Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

| By | | 326 Comments

How To Organize A Basement Workshop

Now that we’ve cleared out our backyard’s weed & liriope convention, let’s move on to another area that has been sorely lacking our attention. Yes, let’s spend some time in our basement, shall we? Oh wait – that sounds like an invitation to get murdered or something. Um, let’s just talk about our basement. You may recall that it recently went from a shameful deck-debris-filled no man’s land…

Bagster 1 Basement Messy

…to a slightly more presentable space thanks to our Bagster rental a few weeks ago.

Bagster 9 Basement Clean

Well, that Bagster purge and our recent yard sale were the kick in the butt that I’ve needed to finally put some energy into this room. Because honestly, we’ve put ZERO effort into organizing or fixing up this space since moving in nearly two years ago. It’s been kind of a dumping ground. But I guess that first picture gave that away.

We tackled a similar basement in our last house – a small cinder block fortress accessible from a separate exterior door only.

BaseOne Old Basement

But there are some key differences to these basements – and some lessons that we learned from the last one that will guide how we approach this one. For instance, the last one was kind of a glorified storage space. We didn’t work down there ever (that’s what the garage was for) so some of the effort that we put into “finishing” the room ended up being overkill. Sure it was nice to have the walls and floor painted (and it definitely seemed to help with resale) but we were barely down there to ever enjoy it. It was mostly just where all of our holiday decorations lived in the off-season, which now live in the attic of this house.

This new basement is MUCH more functional because it still serves as a helpful storage space for some things (like paint, unfinished furniture, tools, etc) but in the absence of a garage, it has also become my workshop. And as seen in our Day One post, we inherited some pretty awesome features – shelving, pegboards and even a large built-in work table.

BaseOne Day One

I’ve spent plenty of time working on plenty of projects down here: from the living room console to Clara’s dollhouse. So it’s kind of a shame that I’ve spent so many hours in a space that kind of depresses me (talk about Dude, Get On That).

BaseOne Projects

So I’m putting an end to it. My exact plan of attack is still kind of forming in my brain, but regardless of where I end up – I know the starting point is cleaning and organizing. And to that end, I’ve made it my mission to steal away for a few minutes here and there (mainly during Clara naps or on random Sherry’s-watching-housewives evenings) and I’ve gone through just about every nook and cranny of that room to figure out what should stay and what should most definitely not. Right at the top of the “definitely not” list was a strange collection of items leftover from the old owners. Some things – like the fire extinguisher below – dating back as far as 1984!

BaseOne Old Stuff Found

How creepy is that pig in the top right? We think he’s an old dog toy. Clara saw it when I brought it up to show Sherry and she was both delighted and impressed by it, but I was scared. Also, among a pile of old yard tools they left for us I found not one, not two, but three axes. I feel like there’s a Mike Meyers movie in there somewhere…

BaseOne 2 Axes

Speaking of yard tools, those were one of the first things that I decided to tackle. I started by taking inventory and seeing if what I had was what I actually needed (what didn’t make that list? Three axes).

BaseOne 1 Yard Tools Leaned Up

This part of the organizing mission was actually before our yard sale, so whatever I didn’t need anymore (i.e. extra rakes) was sold there. And as for where to put the stuff I was keeping, I figured storing the (sometimes dirty) yard stuff far away from my work table was best. And luckily the area that looked like this a few months ago…

Basement Labels 2

…now looked like this post Bagster/yard sale.

BaseOne 3 Corner Before

I zeroed in on that pegboard on the far left as my new yard tool headquarters, which did mean I had to get rid of this old rotting slash bug-eaten shelf that the previous owners left.

BaseOne 4 Old Shelf Before

Good thing rotting = easy to break apart and toss into the Bagster before it got picked up.

BaseOne 5 Shelf Busted Up

Plus, I discovered the spare section of fence that I’ve been storing since this project fit perfectly into the little recessed nook next to the pegboard (so perfectly that when I wedged it in there it didn’t want to come back out). I did bolt it to the cinder at the top just to be safe though – just so it doesn’t fly down and get me someday after intense hammering or sawing nearby. Even though it’s upside down, I like that the wood texture breaks up the cinder a bit.

BaseOne 7 Fence Nook Close

But my crowning achievement of this process so far is this baby. Oh yeah. It took me a good hour to figure this out, but it was so worth it. Organizing stuff like this makes my pulse race. And I may have developed a new obsession with pegboards in the process. Seriously, I was walking around for days afterwards looking at things and thinking “ooh, I could put that on my pegboard.” Or “my girlfriend Peggy” as I call her.

