Basement Update

We’ve been coming up with temporary solutions for the hazards in our basement. Just a deterrent or a way to block something that could be potentially dangerous for Oliver. The whole idea of redoing one side of the basement to be a “living area” right now was so that I could come down here and do laundry with Oliver with me. If I’m changing a load over, I won’t have both eyes on him, so I need to make sure he can’t hurt himself easily.

So far we decided to put the old dark brown Ikea coffee table over the sump pump for now (found a use for it afterall!). This way Oliver can’t mess with the pipe or easily open the little hole in the cover and stick things down there. With the coffee table there and the red media cabinet a foot away, blocking the gas line just required sticking something in front of it. I opted for a plastic tub as a toy bucket for now. Over by the bookshelf and staircase we needed to block the paint storage under the stairs and the “broom closet” area next to it. We actually decided to try old posters I’d been storing down here as a visual block and hope that Oliver doesn’t figure out there’s something worth exploring behind it.

I put down old (slightly damaged by Georgia) rugs to cozy up the floor. It really warms things up. This side of the basement could use a lot more help to make it feel homier, but it’s a good start. 

We still have to block off the water main on the floor, but we have to get rid of the big pile of trash first. Now that the snow is melting, hopefully the oversized garbage pickup will start again soon. We also have to still wrap up the steam pipe by the crawl space. It gets dangerously hot. Almost there!