The Ancient Basement–Snow Day Project

We are expected to get a lot of snow (for here) tomorrow, and we’ve had enough notice that we could actually think about, plan, and purchase everything for the project.

We are going to build the shelves that we had planned all along at the bottom of the stairs–to fill this area.

Years ago, I found some old wooden boxes that were used as “lockers” for a local lake that used to be the swimming pool for the local area. I love old boxes and while I bought these to sell when I had an antiques booth, I didn’t sell them, and I love them so much that we’re going to make a proper place for them.

We also have the bottom part of an old (really old) NCR cash register that we used to use for my husband’s keys, wallet, phone, etc at our old house–it saved many hours of searching for those items. We are going to put it on the bottom shelf.

Then, I found an absolutely FABULOUS old globe that came from a school. That’s going to go on the top shelf.

Here’s a sketch of what we’re going to build (and also a peek at our flooring selections):

I ordered most of the items from a local building supply and they delivered it about 90 minutes after I ordered it–amazing! We’re going to use the same tongue and groove beadboard material that we used on the mudroom wall, so I had to go to pick that up yesterday afternoon, because my husband was expecting a really long day (and he was right). I was able to get all 18 pieces in my 4Runner.

The basic plan is to put 1/2″ plywood on the left and right walls. Then we will fir out the back wall with some pressure treated 2″ x 4″ x 8′ boards. This is an exterior block wall, so we will fill the gaps between the studs with foam board, just for a little insulation. For the floor, we will frame it with pressure treated 2″ x 6″ board so that it’s tall enough for a 5″ baseboard that we’ll add later. The ceiling of the unit will be framed out with 2″ x 4″ boards to hold the piece of 3/4″ birch plywood that we’ll use to cover all the framing.

Once that much is done, I will paint the tongues of all the beadboard so that I don’t have the problem of the white peaking through like I did on the mudroom wall. Once those are dry, we’ll trim them to length and install them in the unit. I will paint them once they are installed to keep paint from pooling in the grooves.

After that is all painted, we will install the “floor” and the “ceiling” and paint those. Off to the side, we will be building the shelves and the face frames to give it a finished look. We will also have to add some trim pieces here and there to cover gaps. And of course, all of that will have to be sanded, primed, sanded, and painted before it’s installed.

I’ve been waiting to do this project for a long time, and it’s one that I think that we can finish in a 3 day weekend. I’ll report back next week.

Wish us luck!