BaseOne 8 Garden Tools Hanging

But before I get too hot and bothered talking about pegboards, I’ll share another one of my loves in a not-so-lovely storage solution. This is the bike rack from our old basement that is so cramped in this basement that I can barely weasel both bikes onto it (the top one grinds up against our lower ceiling).

BaseOne 10 Bikes Before

So I grabbed two of these heavy duty bike hooks at Home Depot (about $2.50 a piece) and screwed them into one of the exposed beams near my wood fence nook.

BaseOne 11 Screwing Hook In

MUCH better. Especially since it doesn’t take me 15 minutes to get the bikes on or off like the last solution. Is it hot in here or is it just me? Plus, putting them in the recessed area means the fact that they stick out into the room a bit isn’t a big deal.

BaseOne 12 Bikes Hanging

And I realized Clara’s bike seat and our bike rack for the car hang nicely on the ledges created by the fence rail. Oh how I love getting things up off of the floor.

BaseOne 13 Seats Hanging

I’d love to end with some big beauty shot of the whole room, but there were like five other organization projects going on simultaneously so I’ll be back with more progress as I go. Isn’t it funny that no matter if you’re chipping away at a lawn makeover or a kitchen redo or a basement refresh, it just seems to come down to tackling things in phases? What are you guys doing one step at a time these days? Do pegboards get your pulse racing or is it just me? Hubba hubba.

Comments

  1. Katie says

    That newspaper you found is from my 20th birthday and it says “Twenty and Change” on the front page! That’s pretty cool!

    Reply

  2. Morgan says

    Great post. So jealous about that basement. I have a dream of having a basement in my next house so I can get a little workshop going too. :) Right now working on the guest bedroom. Phase one was repainting the closet doors. I am still debating on what the next phase will be.

    And as for peg boards, yes, LOVE peg board. I have it in my kitchen for my potrack currently. I was inspired by Julia Child’s kitchen. Even outlined the little spaces for the pots. Going to include my kitchen post, don’t get too excited. lol.
    http://livingyoungwildfree.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/and-at-the-end-of-the-3rd-quarter-home-update/

    Reply

  3. julie g. says

    I love this post! We also moved into a house with a carport. We have a workshop inside and two sheds (aka “the cottages”) and still no organization at all. Every time my husband needs a tool he looks in all of those places a handful of times before actually finding anything. I will be looking forward to some further inspiratio. Afterall, isn’t this what I DON’T PAY you for!!!

    Reply

  4. amy good house says

    I’m in the middle of trying to make our basement a more workable space. It was a disgusting job, but we’ve cleaned out 95% of the junk that was down there.

    Our ceiling is dark raw it sprayed to clean it up and lighten the look of the space. What are you guys doing with your ceiling?

    Reply

  5. Mary says

    I love pegboard! It works for so many things and I find that I put things back when there is a hook for it.

    There are all kinds of things that you can hang on pegboards: short hooks, long hooks, handle hooks, curved hooks, magnetic strips and even shelf brackets. I do re-arrange a lot so never have drawn on my pegboard. And for a pop of color, I even painted a section of pegboard.

    It’s sad to say, but pegboard makes me smile:)

    Reply

  6. Toni says

    Looks great. I love how you used the old fence to break up the cinder block. I’m hoping that you add more lightening or paint one wall white, it seems kind of dark. My hubby was all hot and bothered about your pegboard-we are moving in 6 weeks and getting our peg on big time, in the garage.

    Reply

  8. Andy says

    We moved into a house with a nice brick detached garage a little over a year ago. Since then I’ve been in a constant merry-go-round of cluttering, de-cluttering, strategizing the end-all-be-all killer garage organization system… and then cluttering again. One day it will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine :)

    Reply

  9. Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says

    Okay, I would go IN-SAAAANE if the previous owners left their cr…er, junk for me to throw away when I moved. (Or a couple years later) Is this a common thing? We live in the house we had built but I feel like it should be an automatic that when you move in to a place the only things that should be there for you is the house and anything you agreed would stay in the contract. That dog toy thing just creeps me out!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I think it’s pretty common to find stuff in the basement or attic while the house is all cleared out for the most part. I think sometime people think they’re being helpful when they leave stuff behind like yard equipment, etc.

      xo
      s

  10. April says

    My husband will be totally jealous. We’re thinking of adding some pegboards to our basement. Not quite sure how to go about it with cinder block walls and all. Ever installed any pegboard in the basement?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I would imagine you should be able to use a power drill with a masonry bit to pre-drill a starter hole in the cinder and then drive a bolt through it. Hope it helps!

