DIY tile~ cooling the storage room

We have a small cool storage room under my stairs but it was time to fix a couple of issues.

I store the produce I bottle from our garden in there so it needs to be cold and dark.

It was also a bit of a squeeze through the doorway.

I thought if I took the insulation off the outside walls it would cool off more and I wanted to cover the floor in something. We had used the sticky tiles in our other house and they worked great! This was definitely a project that needed to be done before canning gets going full swing.

I found some nice (but cheap inexpensive) vinyl tile at Home Depot. I didn't have room to empty the storage out completely so I enlisted my boys help and did the job in 3 sections.

 First I started under the stairs. My boys were great helpers at taking out all the empty bottles. Once the tiles were laid they went to work moving the bottles back in place. 

Now for section 2. We had to move my homemade shelves, no easy task mind you. Those babies are He-avy!

Most of the tiles went down nicely. We have to do a bit of cutting but not much. I am not good at that part so thankfully dear hubby indulged me after he got home from work.

Then we finished off with the last little bit, working my way out the door.

The insulation I took off the walls gave me 8 inches more space. I know that doesn't sound like a lot but it was perfect. Now the shelves fit better and my lunch bins easily slid in between the shelf and wall. Remember that tight fit~ yep, no more.

Ahh, that is wonderful! So much better. It's amazing how little things can make big differences.

Now my bottles are no longer right on the cement. Did you know that water bottles can leach the taste of  cement into it. Uck! This is better. I plan on putting my water on pallets as well.

I don't mind the cement walls. They are outside walls and will help to keep the room cooler.

Now for a door and light switch of it's own....