Still working on the basement.

I thought I could clear out the basement on Saturday morning and spend the afternoon looking at the bathroom. Most of the stuff is still in the basement. Some of it is now in the kitchen, which hasn't helped.

There were more paint cans than I realized. Somebody had stacked them two rows deep under the stairs, and a few had rusted onto the concrete. I'm keeping the ones with readable labels until I work out whether they match anything upstairs. There's a nearly full can of yellow that probably explains the kitchen.

The shelving along the back wall took most of Saturday. I'd hoped to keep it for tools, but the bottoms of the uprights were rotten. One corner was standing on two paint cans. It stayed up while I emptied it, then started coming apart as soon as I moved it away from the wall.

I also found a box of curtain fittings, three snow shovels, and enough loose screws to justify every coffee can I've ever saved. No money in the walls so far. I'll keep looking.

There's an armchair down there that I would very much like to get rid of. I got it halfway up the stairs before admitting it wasn't going around the turn at the top. Getting it back down was worse. I've taken the legs off now, which gives me another two inches and a reason to try again next weekend. There's a fresh scrape in the plaster where I was apparently more optimistic this morning.

With the shelves out of the way, I can finally get to the far end of the room. Part of the wall has wood paneling over it, the thin kind with grooves down the front. It's been painted roughly the same gray as the masonry. The bottom edge is soft in a couple of places.

There's a draft coming underneath it. I couldn't see much with the flashlight, and I didn't feel like pulling it apart with all that stuff still underfoot. Could be an old window opening somebody covered over. I'll take a piece off once I've cleared some room. Whatever needs sealing, I'd like to get it done before I'm paying to heat the place.

I meant to take pictures before I started, but the camera was upstairs and my hands were filthy. By the time I remembered again, I'd already pulled the shelves down. I'll get some before I do much more.

The good news is that there's a decent amount of space down there. Once it's empty and I've sorted out the damp corner, I should have room for a workbench.

For now, I need to move a box of curtain fittings off the stove so I can make dinner.