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In many houses, the basement is a neglected space. And no wonder. Who would want to spend time in an area that is dank and disorderly, with beams low enough to clunk your head on or floors that get soaked on rainy days? But with the right organizing strategies, a basement can be quite the opposite of this dreary image. As the one in Martha's home in Bedford, New York, demonstrates, it can be a clutter-free, functional place. It can even be cheerful.

Upon moving into her 1925 Colonial-style four-bedroom house, Martha vowed to make the basement useful. "I wanted it to be an excellent spot for storage, laundry, and projects like wrapping presents, and also for crafting," she says. This was a tall order for the 2,600-square-foot space, which was completely unfinished and featured dirt floors and low ceilings. Some of it was merely crawl space.

Martha set out to have the basement finished, an undertaking that included digging out the too-small nooks to create usable rooms. She then outfitted each of the rooms -- including a professionally equipped laundry room, a room for crafts and gift wrapping, two large storage rooms, a bathroom, and a wine cellar -- with the necessary supplies and fixtures to suit its designated purpose.

The floors in much of the basement were covered in 1-inch-square glazed white tiles, which have a light, bright look. "And they're easy to clean and maintain -- a must in a house with three dogs and five cats," Martha says. White subway tiles were used on the laundry room and bathroom walls. Vintage overhead light fixtures with compact fluorescent bulbs, shelves and tables made of sturdy stainless steel, and electrical conduits lining the interior walls all combined to give the rooms an industrial look, an aesthetic that Martha felt was appropriate for the working spaces.