      -John

  11. Kelly says

    That Pegboard is a thing of beauty!! I wanted to line my entire walk-in closet with pegboard to hang all of my accessories, but haven’t gotten around to actually doing it, but the level of organization you have achieved with Peggy might just be my inspiration!

    Reply

  12. Meg says

    We tackled our basement and garage over the weekend too!
    We also hang our bikes just like that – I’m not sure if you have a problem with it, but to keep them steady we took a piece of 2″ PVC cut in half length wise and screwed to the wall where the bottom tire rests to keep it nicely in place. It’s more so my 6’3″ husbands enormous bike doesn’t hit me when I get my super fast road bike down.

    Reply

  13. Emily says

    We need to do this for our garage! We did make some big storage shelves out of some lumber that we’d bought to make a banquette on an unused hearth in our playroom (we still never replaced the lumber to do that project), but those kiddie toys/wagon/bikes/strollers still add up to clutter on the floor!
    Nice job!

    Reply

  14. Autumn says

    I’m tackling our fall cleaning right now and it always feels so good to get rid of stuff. I have, however, made rules about what comes in the house in thf first place to combat clutter from the beginning. Now I always ask myself, “do I love this enough to clean it?” Weird but it works. :)

    Reply

  15. Alyssa says

    This post made me so happy because I absolutely love pegboards. Currently, I’m having an affair with a pegboard we put up in our nursery. We painted it and bolted spice racks on it to hold our diapers and wipes above the changing table. We also hung some toys which our daughter loves. Now I’m off to research bike seats too! Great job so far!

    Reply

  16. Clare says

    Nope, you’re definitely not the only peg board lover! I have some sitting on top of my desk serving as the backdrop to my inspiration board. I painted it with three different colours in three big triangles that cover the whole thing (think geometric style) – looks wayyy better than plain ol’ peg!

    Reply

  17. lrlockwood says

    OMG! John! when I saw your peggy all gussied up with your lawn tools, I gasped! I have a thing for pretty.organized. in.it’s.place kind of things too! Hubba Hubba! lol

    Reply

  18. kelly taylor says

    I recently hung all of our small tools (hammers, screw drivers, paint brushes, etc) on pegboard in our basement storage closet and it felt AMAZING! I still get excited when I open the door and it’s not all in boxes or scattered on the floor.

    Reply

  19. Heather says

    It might be fun to take that inspection tag off of the fire extinquisher and frame it (if you’re getting rid of the extinguisher).

    Also – this is awkward for me to post (I put it on FB too). BUT.

    I’m asking everyone for a little birthday gift today by helping to spread love wherever you are today. For my birthday I want to ask everyone who sees this to do a random act of kindness for someone today. If you’re on twitter, tell me about it by hashtagging #29actsofkindness.
    It would make me smile ear to ear and would be the best birthday ever (and an awesome way to enter the end of my 20’s) to have people spreading kindness today.

    Reply

    • Heather says

      Aww thanks S&J! I appreciate it. I just went out at lunch and bought 3 $15 GC’s to the local grocery store and handed them out to a lady who looked like she’s stressed/tired, a girl I saw being so sweet and kind to an old lady, and then randomly under a student’s wipers at the local college. Each with a note that asked them to help celebrate my birthday by accepting it, and doing their own ROAK. This is honestly one of my favorite birthdays EVER. It is WAY more satisfying to give!

    • Wendy says

      Happy 29th!

      Not sure if this counts (and I don’t have a twitter account), so you can decide..

      I e-mailed my parents photos of their visit here before they even left on the plane! I’ve never done that and it was a shift in how I perceive/do things.

  21. how2home says

    Its looks good! Much cleaner and more organized. Will you guys be considering doing a play room etc in the basement or will it be primarily for crafting/wood working?

    Reply

  22. Zoe says

    Pegboard is a dream!! I moved into a quaint lil house in Byrd Park neighborhood a couple months ago, but our kitchen was seriously lacking in cabinets and drawers. Seriously…it has one half sized drawer!

    Our kitchen couldn’t function without the pegboard – we painted it robin’s egg blue, a la Julie Child. As far as hooks go, we found that these Blue Hawk hooks from Lowes work perfectly: http://tinyurl.com/9shthhx Ours came with little blue nubs on the end that coordinate really nicely with the paint :) I take pots and pans on and off every day and I’ve never encountered hook issues.

