Tag Archives: the least of these

The Least of These (Part 2: Rats in the Cellar)

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Sorry for the delay… I promised part 2 a week ago… but we do things slowly here in the country! Nonetheless. Here we are! Back in the basement!

Remember this stain?
This is the after!

If you haven’t read part one of my basement reno, you can check it out here. It took a long time. After plenty of ducking and dodging crevices and spiders, the final coat of epoxy paint was on the floor – and then the hot water heater began trickling condensation. The paint wasn’t even dry yet and I had a puddle! Argh!! I pulled out the roller and spread that puddle around – mixing up my concrete paint with the slightly rusty tinge of puddle. Done.

Seriously?! Puddle extinguished.

And then we began the task of “moving in”. The cellar will be no more than storage and laundry and extra space for the zoo, but I was determined to make it nice. The dog is afraid of the steep basement steps so the cat food is stored down here with little chance of getting eaten up by the Labrador. The previous owner had stapled a large amount of fabric around the laundry tub – which I considered a valiant effort on prettying up a dismal space, so I embraced it. I ripped off the the fabric and decided there was enough to create curtains for the “windows” and decorate up the tub again. I still haven’t put the spare bedroom together but here I was sewing curtains for the basement. I guess this was how I roll. I made no attempt to put up floating shelves and funky laundry signs or fake succulents. My decorating skills for the basement only went so far.

Before
And after!
Crisp white walls!

Although the hubby was quite pleased with the folding table for laundry piles so we replaced the large wooden one with a plastic folding one we had stored at the previous house. I have a picture to put up. The hubby thinks that’s crazy – but we’ll see if it ever gets hung on the wall or simply sits on the ledge for the next 50 years.

After some debate and discussion, we agreed that our pet rats will start out in the basement. Yes, we have rats in the cellar! The creatures have been with us for several years and our youngest has started breeding them as her small side hustle. If you want to get in to a debate on keeping rats as pets, I’m happy to save that for another blog post! Anyway, despite the fact that there is no natural light down there we decided the rat cages would do well in the big open space. The barn would be too cold in winter and the fuzzies are a little stinky even though we housed them in the bedrooms at the old house.

So moving day for the rats was upon us. Trust me, this is no easy hamster wheel and hanging water bottle challenge. The youngest and I had to tackle this on our own as we needed the whole van to transport the two multilevel cages and all the equipment we house to host our little beasties. We packed, dismantled, cleaned and rearranged. We have four boys and eight girls. Two young girls were recently returned to us so we are in the process of making them a little tamer. Van is packed. Bigger boys in a carrier. Smaller girls caged for transport … until one of the young girls squeezes out from the bottom! Yup, escapee in a van load of endless hiding spaces!

We tried coaxing her out with a cracker… which she promptly snatched and stole away with. We waited as she snacked unawares in an unattainable corner. Forty five minutes and another cracker later, we were on the road for the hour long journey to the new house to unload, reassemble and unpack, again!

And so, the basement has been tackled. The first loads of laundry have been done. The rats seem happy and comfortable. The picture is still on the ledge. We are happy.

The Rats have moved in.

Do you ever wonder if all the time and effort you put in to seemingly “useless” tasks is worth it? Who cares about decorating non window windows for a bunch of rats? I’m learning that patience and following through is rewarding. I can sit back now and say – I did that and it looks good! The “ratty” people in our lives are worth the effort. For “the least of these” are children of God too, and He cares for each one of us. He is willing to wait while we munch away on our crackers under a pile of stuff, not knowing that our safety is in His best interest always.

The cellar of our century home is another reminder to me to not overlook the little things. To be patient and trust the process. To wait and not get frustrated, even if it means mixing up your paint with a little rusty water. In the end it’ll be worth it. I’m sure.

The Least of These (Part 1)

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We’re back! We are living out of boxes and in a little bit of chaos… but very slowly things are progressing towards routine. It’s a slower pace out here in the country so we’re allowed to take our time, right? I’m happy to be back at mittonmusings.com and wanted to share our first experience here at Itsnotta Farm.

We’d picked up the keys and had our first few walkabouts. I have big plans for a lot of spaces on the property, but I knew I wanted to get going on the unfinished basement first before anything got moved in. It’s a big space. It takes up the main part of the house, but is a little damp and dark and gets a bit wet in the spring… but I was determined to clean it up before all our junk got in. I thought it would take a couple of days work. I was wrong. It took much longer than I anticipated. It was also a good thing I don’t have an issue with spiders. I met a few along the way.

The Least of These

I started out doing my research. What would I need for such a reno? What was my prep? I was tempted to go full hog and paint the ceiling black for a cool “club vibe” like the videos I was seeing. I determined that was way more work than I wanted to take on. It did, however, convince me to buy a paint sprayer. A little splurge, but we are hoping we’ll use it for other projects coming up. (Read chicken coop and barn!). Then on to learning about paint and prep. I don’t think the basement had been taken on in 50-plus years… so I had my work cut out for me. Concrete walls. Crazy half-wall step thing. Chips, bumps, lumps and a whole lotta spiders. And then there was this:

What was this?

Not exactly sure, but I suspect rusty residue from previous pipes, a fireplace or an old oil furnace. There are two “windows”. I really wish they were closed in with a glass block or something to let in a little natural light, but it really is the cellar. Heaven forbid anyone or any thing gets locked in there… there is no escape. Anyway, for those of you looking for reno tips: talk to the people that know. I was confused about all the products: concrete, epoxy, stain blockers etc. but the lovely lady at Home Depot convinced me: concrete masonry paint for the walls because it was a vertical space. I chose white. The part epoxy paint (epoxy = plastic) that sticks better on the horizontal floor. Slate grey to hide imperfections. Perfect. Load up the cart! I also bought a wire brush and a stain blocker for those porous stained spots.

And then the work. Scraping. Oh so much scraping and chipping away at 50-plus years of layers. Climbing under shelving and behind the laundry sink. And I am not a little lady. It was probably pretty humorous seeing me tucked under the shelving with a brush in my hand getting those hard-to-reach spots while trying to avoid leg cramps!

No escaping!

At this point, perhaps you, like others around me, are asking why on earth would I want to start with such a seemingly unnecessary project? After all… it is just an unfinished basement that floods a few times a year and no guest will likely ever see. Why spend the effort on the floor that will only ever see dirty laundry and cat litter? I suppose I wanted it “clean” and protected and to look a bit more finished than it was. Moving in time was the perfect opportunity to attempt it as the basement was empty of junk. A little like people. Many of us who are rough on the edges need someone to come alongside us and brave the cobwebs to help seal the stains and beautify us. The Bible tells us that we are to care for the basic needs of “the least of these”. Everything and everyone should be worthy of a little “pretty-ing up”. At least every 50 years or so!

Support poles and floor, like us, needed fresh coats of paint after 50-plus years!

And often, the perfect time to take on such a project is when it’s empty. We need the most encouragement and uplifting when we are drained of all our stuff and have reached the point when everything has been scraped away and we can start the climb back up from the basement. Guests may never see the dirty laundry, but the very least of these still deserve some effort! And the rewards are abundant! Trust me! The daddy long-leg spiders were worth the exposure — come back next week for the final before and after reveals of our century home cellar and a little more inspirational chat about how we can be the light in someone else’s dark world!