If You Give A Girl Some Plywood....

 She'll probably want some two by fours to go with it.

We live in roughly 900 square feet.  The basement, which technically adds an additional 900 sq feet of sanity, is partially finished into two rooms, one was Bonus son's during his brief stay between the expiration of his lease and the closing of his condo, and the other is Youngest's. Space here, is a commodity, and organization is key. 

When Oldest moved out for college, I built a closet organization system for him. I waited until he moved out because honestly it was a lot easier to do when he wasn't here, living in it, daily. And when he came home for Christmas, it was a nice surprise.

When Youngest decided to stay in the smaller room downstairs after Bonus Son left, the plan was to wait until he left for school as well for the same reason, and also because he tends to be collector of all things. 

The. Boy. Has. Stuff.

Except he never left for college, so we've had to do things as we can, working around his collections busting at the seems.  The heat ducts were finally connected in January, and in March we did a clean sweep of his clothes that no longer fit and books that could be boxed up for enjoyment on another day. He has a difficult time letting go of things, combined with his laziness, he often ends up with a strange collection of items from his past, like stuffed animals alongside barbed wire from West Point, comingled with empty Amazon boxes, candy wrappers, and sea glass from the beach. I will spare you the before pictures of his room....

Since it appears as though he will be living here at least until January, I figured it was about time to get him organized. I came up with a basic design, knowing that when he does move out I will use it as a sewing room. I told him three days ago that it was going to happen.  I asked for him input, and got a whatever you want Mom... so this morning I got some plywood...

Cost is a big factor in this project, and durability. So I started measuring, and then the husband started with the cutting, since he's far better at achieving straight lines than I am. 

The 18" legs allowed for storage bins underneath.  Storage is key for this boy.  The larger platform is for his yogibo, which is like a giant bean bag bed, that until now we've had no place for. I was smart enough to have the two sections screw together so it would move in and out of the basement door easily.  I know, so unlike me to be thinking ahead. And get this, the platform can be disconnected and longer legs can be added, so when he does move out,  it will become the perfect sewing table.  Win, win.

Basically I just kept adding shelves until I ran out of 2X4's.  I was bound and determined to have as little waste as possible.  In the end, I have nothing but 2X4 sawdust and one 12" X 4' shelf left over, which I think will be fashioned into a prop box for the television on another day. 

This took about an hour.  Taking everything out of his room, cleaning, putting it all inside, securing it all together, and rehoming everything?  Another 2 hours. At one point Youngest came home, saw his room was destroyed, and walked back out.  Sometimes it's better to not be around when your mother is elbow deep in literally every crack and crevice of your room, and even better for me, I found nothing unexpected or exceptionally gross. I also discovered that at one point we had a squirrel in the house, as  literally every bin this boy had had a pile of acorns in it. 

And so, for 3 hours and $90 including tax, the boy has a non-stinky, air conditioned place to hang with a friend and play his Nintendo switch without waking us all up. 

I sent a picture to the neighbor across the street. She's SO EXCITED she would no longer need to hang out in the musty garage when she wants to chat late at night. She's already organizing a gaming Nintendo marathon tonight weather he likes it or not.

I'm just excited I can see the floor again.