Naomi, Sage – Author at Plaster & Disaster

Few things are more fun than being judgmental of things on the internet… except, of course, being judgmental of things on the internet along with other people. That’s why one of our favorite games together is looking at craigslist and trying to parse whether the things we see are awesome or terrible, and our other favorite game is making snarky predictions about blogging trends for the coming year.

Long-time readers know how we feel about this. Design is about pushing boundaries, so there is a surprisingly thin line between a “cool find” and a “why do they even make that train wreck”… and bloggers LOVE flirting with that line.

Today we’re going to show you some real stuff from craigslist that embodies all the latest trends and we think fall right near that line, and you’ll help us figure out which side they’re on. Will these finds help you be stylishly trendy in a good way, or over the top ridiculous?

You decide!

Of course we have to start with a contender in the “natural textures” category, which you all voted as the top trend of the year. Rattan and bamboo are going to be huge this year as ways to bring in variation while still staying calm and neutral. So what do you think of this bookcase as a way to get started?

It is described as the “most perfect rattan bookcase” so we figure there is no better piece to use for a referendum on the style overall. Is it charming, natural, and quaint? Or hopelessly busy and granny? Would you pay $150 for this perfect specimen?

Also in the “natural textures” category (it won the entire 2018 bracket, so obviously you need to stuff your home with A LOT of natural pieces in 2018), consider this nightstand:

It has a natural, weathered look, with a hint of color and a good amount of storage for a bedside table.

Though what do you think the “Good luck!!” in the posting means? Is it maybe haunted?

Next, consider this extraordinary sofa, which brings together the trend-giant of “hygge” with the coming dominance of 70s silhouettes (sorry), velvet, and mixing metals.

But does it bring them together in a good way? Can it really be a viable purchase when even the poster describes it as “very strange”? Can you make this look stylish or will any room you put it in magically transform into a sloppily finished basement rec room?

While we’re talking about throwback sofas, what do you think of these two pieces?

Would they look totally awesome in a retro living room, or is the vinyl a total no-go?

Please also consider these chairs, listed at quite a good deal for a set of four:

The silhouette is cute and they’re PINK you guys! PINK. And not just any pink, MILLENNIAL PINK. Do we need to say more?

And lastly, how about this dresser? We confess we’re not really sure which trend this is serving (natural textures, I guess?) but it was too intriguing a piece not to include:

The left section is a full-length opening with a closet rod, so this could double as a dresser and armoire in a room without a closet.

Maybe you could put it in your recently-purchased vacation home?

As always, we come across some bizarre things on Craigslist not worthy of your votes but that we can’t help sharing. This time, it’s this shelf that is being used to store…something:

Adult DVDs? Books that reveal the identity of the sellers, who are in Witness Protection? A collection of Twilight movies and novels? We don’t know, but we’re tempted to ask to come see the piece just so we can go gawk at whatever top secret items currently grace its shelves. Also, what is the photoshopped arrow below the third shelf pointing to?

Thanks for playing, we can’t wait to hear what you think!

I shared some basement updates recently, including a plumbing project to fix our bathroom sink drainage and some rearranging and functional updates to improve my workshop. I also shared this photo of the space right at the bottom of the basement stairs:

Which is definitely a big change from how it had been looking:

Indeed, I laid a new floor and painted the walls!

I want to start with a HUGE disclaimer: this is not a tutorial for laying a new floor. I am not claiming to have done this well enough for anyone to copy. Also, I don’t plan to get into a conversation about our old basement floor, which is almost certainly asbestos. The tiles are intact (though there are some missing sections), and encapsulating asbestos with a new floor on top is safe and typically a better approach than removal. That said, you should always get a professional opinion on your own situation.

The new tiles I picked out are adhesive VCT tiles from Lowes, which are very durable and quite affordable.

Our basement is very dry, but we do occasionally get spills from our washer. More importantly, we drag furniture and other heavy things around frequently, and I didn’t want anything that was going to get easily damaged.

VCT tiles do need to lay on a totally even surface, though, so my first step was to level a few low spots. I started by applying a primer to the spots where I was leveling, and then I used a self leveling underlayment to fill low spots (the primer helps the underlayment actually stick):

(I didn’t get any process shots because I had no idea what I was doing and had my hands full.)

Next, I applied VCT adhesive. The adhesive needs to be spread across the full floor and allowed to cure, which means it needs to get clear and tacky before you can start laying down tiles. Here you can see it after I first applied it (there is adhesive on the concrete portion, it just started drying and getting clear faster):

And here it is getting clearer as it dries:

It took a few hours to get to that point where it felt ready for the tile to go down. Mostly I occupied myself by trying to keep the cats out of the basement in the meantime.

Then I just started working my way across the room, laying tile and cutting as needed to work around the closet, furnace, etc.

It was pretty easy to lay and cut, though I definitely discovered quickly that unevenness in the floor is super noticeable — the final result isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough for me.

Also you may recall that the walls were a sickly yellow color with a giant unpainted section where I think the old oil tank used to be (removed before we bought the house), so I decided to do a coat of white paint just to lighten it up a bit. You’ve already seen the finished result, but here it is again since every post has to end with an “after” photo:

(You can still see the yellow walls to the far left — I only did this corner!)

It’s still a basement, but I think it looks a lot better especially since there are no longer big holes in the concrete sections of the floor (it was especially bad around the furnace). I didn’t take any before photos of that because apparently I forgot how to do this whole blogging thing, but just take my word for it….

That’s just one quarter of the basement and eventually I’d like to do the whole thing, but I’m procrastinating because the prospect of having to clear out the furniture in the rest of the basement (including heavy gym equipment, my giant workbench, and our washer, dryer, and extra fridge) is way daunting. So…the project remains about 25% done for now!