Catering To The Sports Fanatic

Like many households in our country, sports are woven into the fabric of our family. Our children have all participated on various sports, my husband is an ex-jock who still loves following his favorite teams, which often takes him to destinations around the country. A product of his trips as well as the kids participation is that we have accumulated alot of sports "stuff". While this paraphenalia, memorabilia, and stuff is nice, I really do not like the fact that it is cluttering the shelves and walls around our house.





To be fair, I enjoy sports as well. However, do I really need the New York Giants full size helmet, and autographed Eli Manning football staring at me from atop my fireplace every day? How about the New York Yankee die cast cars, ticket stubs from the World Series or autographed framed photo of Yogi Berra and the "Scooter" Phil Rizzuto celebrating the Yankees 1956 championship? Do I need them cluttering up the walls and shelves of our everday living space? Clearly the answer is a resounding, no! The challenge here then becomes: where to display all this stuff and how do I make it look tasteful? (Have you ever tried incorporating the likes of the Arkansas Razorback mascot into your den?)



My brother-in-law, Mike came up with a great idea: Display all of it, together in a small foyer that is located at the bottom of the basement stairs.



The project starts with a complete paint job. The foyer and stairway walls had been painted a dark tan color. Certainly too dark for a small, poorly lit area.






I picked a light cream paint to keep the walls bright and coffee colored shelves to display "the stuff." Painting is always time consuming but worth the effort. It is the single biggest improvement you can make in a room and the least expensive. Looking back, we should have primed the walls first because two coats of paint were necessary for complete coverage.






We collected some of the sports items in the house and displayed them into the new area. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. The best part is that there are no more helmets, bobble heads or "Razorbacks" hanging around the families everday living space. Everything now, is nicely displayed and organized. I'm happy, the fans are happy, and the Trough, Buzz and Aubie, all have a nice new comfortable home! It's a beautiful thing...!










So how do you like it? All the "stuff" in one room.............................Yeah!01 02 03

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