Downstairs Flooring Project: Moved In

This is the last one, I promise. I assured myself I'd write about something other than our downstairs before we settled in and moved things down and started living there, which of course would come with pictures and the like. Partially because I'm lazy and partially because we ended up doing a whole lot today, this was not meant to be. And hey, these entries are easier!

Above: What was passing as the family room upstairs.

Long story short, we spent today cleaning the rest of everything – damp-sponging the walls, scrubbing the wide shelf around the whole area and the shelves on one wall, vacuuming, and getting rid of crap – and then moving the chaise, the couch, the TV (which proved to be hardest of all), all of the electronics and video games, plus all of our books, DVDs, and video games down and set up shop.

Above: I've been dreaming of filling those shelves with books and DVDs for
a year and a half. It was terribly satisfying to finally put crap on them.

We ended up fulcruming the chaise over the railing to get it down, which is probably the smartest idea I had all day. We thought that would be heaviest and hardest, but it turned out to be rather easy. The love seat afterwards was slightly more difficult, and the TV, left for the end, of course turned out to be the worst – it's a 42" plasma; you'd think it'd be easy to move but even with handles on the back it's heavy, front-weighted, and awkward. We got the speakers off the sides and it got a lot easier to manage. Everything else was batches of small stuff – DVDs, books (OK, a lot of books), video games, etc.

Above: It's not perfect, but we're getting there. Then again, it may
not ever look "professional" to me when I'm the one setting it up.

Of course, re-wiring a TV, cable box, and three video game systems is always more fun than it looks. It's a bunch of crap back there, but it's all hooked up. I wish there was some sort of cable-tangle-coverup, though I suppose the solution is a media cabinet, which is in the cards eventually. Step one, move down. Step two, get some real furniture.

Above: Who'd have thought that the biggest piece of furniture was the easiest to move?

In the meantime, I think it's about time for a housewarming party.