Once upon a time, our house was an ordinary 70’s style split entry complete with carpet, oak cabinetry, hollow core doors, basic trim, and speckled brassy handles.

We know because the basement hasn’t been updated.

We’re the third owners, with a middle man between us and the family that built it.  While we appreciate the quality of the updates the second owner did, the style is too traditional.  Gaudy lighting (the easiest thing to change) and mullioned windows aren’t in line with the simple architecture or natural setting of this house.

Now, I know the 70’s (and 80’s) aren’t known for great, classic style so the updates are in fact upgrades.  However, I’m not a fan of the inlaid diagonal wood floors throughout the majority of the main level.

Especially how they wrap around to the stairs.  Rather than matching hardwood planks, I’d love solid treads with white painted risers.

Again, I appreciate the 3/4 inch floors and don’t hate oak as a floor.  If we had chosen, I’d go with wider, natural toned planks in a straight lay.  For the extra waste from a diagonal pattern paired with the expense of the inlay, we could have had some really stunning floors.

As much as this wood isn’t my style, nothing about it is going to change.  If the condition was bad, we’d refinish.  Fortunately, that’s not necessary because it’s a huge, dusty hassle.  The lighter oak inlay detail wouldn’t show up unless stained or sealed differently than the rest of the floor.  Replacing is a huge waste that neither Ben or I can justify, so we’re stuck here.

Another update I wish we had a choice in are the doors.  Six panel solids, these are quality doors.  Though I’d prefer a simple two or three panel.  Because these are in good shape, these stay, too.

That traditional glossy railing is a different story.  Once outside work (siding) wraps up, I’d love to get this swapped out.

The posts and spindles are spendy, so I’d happily haul them to ReStore for someone else to use.  In my current plan, the square newel posts and balusters would be painted white with stained handrails.  Sometimes, we can replace what we don’t like.  Others, we’ve got to “Make it work” a la Tim Gunn.  Anything in your house you wish you could change but can’t?

Simplifying doesn’t come easily to me, but I’m making a serious effort.  Limited to things we need or love only.  I’ve put the unnecessary and unloved things in the basement to sell.  One of the areas that has seen simplicity is the entertainment center.  At Christmas, it looked like this:

Accessories abound.  Glitter galore.  It changed throughout the year, seasonally, but always had a lot of stuff.

For a simple art piece on the top shelf, I decided to display a rusty old saw my father in law gave us.

A full handle is missing, another wooden piece gone.  Completely rusted and totally interesting.  Also, it’s the perfect width and height to fill in the top shelf.  Initially, I thought of making a simple pedestal.  I ran the idea past Ben, but he suggested a simpler, more rugged alternative.  Using small logs to hold it up.  You know, so the saw looked more in its ‘natural setting.’  Oh yeah, it was also simple and free because we had wood in our fire pile.

Disregard the cords, they’re not visible if you’re standing on the floor.  The rest of the clutter will be hidden once we build doors, so pretend we’ve done that while you’re using your imagination.

See how it spans the shelf, but is one single piece.  Before cutting the logs, I set the saw up there to see how it looked.  With music on, it vibrated and rattled the saw.  That was annoying and potentially dangerous (guillotine anyone?), so we raised it up five inches to sit just above the speaker.

Using a circular saw, Ben cut two-inch deep grooves for the blade to rest in.

It took only a few minutes and really elevates something so simple.  Of course it works well with the rustic touches I’ve been adding, too.