Not Your Usual Tablescape Thursday Post, Lantern-Centerpiece Storage

Welcome to the 737th Tablescape Thursday! Lots going on here today, I have an electrician here installing a second outlet on the unfinished side of the basement. I moved my workbench from the semi-finished side of the basement to the unfinished side. The unfinished part of the basement only has one outlet. I may eventually add a smallish chest freezer to that space, so I needed an additional outlet for my workbench area since the freezer would go right in front of the existing outlet. With painters and electricians here all this week–and all the painting I’ve been doing in the storage room, I didn’t get a chance to set a table. So today, I thought I’d share something table related while also giving you a look into the storage room now that I’ve finished painting in that space.

As mentioned in a previous post, the storage room used to be a crawl space with bare earth and a vapor barrier on top. Many, many years ago, I had a cement floor added, along with lots of shelving for storage. Here’s how it looked the last time I shared this room. I had just finished painting the shelves and almost all of the walls, but I still needed to paint that section of wall underneath the shelves. That was the hardest part of all to paint!

 

That lower wall section is all done now. May I just say, concrete is completely unforgiving on the knees! I could have used some knee and elbow pads! I completed painting the floor yesterday evening with Drylock Concrete Flooring Paint in the color, Dove Gray. I still need to go back and do a bit of touch-up with the white Drylock that I used on the walls, but for the most part, the painting in this space is done. Yay! So why am I sharing this space for Tablescape Thursday?

 

You may remember that I was storing a lot of the lanterns that I use in table centerpieces atop the cabinets in my garage.

Garage Storage

 

I ended up removing those after I decided I really just wanted a clean open look here in the garage. So where did those lanterns end up?

Complete Garage Makeover

 

They are now being stored in the freshly painted storage area here in the basement. Do you see them there at the end of the shelves on the right? Someone recently asked about the height of this space. I just measured and it’s exactly 72 inches (6 feet) to the floor joists. I’m 5’4″ so I can easily walk around without bending over. This extra storage space has been a blessing!

 

Hard to get a great photo of this area since it’s not that wide, but I’ve moved most of my lanterns to this spot already. I hope to get all the other shelves filled today. May need to take an Advil to get that done. Ha!

 

Looking forward to sharing this space once I have everything stored back away here. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have it all painted! Now for the fun part, putting it to use!

 

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Tablescape Thursday


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Comments

  1. What a joy to have more storage. Wish I had that room! You did a good job and that was some work. I am currently mired in way too many red and green bins. Am going to have to start letting some go.

  2. Looks amazing. You did a wonderful job of painting. How I wish I had extra storage like that. Enjoy it!

  3. Tina W Reynolds says

    The two most beautiful words in the English language: EXTRA STORAGE! Your garage work and this project are super examples of making space work FOR you instead of against you. Inspired by your successes, I have been dealing with my garage and it is now functioning the way we need to for this chapter in our lives. It feels “first class” to pull our vehicles in now!
    Today I am raking leaves and I will definitely need an Advil for that…

    • Ha! So true!
      That’s awesome! It feels sooo good to get things more organized, I know! It really is amazing how important our garages are. We use them almost daily, and usually multiple times a day. I know you are loving it every time you come and go. 🙂

  4. Rita C at Panoply says

    Looks great, Susan. You def should invest in knee pads! I wear them just to do housework (vacuuming under beds). Working on Thanksgiving now, but with an eye toward Christmas already. I bought a new tree, upsizing once again, hoping it’ll be a good one after spending lots of hours shopping and comparing online. Ugh, that’s just about as fun as watching paint dry. Have a good weekend.

    • I should! Wish I had thought of that before I got started. I’m mostly done now but I need to buy some for future projects. I know, Christmas tree shopping isn’t high on my “fun” list. lol Glad you found one! I bet it felt great to upsize to a bigger one…love that!

  5. I am SO excited about your basement Susan! With your virtual encouragement, I’m inching closer and closer to doing something like this with our 100 year old dungeon! 🙂 Thanks as always for hosting the party, and for your never-ending inspiration!

  6. When we finished our basement 15 years ago, we left unfinished the utility room and a long but narrow space we dubbed the “decorations closet”. Needless to say we’ve outgrown it and its heavy duty shelves, and have a yearly adventure of moving the stuff for all the holidays around. Even after a major purge, lol. (Giving thanks for daughter’s new house which is in need of decorations — lol!!)

  7. How about using a gardening knee pad for working on the hard floor? I’ve found that helpful! Just curious why you keep your outdoor shovels and stuff in the basement instead of in the garage closer to where it’s used?

    • I think I used to have one of those, I definitely could have used it for this project! I think I’ll invest in some knee pads for future projects…gotta save those knees!
      Well, there is a door to the outside/backyard about 12 feet away from that storage room. Now that I’ve fully renovated the garage, including with new flooring, I don’t want to store anything there that I don’t use every day or at least weekly. I have a guy who cuts and edges my grass now (I cut it for 25+ years myself) and he also trims the hedges when they need it, so I rarely have a need to use the garden tools right now. When I landscape my backyard one day, it will be super convenient to have them just a few feet away from the door to the backyard.

  8. Looks great Susan, all your hard work is really paying off! A nice, tidy and bright (from the white paint) space for storage I love it!!! Hugs, Brenda

  9. Susan, you are the hardest working woman I know! The basement is going to be so nice and won’t it feel great when it is all organized and clean! My husband bought knee pads and he swears by them for working on putting furniture together and painting, etc. Can’t wait to see finished work. You have given us all storage envy for sure!

    • My body feels like it’s been run over today. Ha! I’m giving my poor feet the day off. I’m definitely investing in a set of knee pads, that’s an awesome idea!

  10. All your hard work is really paying off now Susan! I’m sure we all have storage envy! Thank you for the party today~

  11. Carol Norton says

    More storage–is there ever enough?! I would give a cautionary tale, however, with the uncovered ceiling. Beware loose fiberglass fibers drifting downward. They will eventually get on all your wonderful lanterns, but more importantly, they could drift on you, and in your eyes. I got a terrible corneal abrasion from it years ago, made worse by my wearing contacts. Be careful!

    • Thanks for that warning, Carol. It’s pretty thick and doesn’t seem to go anywhere unless I snag a section and pull it down, but I’ll be careful. Sadly, I don’t wear contacts anymore…they don’t work for me know since I’m sooo nearsighted. I miss contacts!

  12. I like Jenna’s comment above: storage envy! Plus, clean storage with electricity and a plug(s). Your hard work once again pays off.

  13. Well, I had garage envy, and now I have storage envy! Can’t wait for your basement reveal!

  14. I are meticulous and pay attention to every detail. I am surprised you did not want to at least rough in the ceiling. I read the earlier post about the danger of having insulation get in your eyes. Insulation makes me itchy when I am around it. I love reading your blog. You have so much energy.

    • Thanks, Lin…but no need to worry. I’ve been working in that space now for a while and haven’t had any issues. I have bigger fish to fry right now–gotta start planning for flooring on both the finished and unfinished sides and possibly adding some drywall to the unfinished side of the basement. Also, I have two bathrooms that I need to renovate. Should be a fun 2023!

  15. What I love is the sleek clean look in the garage with all the lanterns gone!!

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