It's Demo Day.
How do I get this thing on?
My name is Bea and I'm a video producer and a professional organizer.
During Covid-19, I'm sheltering in place at my parents' house.
There it is.
Turns out, it's a great time to work on a
project I've been putting off for ten years.
Let me show you what I'm talking about.
This is the pantry.
My parents bought this 19th century farmhouse 25 years ago.
And this is the one room that hasn't been updated.
The most obvious problem is that most of the shelves
are way too far back and they're difficult to get to,
which means that items don't get put away
and they just start piling up year after year.
So what's actually here?
Wrapping paper, holiday, miscellaneous,
kitchen, baskets, serving-ware, ironing board.
Who knows what's living back there.
The problem with the space is the structure of it.
You have to dip your head
or you're going to hit your head there.
You have to get down to access these back shelves.
And then
there's just not really a method to where things are going.
I need to redesign this space so that it's actually functional.
Things need to be visible.
They need to be organized.
It's time to unpack the pantry,
something that has never been done
the entire time we've lived here.
Pulled out one of those shelves.
What have we got here?
Subway Series poster from 2000.
Hmm, how much is this worth?
This is everything.
Some fun finds from the day, old artwork.
Also...
juicebox straw.
Clearly part of a pop rocks packet,
maybe someone was eating it in there, hiding it.
Treasures from the closet.
Okay.
Closet is finally empty and we can really see.
There's a little bit more work to be done
than what I originally thought.
We may have to do some work here in
repairing some of these walls.
Floorboards from the 1800s.
So I'm going to bring in someone who knows a little bit about design,
and that is my dad.
He's an architect.
Dad!
We do a custom shelf for there.
Mhm.
That's just a little bit deeper.
Yeah.
Back here probably get rid of the plaster.
It's a little messier job,
but this isn't really doing much.
Piece of trim there.
This is sort of unrelated.
This is the nature of old houses.
It's Demo Day.
Let's try that again.
Alright.
I'm taking off this wall.
It's broken at the top.
It's broken at the bottom.
We're going to replace it.
Here we go.
Found a coupon.
Before fiberglass they used horsehair in the plaster.
So that's what you're seeing right there.
And there.
I just finished demoing the back wall.
A little bit of progress every day.
It's day three and we're cutting studs
and finally putting in the sheet rock.
Measure twice, cut once.
It's never been so true.
When something is off by an eighth of an inch
it's frustrating.
This is the cutting station here.
Clamping these boards down so they don't move.
All the studs are in.
I'm gonna have some new walls.
Little tight.
Just a little bit.
It's Friday,
and I thought that we would be done in five days.
But...
I'm surrounded by tools.
We have all the walls up.
Everything's spackled.
Next step is to prime.
Let's talk about the floorboards.
They're from the 1850s.
We've talked about potentially sanding them and staining them,
painting them, covering them with linoleum.
But my vote is to keep the floorboards.
Today was a lot of thinking about the layout of the space.
It's really tricky because of this low ceiling.
And I know from before that
anything that was put in the way back was just lost.
With the new design, I really want to bring things
to the front and make everything accessible.
And we're also trying to work with the shelving
that we currently have.
Limitations bring out some good creativity.
So I've just been moving
these pieces around today
trying to see what layouts feel the best.
Okay, it's dinnertime.
Yeah.
So I have here...
Ow.
I'm thinking this could be used as a counter
against the back wall.
I want to try to see if it'll even work in the space first.
Nice!
Perfect fit.
It is day 10.
Everything's been installed, painted, nailed up, painted again.
It's finally time to organize the closet.
This is the moment I've been waiting for,
the reason I started this project.
Let's go.
It's all gotta go back in there.
All of the ribbons.
I found these extra sticks
and I'm using them to organize all these spools of ribbons.
So I'm just kind of color coordinating them.
I found these bins outside.
If I organize by holiday, it's a better solution
because then you can just pull out what you need.
Bags.
Too many bags.
What can we do?
A desk organizer becomes storage for gift bags.
And I've put the bags that are used for everyday errands right by the door.
And the iron fits perfectly.
I'm done!
Let's just remember where we started.
It's time to show my parents their new pantry.
Come on, hon.
Wow.
That is a total remake.
Well done, Bea.
Yeah, the shelves make great use of that space.
Wow, this is amazing.
I guess I can come in and not hit my head now,
like digging through everything.
I love that tabletop.
Love the way you kept the character of the room.
We've got these beautiful wide plank floors.
I love that.
That was a really good idea.
So you're happy with it?
Bea, I love it.
It's so good.
And all this during quarantine?
Thank you, Bea-bea.
Well done.
Thanks for your help, Dad.
It's really great.
Well done, that was fun.
Yeah.
That's all for this episode.
I think we've all spent enough time underneath the stairs.
Thanks for watching and until quarantine is over,
stay home and stay safe.
Geez...