As usual, life got in the way of genealogy as it always seems to do. But that doesn't mean I still haven't been working on my family tree. THAT will never change.
Recently, I decided to take over a portion of our basement so I could have a dedicated genealogy space. Previously, the files and computer for my husband's small side business were housed in the basement. He was "supposed" to work down there. Slowly but surely, he and his files made their way upstairs into the computer loft, where both my little workspace and the family computer are located. Rather than compete for space, I made lemonade from lemons and took over the basement.
The basement is divided into a kids video game area and storage, with some basic studding separating the two. My new space consists of two folding tables plus a 6' plastic storage shelf. I bought two new industrial rugs on sale at the local home improvement store to keep the floor area warm. The kids' video game TV was starting to fail, but the PC connection still worked. I hooked up that TV to a basic PC and will use it for internet access to read records on a big screen! My bifocals heartily approve. Then I will continue to use my laptop for my family tree entry and basic computer work.
For storage, I had two rolling IKEA tables. I kindly left one upstairs for my husband. The other one holds both of my scanners and neatly rolls underneath the smaller table. Good use of space!
Finally, the only real decorating expense of my project was shower curtains! We haven't figured how (or if) the basement will be finished, but for now I tacked up two plastic shower curtain liners between the kids' space and mine. Voila - room divider for $5.
Now it is a basement and you may wonder about water problems. Oh, we've had them. June of 2015 brought terrible rain and storms to Illinois. We did have some water in the basement after power loss and the sump pumps not working. We tossed the old carpet scraps and went through mops and bleach, but in the big picture, damage was pretty minor. We do, however, have everything stored in the basement in plastic buckets, all our files are on racks with feet and nothing of value is actually on the floor - we learned! My family photos are stored upstairs, if you were worried.
For file backup, I use a redundant system of backup drives. And Santa brought me a new 2 terabyte drive for Christmas! Files are routinely backed up and the drives stored away from each other.
I think the best part of "moving" will be the opportunity to go through all the papers and notes I dragged downstairs to refile. Sorry - no pictures of that mess. I don't want to spoil your image of me! And as an added bonus, I can keep an eye on the laundry while I'm working ;)
For less than $50 and re-purposing many things we already had, I have a new place of my own!
So now you'll know where I'll be, once my kids are back to school and NOT USING MY NEW SPACE!
Happy New Year to you all!
© 2015 Sally Knudsen
