Y'ALL COME ON IN! // THE BASEMENT

Y'all. We have wood paneling in our basement. I got to a point where looking at it made me feel sick, kinda like the funky food pics in 50's cookbooks. Tuna casserole with pineapple garnish, anyone? Yakety Yak. It pains me to even show y'all these funkalicious before pics:

Woof to the max, am I right? 

The first thing we did was hit the ceiling with some fresh white. Major P.I.T.A. Ugh. Crazy how much it hurts your shoulders to hold a paint brush up in the air. Especially if you're out of shape, apparently. And, it was popcorn ceiling. {Why!? Why?! Why?!} Rather than paint the edges, it was more like, saturate the surface as well as you can without making a giant mess.

And, here, my sweet shugpies, are the after pics, praise the Lord. I am loving how the colors pop so much better now. {I got the floral yarn art from someone local who was selling on Facebook for $10.}

Our couch was a Habitat Restore purchase. Hubs didn't get my vision. {Aka, he was all like, "What the hell is that? It's hideous."} But, I mean, leather. Studs. Come on, now. And, when I saw it, I imagined it against a bright white because I knew from day one the brown paneling had to G to the Izzo. The coffee and side tables were Andrew's grandmother's. I painted the tops and drawers a pale mint. The smaller lamp on the end table was a gift from a cousin. Everything else pictured was thrifted.

PS, I am mildly obsessed with the intercom box that's still in the wall, just behind the floor lamp. Lord only knows how old it is. It doesn't work {right now}, but I love that it's a little nod to the house's era. 

Did I mention how obsessed I am with the brightness of the ceilings against those beams? Swoon.

We wanted to do a bit of a mudroom area on the way into the house, as we use the basement as our main entrance from the driveway. This dresser is great for storage {of random junk, as well as outgoing items such as library books, gloves, hats, tupperware and jars that need to be returned to somebody, etc}. We will add some cubbies and coat hooks soon. But, I wanted to go ahead and show y'all the white walls, because I am so freakin' excited. 

The walls took one coat of Valspar Stainblocking Primer and two coats of Sherwin Williams ProClassic Smooth Enamel Satin Extra White.

I painted all the heat vents white. We still need to replace the black electrical sockets with white ones. While the sockets themselves will be white, I'm going to frame them in unfinished wood outlet covers. We will also eventually add some blinds, and get new windows for that matter. And, I didn't show y'all the other two corners because they are in progress. Mama needs to think on that. And, Daddy wants a new TV. But, we all know, Rome won't built in a day. They probably didn't have a bottomless bank account either.

Anyone else painted paneling? I'd love to see!

I'm off to fix me some lunch. And stare at my white walls while listening to Rod Stewart. Happy Wednesday!!