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”
Tag Archives: diy
Gift Wrapping and Sources
I love to wrap a beautiful package, but people who know me will tell you that if it’s magazine worthy, there is probably the worst prank gift in a gorgeous box. Over the years, I have found some fantastic sources for reasonably priced packaging items, and some are even made in the USA! Cream CityContinue reading “Gift Wrapping and Sources”
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–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–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
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”
The Ancient Basement–More Progress on the Shelf at the bottom of the stairs
So this project is moving WAY more slowly than I ever expected, but here we are. We have made more progress than it’s going to appear in the following photos. So, what you can’t see from these photos is that the left and right walls are plumb and parallel (and that took a LOT ofContinue reading “The Ancient Basement–More Progress on the Shelf at the bottom of the stairs”
The Ancient Basement–Shelf at the bottom of the stairs
We started this project during the weekend that we got snow and were stuck at the house. I think I jinxed us when I said I thought we could accomplish it over a long weekend. No such luck. I’ve had a few people ask how the project is going, so here is the update. IContinue reading “The Ancient Basement–Shelf at the bottom of the stairs”
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, IContinue reading “The Ancient Basement–Snow Day Project”
Cathy At Home on the River 