Wednesday, April 8, 2020

The DREADED DUNGEON!


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Hi, Everyone, hope you are staying SAFE!

In 1984, when we bought a 12 year-old, 1400 sq.ft., modest builder grade Ranch House on a bit more than a quarter of an acre. We thought we had gone to heaven after living in a congested townhouse area. 
Our unincorporated community had a lake, parks, un-congested lanes and streets, what we from Wisconsin, call a 'townie bar' on the lake, clean air, critters, bull frogs, raccoons, pheasants, deer, etc. Perfect for two pre-teen boys to grow up in.

The minus-was no garage (we built one, years later),  plus a big empty 1400 sq. foot basement, some of which today is this 

DUNGEON!

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The basement, gave me a clay shop for my pottery business---us, a family room, hubby an office, and a huge storage room shop 
that I shared with my husband.

Over the years we remodeled upstairs, put the washer-dryer upstairs, added a mini-master bath in a walk-in closet, reconfigured the other bath, added exterior water service to all sides of the house and piece-meal'd the plumbing, ourselves. You can see the cobbled plumbing by all the different types of drain pipes, and the extra heat runs. We had a metal pipe failure from the kitchen, which is 50 some feet away from the kitchen, two years ago, so that had to be replaced. It was filled with sand from the sump pumps. Sigh.

Anyway, now the house is 46 years old. We need to update/replace the bathrooms to walk-in showers, improve our water flow, and retackle the tangle of sewer pipes that adding-on eventually taxed. 
Hubby will totally replace and redo all the plumbing on this side of the house.


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But before we could do that-we added a new floor over the concrete.  First we had to go through this room and the 30 some years of storage. 

Behind all those bins is a run of kitchen cabinetry gleaned from a remodeler in the area. 

These ARE the AFTER Photos....YIKES! 

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Behind this mound of bins of antiques and craft supplies, lurks a 1900 record player, furniture, and the doorway to the other doll/craft room. 

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The finished, doll craft room, and I also have a shipping room! Bins here also hide family treasures. Flowers  are just plopped in a vase, not designed. I hope to have friends here for projects, when I have water-another reason for the plumbing debacle.


This sink has water, but not drainage. Originally the sink in the clay room ran to the sump pumps. We have purchased a pump/well for draining directly to the sewer from here, that will be installed to the left through the wall into the DUNGEON.

Oh, and I use LOTS of picnic baskets, woven and metal!
I can't believe how full this room is now---hopefully the dungeon will alleviate the excess. 

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This was my first photos of the completed craft room.
I use picnic baskets for current projects or groupings of items with labels, so I can keep track. 


My goal is to have this Dungeon 
look and work as well as the doll craftroom! We 
have a long way to go!






I say this is an AFTER photo now in the dungeon, because every container has been gone through. Ninety-five percent have been sorted, ALL are labeled. I also keep our household seasonal items in here. 

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I have 8 huge bins of flowers, and probably 3 more just full of greens, and grapevine. I still have a penchant for expensive, quality flowers, which I mixed in with 'good' ones and gorgeous greens.
In the past, I did weddings, parties, home-decorating, as well as commercial work. NOW, the prices of floral product are insane, and while I have cut my stock to less than half, I still have a ton. 

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There are the bins of 4 generations of stuff, good and bad, antiques and photos inherited from my family. PLUS, I've collected also-I know I have at least 2 dozen blue mason jars---
but, can I let them go now, or will I use them for mini's storage? 

 Many bins are marked SELL. I don't really need to do garage sales, flea markets, antique stores to buy...I just need to go to this basement room. I will be posting some of all this in my Etsy store.


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January through March during the dreary winter, we went through this room-slowly, and hubby redid the floor. We will seal the floor with some roll on floor paint as we work from the plumbing back to the entrance. Right now, he was laying out all the pieces of the new drainage/sewer reconfiguration. 

Eventually we will paint walls and put up pegboard in places, as we start that after the plumbing is done. As I move into the room ---I'll start with storage on that wall of the plumbing, I will consolidate and eliminate the contents of all those totes. 

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I can only get into this one wall cabinet which holds my paints, all stored upside down. They will have to be sorted, because paint doesn't last 20 years, even stored upside down. I taught craft painting, art theory, color mixing, and floral classes through a local craft store for 10 years or so. My classes were always full, 
which really helped with the kids' college bills. 

Do you remember when there were tons of craft/art classes and people who actually knew about the products available in craft stores? When someone could answer a question about how to USE the product...???

I do need to CULL so many bins of holiday supplies, and will probably try and sell some of the more interesting things on Etsy. I commonly purchased items wholesale in dozens to grosses. YES, I purchased wreaths by 72's and 144's. Ornament makings were also bought in huge quantities. I toted off the last of my pine swags and small wreaths to Goodwill, since I no longer mass produce anything.

