Suds or Duds?

E and I recently moved into our first home, during an especially rushed and hectic time. We've lived here for a little over a month, and have done absolutely zilch in terms of decorating or organizing. Heck, we still don't have bedroom furniture, so most of our clothes are hidden in one of the cabinets in our living room!

We have grand plans, and a lot of renovating to do, but it'll probably only start happening next summer. One of the things I'd love to do is semi-finish the basement. Right now, our basement is totally unfinished, with nothing down there but a washer/dryer and some paint cans and trim. The stairs even have blue astro turf on them! I'd love to set up a lot of wire shelving around the perimeter to take advantage of the space, repaint the walls (they're currently a stale, stained white) and either repaint the floor with garage paint, or lay some waterproof tile. I'd also love to set up a happy, organized laundry 'station', kind of like this.




I'm not sure how feasible it is to do so, especially with the slight moisture issue all basements around here seem to have. I'm assuming to be able have drying areas and such, the moisture would have to be gone, otherwise mildew will definitely be a problem. Plus, we have delightfully large hopping crickets that might not enjoy the space as much as I will, so they may have to be relocated...to the woods.

Now just to get E onboard!