After Bill brought home some wood from an old outbuilding, we found the a perfect base to use for a new work space for storing tools in the workshop. Using the cedar wood from the outbuilding, we soon had wood cut and attached to the wrought iron base. Sanding and a coat of tung oil brought out the beautiful grain of the wood.

The new table/shelf unit holds lots of tools; it's just what we needed....

We decided to extend the original work bench, and we topped the new extension with some more of the cedar. After adding some task lighting, the new extension was ready to use and enjoy.

Partition Wall with a Secret

My husband Bill worked tirelessly to put barn wood up on the bottom half of the west side of our two-room basement - he garnered the wood from an old barn, brought it home in his truck, de-nailed it, planed it, and put it on the wall. 

The photo above shows the old paneling in the ping pong room, looking east into the other half of the basement.

Once the barn wood was installed in the  ping pong room, it was time for a less strenuous project, so we opted to put a partition wall in the other room of the basement, using wood left over from the wall project. The new wall hides the utilities - the water softener and the hot water tank, etc. 

The basement has gone through many changes. The photo above represents how the basement looks at this writing. The partition wall looks fabulous - a vast improvement over the view before we installed that wall. And, oh, did I mention that this half-wall holds a secret?

Ah! Storage!! We thought to add storage to the back of that wall. Whoo hoo! Storage!!!!

PS: Look for this area of the basement in future posts; I hope to share the different stages in the development of the east room of the basement. I'll give you a hint: I now refer to that half of the basement as 'my sewing room.

If Walls Could Talk: A Large Bank of Shelves

The people who had this house built could have added a third bedroom but instead opted to have more living space in the main part of the house. I think they got it right. I put an office area at the north side of the living room as soon as we moved our stuff into this house.

From the first time I saw it, the north wall of the living room screamed out to me, 'Put a bookshelf here, youse!' So eventually, that's what I did. 

 

When I proposed this idea to 'the hubs,' he was not enthusiastic. So I told him that if he would cut the wood and help me get the edge boards in place on the walls and ceiling and floor, I would take the project the rest of the way. The bookshelf soon started to take shape.

I fully expected Bill to jump in and help further, after the outer parts of the bookshelf were in place, but he kept his side of the bargain: He left me to it. 

Our son Allen jumped in to help me, though, and I am so glad he did. After all, I had never built such a thing before. The bookshelf is made of MDF, by the way.

I designed one side of the bookshelf to accommodate Bill's stuff, and the other side I designed for me - with room for my computer and such. 

I painted the bookshelf to match the color of the wall. I pre-painted the shelving to match the color I wanted to put on the rest of the wall. 

Painting those boards before I installed them saved me a lot of work. 

We eventually added beautiful old wood to the trim of the bookshelf. [Note: We have painted our walls many times since we moved in here. Our son Allen says we are making the rooms smaller with all those layers of paint!]

If the kitchen is the heart of our home, this bookshelf is the nerve center of our home!!