Craft materials have gotten very expensive. I can sell my 20-year new-old-stock stuff at cost, and make myself and customers happy. Surprisingly, I remember what I paid for everything and who my suppliers were. Tons of things I have already sent to GoodWill included lots of glass, and almost all my baskets. I'll let GoodWill store my baskets, because I can re-purchase just about anything I may actually need for very little. 

Upscale merchandise I donate to a wonderful thrift shop---that supports families in need. 

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My worst horde is fabric---antique linens, antique fabric, decor, display fabrics I used for my shop. Lots of rugs, pillows, bits and pieces for projects. Somewhere I have maybe ten vintage needlepoint stockings all backed in velvet. 

Containers for floral designs is another category I have to let go. I've already sent lots of brass--gone! Usable flower pots went to the greenhouse for planting. 
Then there are the wood projects---I really do need to get at those. I see some serious redo's in the future, maybe even some creative craft painting.

ANYWAY, 
with nice weather now, we are going outside and working on yard projects, the greenhouse, and planting, eventually some fishing.

But, rainy days will be spent here in the Dungeon

Do you have a  DUNGEON?

Thank you for any and all comments.
Finally I am able to reply to comments by using Chrome. So all you Mac users who have upgraded to Catalina---this might help the glitches on Safari  and Blogger!






27 comments:

  1. Amazing progress Sandi - sorting, organizing, donating so others can enjoy and knowing where everything is. Totally impressed. Making space toward what you are doing now - ahhhh.
    Joy

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    1. Oh, thank you Joy. I really have trouble relating to these perfect organizational posts, when we all know---LOL, what a dungeon is like! LOL. Besides letting stuff go, gets easier the third time you go through it...again, a bit of insane laughter going on.

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  2. My dungeon is called the "Great Maw" as it has been known to such my loafer type shoes off as I pass through. I craft supplies piled in front of the doorway to my spare room--to be a craft room someday so that I cannot get in! With social distancing, I have been crafting..things to sell, things for the church bazaar, but it is SO slow. Then I get sidetracked by another project (this week it was decoupaging Easter eggs with napkins and Christmas pins for the bazaar). I CANNOT complain of being bored! At least in Maine, it is still a bit early for serious yardwork! I am very impressed with your progress--could you cough on me?

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    1. Ah, Kathy. We snagged a few gorgeous days here, but I just closed up the greenhouse and snow flurries are forecast for tomorrow. So back to the dungeon. Crafting is a good thing, but very annoying when you have no idea where something is hiding. The multiple things I found were lots of tape, and oodles of pens and markers. I will have to check out your eggs, I used to do those, and I have some adorable napkins from the dollar store! Thanks for stopping by...progress will be slow, but it was a lot to go through this winter.

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  3. OMG, Sandi!!! Do I have a dungeon. Well, not per say, but I do have 2 long sunporches, shelves top to bottom filled with everything imagineable. Also I have now taken over the hubby's library for painting because I can't get into what started out as a craft room (one of the sunporches) to do any work. Besides stuff loaded on all shelving, now the floor space is so covered I can barely walk, let along work, in there. This is mostly not from past projects. this is mostly from when I started blogging. I love blogging but it has gotten me into a lot of trouble that I didn't need. How many dessert dishes does one need to take a photograph? It's just crazy.Yours looks very neat and tidy though, when there is a lot of stuff, that is a good thing..Take care..xxoJudy

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    1. LOL, dessert dishes...I like the bloggers that are realistic and use paper plates...which photo---just fine for the luncheon/dessert dishes, grins. I commiserate---with you. I forgot to mention all the stuff upstairs in the garage, which I haven't gotten too. Except for the antique decoys that I was selling on Etsy at the beginning of the year. At least getting things in totes and labeled has helped. I realize now what I will be ready to purge, next go through. Hate to throw something away or donate it, if it is the last one. Thanks for stopping by and sharing!!!

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  4. Oh Sandi your dungeon is amazing. I cannot believe how many great things you have. You could open a couple of craft stores. I am impressed how you know where everything is. You have made really great progress. I do not have a dungeon anymore with downsizing to this tiny house. With that said I do have a attic in this old house that has a few bins with some crafty things. Have a great Easter. I guess our nice days are leaving us and it will be back to winter again Ugh! xoxo Kris

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    1. I have often envied you moving so many times in the last few years, because of these stashes. I have to blame at least half on my parents. My mom never dealt with her collections or anything the last 30 years of her life; not her parent's items, my father's parents items or my great grandparent's items. I don't want to leave my kids with this mess. Craft wise, I want to have friends over and use some of this stuff up...that's the plan..hopefully implemented when I have water in both rooms. Grins, and the weather was delicious...now we have a cold snap and you will be warmer than LZ is. Have a Happy Easter, and fun in you 'she shed'! It looks adorable!

