The coat closet/under-the-stairs-storage-area in our home has had some troubles.
The first trouble was the "Great Plumbing Disaster" of '05 (?), wherein the slow leak (caused by two pipes rubbing together in the ceiling of the den) managed to soak the carpet (and destroy nearly thirty years of our family pictures which were stored there) before we knew we had a leak at all.
That disaster resulted in new sheetrock, paint, trim and carpet, and the cancellation of our homeowner's insurance policy.
We couldn't do a thing about the photographs.
Fast forward to 2010, wherein the water-heater tank located in the sunroom closet - which shares a wall with the under-stair closet - sprung a leak and soaked the new carpet and trim, which started growing mold before we knew we had a leak.
Yep.
It's had some troubles.
And it's taken us over a year to do anything about the last round of them.
It's looked like this for a long time:
It has no flooring.
It's been a storage area for things-which-can't-be-wrecked-by-water or things-we-don't-care-about-very-much.
And, occasionally, it's had the odd winter coat or scarf hanging on the rod.
Enough of that.
This little closet is about to become a cozy little play spot for those precious grandshoots of ours.
They're growing up fast.
Pretty soon, they won't be able to enjoy crawling back there...
...and playing back here...
...or hiding back here:
It includes this Eucalyptus Leaf paint color from Behr.
It includes a bookshelf made (by moi, I hope) from this free plan from Ana White's site.
It includes orange: orange shelves, orange and white curtains, and orange who-knows- what-else (because I fell in love with the orange and aqua palette during 2011, and I finally have something to take it out on).
The plan may include one or two of these thumb chairs or child-size ottomans with storage.
It will definitely include a chalkboard, probably in a custom color, made using this tutorial from Apartment Therapy.
It will include this flooring...
...which I got at a fabulous family discount (can you say 'free'?) from my Leetle Brudder, but which is so perfect and (looks so) easy to install, that I really would have paid the going rate (which was already great, because it was in his Crazy Nate's outlet store (I love that store and it's warehouse full of possibilities).
I hope it includes some polka dot rugs; the space is so small, they could just be bathroom mats.
Today, it doesn't include much, but that's okay.
Yesterday, Miss Helping Hands and I painted the walls.
Today, I have been scraping the blobs of texture, drops of paint, and carpet pad glue off the concrete and sweeping it all up, and I need to get back in there and patch the little holes in the concrete so it will be ready for the flooring.
But...
I just started working out again.
Among other things, I did a bunch of hip abductor exercises in the last couple of days.
And I've been sitting at this computer for an hour or so.
I just got up to get the mail.
It hurt.
Real bad.
Really badly.
Ouch.
I think if I get back down on my hands and knees in that closet today, I will have to sleep in there tonight.
Because there will be no getting back up.
Seriously.
Ouch.