fine. There isn't anything here I want to get rid of. I want and use our utility tables, as well as those kitchen table leaves. And the army gear. We know that has to stay! We already went through all of that last month.

To the right of the Army gear is a section of our basement that goes under the outside porch. It's a pretty good storm shelter which I'm going to miss having. We have two boxes for our televisions, two cat crates, a speaker, and a bed frame box. The plastic covers a twin mattress that we often store in the basement. The speaker is the only thing there I need to check on. 

And look! Art. My daughter folded 1000 cranes and then mounted them so they could be hung from the ceiling. She just didn't want then in her room, so we have them in the basement! I'm a little concerned how that may get packed up. Maybe hung in a wardrobe box! Oh, and there's that paint stash that I worked on last week! Still a lot of paint, but it stays.

That is the current state of things in our storage area. Not terrible. I'm a bit interested in consolidated things so it doesn't seems as thought I have stuff running around all the walls of the room, which is exactly what it looks like right now!

I will do my best to post updates related to the progress in the basement. Any suggestions for how I should change things for getting things ready to sell? I'm open to ideas and thoughts.