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  5. An amazing dungeon you have, filled to the rafters. =) It must be fun to revisit all your pretties. Fabulous everything is organised.

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    1. Yes, thank you. Today I went down and pulled a small bag of goodies out for filling some pots outdoors, and it only took five minutes. Ribbon, eggs, daffy's and some faux grass and pussy willows. So I guess it is usable, now, anyway! Thanks for stopping by.

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  6. LOL, Kim, I found pretties, I forgot I had. Thanks for visiting, soon I will be able to utilize some of this stuff, now! Sandi

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  7. The Reveal... well, you, like me, have lots you can immerse yourselves in while in Lock Down. Your Organization is Impressive my Friend, I still pretty much have Organized Chaos going on. Right now I'm attempting to Organize stuff in my Typeset Cabinets... anything with Drawers and Cubbies is a Godsend to those of us inclined to Muchness! I don't have a Dungeon tho' I've always LOVED Basements, I'm Weird like that. *Ha ha, you knew that tho' already.* I remember the last Home with a Basement was in Upper Michigan and it was the length of the whole House and we practically Lived down there! Arizona rarely has Basements due to our unstable Soil. I did look at a few Older Homes that had some when we were Buying, it Intrigued me, but they were always priced in the stratosphere, mostly due to having a Basement. So I settled for my enormous She Shed RV Garage Space... and I'm reveling in that Space for my abundance of shit that I really still need to seriously Downsize, Cull, Edit and Purge. It will be a Lifetime Achievement if I manage to do that in this Lifetime!? *Winks*

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    1. LOL, we should have a contest on who does away with the most BINS< or cubic feet! Or send each other a 'gift' box...that's funnier yet. Dawn you are younger than me, so you have more time, but I'm determined to deal with it! Thanks for visiting, Sandi

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  8. Sandi, wow! That tired me out, just reading about it! I'm going to have to go have a bit of a lie-down! How wonderful to get that all organized. The days of craft stores having people in them who can teach and answer questions are gone, I'm afraid.

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    1. Well, it ain't pretty, but I can find things now...which feels good. Thank-you for stopping by. Every time I go into a craft store, I end up answering someone's question, LOL. None of chains are conducive to teaching...either anymore. Hugs, Sandi

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  9. HOLY MOLY!!!
    I thought I had a stash but WOW, you have me beat by leaps and bounds!! I too was slowing going through everything and donating things to Thrift shops or passing things on to people I knew would put them to good use.... I envy all the space that you have to store all of this....Thanks so much for stopping by!!! Say safe, healthy and happy!!
    Hugs
    Deb

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    1. Ha, Debbie, You just have more displayed. I have been lazy about displaying stuff, I will do more now---since I can find what I'm looking for. Plus, I found stuff I had forgot about. A huge stash of mini's. What do you need for Nelson Crest, LOL? Hugs, thanks for stopping by, Sandi

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  10. Wow I’d luv to have a room like this😱

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    1. Thank you very much for stoppign by, Hugs, Sandi

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  11. Wow, you have certainly made me feel better about my garage! I have been fretting over cleaning it out and reorganizing, but wow how can you ever tackle all that and new plumbing!! Good luck and eat your Wheaties!
    Jenna

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    1. UM, seriously inheirtance and antiques are way over 50%...+ there is stuff in the garage, shhhh, maybe no one will notice, LOL
      The old story, doing re-hab is worse than from scratch. SO, he is doing it all from scratch and laying it out fitting all the new pipes, below in chunks. Then it can all be done at one time as a straight shot, by-pass all the old, and go right into the new (Sewer). Copper piping is a bit different we are switching to 3/4" pipe because water pressure is bad here...might even add an extra pump. The well is way on the other end of the house. That will take some time, but can be done one bathroom at a time. Thanks for visiting. Hugs, Sandi

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  12. What a great space Sandi and you've done so much work in there too! I can't believe your stash either, it's totally like shopping the coolest store. I can only imagine the fun things you've rediscovered. So excited to follow along! Hugs and Happy Easter, CoCo

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    1. Thanks, Coco...it really was three months work. Not steady, but some serious diving once or twice a week. Yes, I did find some 'treasures' and a lot of junque...LOL. Hugs, stay Safe! Sandi

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  13. Such organization and great place. I am envyous!Hugs,dear Sandi.

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    1. IT's a pit, but that will make the final end, more attractive, lol. Thanks, Sandi

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  14. I don't have a dungeon, but good job on yours! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm!

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    1. hahahaha, lucky you....grins and thanks, Sandi

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Thank you for any and all comments. I will be happy to answer any questions or comments in replies or email! HUGS!