Now that we’ve cleared out our backyard’s overgrown weeds and liriope, it felt like the right time to turn our attention to a neglected zone: the basement. For a long time it was a shameful dumping ground filled with deck debris, but a recent Bagster rental and a weekend yard sale finally sparked the motivation to do something about it.
The Bagster purge and the yard sale were the push we needed to finally invest a little energy into this room. We’ve put almost zero effort into organizing or fixing it up since we moved in nearly two years ago, so the before photo made the problem pretty obvious.
We tackled a similar basement in our last house—a small cinder-block space with an exterior door—and we learned a few lessons there that apply to this basement. In that previous house the basement was mostly storage, so finishing touches like painted walls and floors felt like overkill since we rarely spent time down there. It looked nicer for resale, but it wasn’t a workspace for us.
This basement is more functional. Without a garage, it doubles as my workshop while still storing paint, unfinished furniture and tools. When we moved in we inherited great features—shelves, pegboards and a large built-in worktable—that made the space immediately usable.
I’ve already completed projects down here, from a living-room console to a dollhouse, so it’s frustrating that I’ve been working in a space that I don’t really enjoy. It was time to change that by focusing on cleaning and organizing as the first step toward a more pleasant, functional workshop.
My plan is still evolving, but the immediate goal was simple: clear out what shouldn’t be there and organize what should. I’ve been stealing small pockets of time—Clara’s naps or evenings while Sherry watches TV—to go through every corner. That process uncovered a weird assortment of items left by the previous owners, some surprisingly old, like a fire extinguisher stamped 1984.
There was also an unsettling dog toy tucked away—a creepy pig that delighted Clara but made me uneasy—and a pile of yard tools that included not one, not two, but three axes. That felt straight out of a horror movie, so part of the purge involved getting rid of anything odd or unnecessary.
One of the first organizing tasks I tackled was the yard tools. I took inventory to decide what we actually needed. Extra rakes and duplicates went to the yard sale, and the tools we kept I wanted stored away from the workbench to avoid dragging dirt and debris into the workshop area.
The area that used to look like a mess now looks much better after the Bagster pickup and the yard sale. I focused on the pegboard on the far left as the new headquarters for yard tools, which meant removing a rotten, bug-eaten shelf that the previous owners had left behind.
Fortunately, the rotting shelf was easy to break apart and toss into the Bagster. That cleared space and revealed a recessed nook next to the pegboard that turned out to be perfect for a spare section of fence I’d been storing from a previous project. I wedged it into the recess and bolted it to the cinderblock at the top so it’s secure; the texture of the wood helps break up the cinderblock wall visually.
My proudest moment so far was setting up the pegboard. It took about an hour to figure out the best arrangement, but once it was done I was thrilled. Pegboard organization makes tools and supplies highly visible and easy to reach, which is perfect for a workshop. I’ve even caught myself eyeballing household items thinking, “That would look great on the pegboard.”
Another improvement was the bike storage. The old bike rack from our previous basement was impractical in this lower-ceiling space, so I installed two heavy-duty bike hooks into an exposed beam near the fence nook. The hooks were inexpensive and make loading and unloading the bikes much faster and simpler.
I used two strong hooks and screwed them into the beam, and now the bikes hang neatly in the recessed area so they don’t intrude into the main workspace.
Clara’s bike seat and our car bike rack now hang on the fence rail ledges, which keeps the floor clear and makes everything easier to access. I’d like to show a dramatic “after” photo of the whole room, but several other organization projects are underway at the same time. I’ll share more progress as I finish each phase.
Whether you’re improving a lawn, renovating a kitchen, or refreshing a basement, breaking the work into phases makes the job manageable. Right now I’m chipping away at the basement one step at a time—clearing, organizing and optimizing the space so it becomes a workshop I actually enjoy using. Do you have small projects you’re tackling in phases? If you’re a fellow pegboard enthusiast, I feel your excitement—organizing really can be strangely satisfying.