    Gettin Peggy with it… na-nah nah nah nah nah nah!

    Reply

  23. Corie says

    I actually AM hot for Peggy. ;)

    We have pegboard in our workshop also and it’s all sorts of awesome, but after seeing this, I feel like it could work better. *adds it to the list of things I’ll never get done*

    I find that with big projects like this, figuring out where to begin is the hardest but once you get going, it becomes hard to stop! Keep it up, John!

    Reply

  24. Lynn @ Our Useful Hands says

    I hope you guys are resting up today. I think we should all give you a free “you can respond to comments just by typing “blablablah” after any book signing travel has ended” card. I share your love of pegboards man. I have been trying to figure out a way to get one into my life ever since I got married and was a renter for 8 years. I think this new house will bring Michael over to our side though. He’s like “Soooo much space!” and I’m all like “To hang our new pegboards….?” You did great with the amount you accomplished so far in the basement. How do you guys like your yard and house tools? Would you buy from a yard sale or have you just bought ’em new and then maintained them until you can resell them at your yard sales and buy new again?

    My best, Lynn
    * are you guys going to do Best Of’s _______ insert whatever town you just blitzed with your book tour posts so we can live vicariously through your travels? Oh and we should crown Most Awkward moments winners. :o) (I had coffee…Aquatober who? Sorry John.)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hahah, that’s hilarious about us just writing blahblahblah! As for yard and house tools, they’re great from a yard sale! I’d get all of them secondhand except maybe a good drill and sander (getting those new isn’t too expensive and it’s nice to know they’re babies so they’ll hopefully last forever). And as for the tour, we’ll definitely be sharing details (not after each stop or anything, but maybe a post every week or two about all the things that have happened between those dates! Can’t wait to share the hilarity that was Cincy!!

      xo
      s

  25. jamie says

    So fun to meet you both in Cincinnati this weekend! Your presence made my 5th blogiversary that much more special! I knew you guys wouldn’t be as awkward as you claim to be ;) Anyways, hope you enjoyed your time in Cincy. Congrats on the book (and for selling out of them!). You’ve inspired so many people online – it’s fun to see you busting out the same great content in print.

    Reply

    • Ellen says

      I agree with Jamie, you guys are just as awesome in person! And definately not weird, or at least I felt weirder! I think I wrote “Love you always” in your copy of the book. Sorry about that, I mean you guys are great and I really think you are super so don’t read into it too much! I’ll blame the lapse of judgement on my food poisioning related weakness.

      Just 3 more things:

      1)Thanks for giving Jamie and I a super fun way to celebrate her blogiversary.
      2)Congrats on having the longest/only line in the whole place.
      3)What did you think of the Skyline Chili?

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw, it was so awesome to meet you Ellen! You’re so cute! I was reading the book last night and “Love you always” made me smile. Haha. I soaked it up, baby. As for Skyline, we actually liked it a lot! And Greaters (Graders? Graters?) was delicious!

      xo
      s

    • Heather W says

      Me too!!!! dying over here… Don’t need to place just dish dish dish hahaha…. I actually went back today and bought the black and white urn for my kitchen swoon!!! Almost everything was still there from yesterday. My town must not realize what is the awesomeness of Nate!

  28. Ali Miller says

    I’m here to comment about that disgusting pig! I actually had one (not a dog toy!). At one point it was fuller of air, and had a rubber ball of “snot” that you could lodge into its mouth, and then squeeze the body to propel the “snot” at your friends or foes (your choice).

    This was a gift from my uncle. My mother was not pleased.

    Reply

  31. lindsay t says

    Looks great! I wanted to comment on the gross pig toy. I remember those from when I was a kid. I had that exact one. They were called Madballs and there was another ball that looked like and eyeball that you would stick in it’s mouth and then squeeze the pig and the eye would come flying out!

    Reply

    • Eileen says

      I’ve been waiting for someone to chime in! I remember them but could not place the name and it was driving me nuts! Thanks Lindsay!

    • Emma says

      I thought they were called blurp balls? Haha Strange toys! My dad is a nut and collected them all- there’s a vampire who spits out a heart, a grungy umpire with a baseball, a cat with a chewed up mouse…they’re disgusting but we loved squeezing the life out of them and hitting each other with the flying objects! Funny!

