We bought all the doors for the basement from a guy up near Toledo, OH. Most of them were painted. This is the door that we selected for the storage room. My husband thinks that this is an exterior door (a detail that will be important later on) so it’s thicker. It has a pocketContinue reading “The Ancient Basement–the door for the storage room”
Category Archives: Renovations
The Ancient Basement–the New Storage Room
When I last posted about the storage room, we had really just started working on it. You can find that post here: https://cathyathomeontheriver.com/2025/10/10/the-ancient-basement-were-back-at-it/ . Basically, we had made an opening for the door; did the rough in for the little bit of electrical that was required; and did the framing. My husband is still workingContinue reading “The Ancient Basement–the New Storage Room”
The Ancient Basement–We’re Back At It!
We have taken a pretty long break from the basement after tackling the ceiling in the “den” portion of the basement. (I stripped the bookshelf, but we haven’t worked on anything big since the ceiling.) My husband’s office in the basement is super depressing and while he could work from home on some days, heContinue reading “The Ancient Basement–We’re Back At It!”
The Ancient Basement–More Progress on the Built In Bookshelf
In my last post about the bookshelf, I left you with the shelves mostly stripped. I had my husband help me move the shelf, so that we could put down a new drop cloth because the one I was using was completely trashed. I put another coat of stripper and plastic on it and scrapedContinue reading “The Ancient Basement–More Progress on the Built In Bookshelf”
The Ancient Basement–A Compendium of Progress Made
I’m going to copy a bunch of the posts about this project in this single post, so if you’re new, or have missed some posts, you’ll be able to catch up on it all. And, it’ll be a walk down memory lane for me. August, 2022: We are starting the process of finishing out ourContinue reading “The Ancient Basement–A Compendium of Progress Made”
The Ancient Basement–A Peek into the Future
After we finished the ceiling, I thought it was silly to have all the furniture and rugs piled up with all our various cabinets, sinks, quarter sawn oak, etc., so I went ahead and cleaned the “den” well and moved everything back in. I put the dropcloths back up because it helps with the illusion.Continue reading “The Ancient Basement–A Peek into the Future”
The Ancient Basement–An Upper Cabinet from a Butler’s Pantry is Being Converted to a Built-In Bookcase
My husband and I drove to Rye, NY over Mother’s Day weekend to pick up a bunch of cabinets that we’re going to use in the basement. Here they are when they were installed in that house: The upper cabinets are about 40″ tall, and we’re going to make a base for them to sitContinue reading “The Ancient Basement–An Upper Cabinet from a Butler’s Pantry is Being Converted to a Built-In Bookcase”
The Ancient Basement–the Ceiling is Finished!
We used Hardie Board Plank sheets for our ceiling because they are waterproof, mold proof, and fire proof. While all of those are really good things, those attributes make the sheets EXTREMELY heavy. This project took so much longer than I would have ever guessed it would. Here is a link on our progress: So,Continue reading “The Ancient Basement–the Ceiling is Finished!”
Push to Finish Potting Shed
Well, I thought that we were going to leave things as they were in the potting shed when I gave you an update on the garden, but I was WRONG. My husband wanted to get it finished and off of his list of things to do, and he didn’t want to move the manufactured stoneContinue reading “Push to Finish Potting Shed”
The Ancient Basement–The Ceiling
We were SO optimistic when my husband took a couple of weeks off in March that we’d get the ceiling up in the basement during that time, but I only got some of the Hardie board painted (the wrong color as it turns out). This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend and the weather wasContinue reading “The Ancient Basement–The Ceiling”
Cathy At Home on the River 