  33. Olivia says

    I LOVE organizing, but I’ve found that tools and tool-like equipment is one of the hardest things to figure out. Good work, that pegboard is soooo satisfying! Also love those bike hooks, we still haven’t figured out a good solution for ours.

    Reply

  35. Alana says

    I’m not 100% sure, but I don’t think that pig is a dog toy! In the 90’s we had these toys called “Mad Balls.” You collected them, and they were all types of gross heads. I had a few myself :) I couldn’t find the exact one you found, but it looks like one called “Swine Sucker.” LOL. Here’s a link: http://basicfun.glammagems.com/item-48510.html

    Reply

  38. katalina says

    John I wish you had an older twin single brother….GREAT JOB!

    still cannot visualize a guy cleaning up or organizing.

    you could have spray painted your new girlfriend Peggy for some Pizazz!

    Reply

  40. Koliti says

    Organizing your work space will let your creativity flow – and it’s the little things that can make all the difference.

    Question – in your “before” photo, there was a spray painting area – did your really spray paint in the basement? Is there enough ventilation down there for that? Please be careful and don’t fumigate yourself!

    Little by little, I’m working on clearing out my spare room dumping ground (don’t know what I’ll do with the room, but it’s time to get rid of crap) – it’s exciting to be able to see more and more of the floor!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We always always spray outside but for one book project it had to get done (deadline!) and it was raining so we set up a drop cloth, opened the door, and wore a gas mask to get ‘er done!

      xo
      s

  41. Jenny says

    Oh I know!! What if you paint it in chalkboard paint, and then outline tools in ‘liquid chalk,’ the kind that wipes off with water? Or even regular chalk, I guess, though that’s not so new-fangled.

    Maybe I’ll try that with our someday-I’ll-get-some-and-hang-it pegboard, I’ve been trying to reconcile Julie Child-style with real life…

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I asked him if he wanted to do chalkboard paint and chalk outlines but he wasn’t into the chalk dust near his precious tools – haha! Will have to mention the liquid chalk idea and see what he thinks!

      xo
      s

  42. Katie says

    Random Question: where in your house is the door that leads down to the basement? I don’t remember ever seeing it on the house tours…

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It’s a separate entry basement just like our first house, so you just get in from an exterior door on the outside of the house. They’re pretty commmon as workshops here in Richmond (it’s right under our bedroom, so we wouldn’t want a door or stairs leading down there up in our room).

      xo
      s

    • Libby says

      Do you or Clara ever feel sad you don’t have any stairs? Or does Clara get enough kicks from the new stairs on the deck?

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thankfully she has the front steps, and ones at her Grammy and TomTom’s house, and our deck ones to be ok. She definitely likes hanging out on them- much to my frustration. Haha.

      xo
      s

  43. Kathie G says

    What a relief; I’m not the only one that gets a thrill from getting things up off the floor! I thought I was the only nerd like that :).

    Reply

  44. ryan says

    John: WOW. Great job! Isn’t organizing the best? I love it when everything has a perfect place for it like that. : )

    Reply

  46. Cassie Dearborn says

    It seems like what you’re doing in the basement is sort of “5S”, which is strategy our work is currently teaching us. In the spirit of that, you could outline the tools on the pegboard, so you know where everything will be put back without having to think about it. Could use permanent marker, or for something more flexible, like washable crayons… Regardless, might be interesting to check out. You already did most of step 1!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5S_(methodology)

    Reply

  48. janetl says

    Is there anything better than pics that go from complete chaos to organizational heaven? Love it.

    I don’t know if you’ve started reading berenstain bears to Clara but there is the one about The Messy Room. I’ve loved peg boards ever since.

    Reply

  49. Megan says

    ERMYGAWD. i almost sent a plaintive post to you re: basements this weekend. we have a weird square that is cut in half by support beams and i don’t know what to do. figuring it out is eating my brain. i need to learn to work with those stupid posts, but they make me so angry. i see you are relatively support beam free down there. i am jealous.

    Reply

    • Susanne says

      Love Peggy! And agree about the outlines, been there done that. I did see one time somebody had actually wrapped all the tools like in newspaper, then spray painted the pegboard, then unwrapped(obv) and it left such a cool imprint of the tool. But that was much more artistic than functional!

      @Megan, Like Sherry said, there’s a TON of cool things to do with basement support poles! I’ve even seen little tables built right onto them, or as a part of an island or bar or workbench – depending on how you use your room. Google up some images to get some inspiration.

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *