Vic, that looks like the part of the basement that Dad finished under the house I grew up in. We didn't have florescent lights, but it was well lit for Mom's flowers in the front part and in the back against the farthest wall and behind another concrete block wall that made it darker were shelves for canned goods and a potato bin. I guess it was the more modern version since he shored up the house and dug out that part of it in the very early 50s. I wasn't scared of it, maybe because of Mom's geraniums and all the light. Plus the door to the outside was a regular sized door.
But Vic, I love yours, it's perfect.
Tee, great about your crawl space. If I weren't facing a huge old age next week I'd be digging right now, but I am, so I won't. I need something I can walk into, and I doubt that the space beneath my house will be it. I don't have that many people to feed anyway, and heaven knows I already have enough flowers to stock a nursery. So whatever is, just has to be. But lucky you when you get yours done!
Since it was in the 50s when Dad remodeled beneath our house, I suspect he had was preparing the area as a fallout shelter as well. It had electricity and running water. One part of it housed our furnace (coal) and also in that larger front room was the water source so it became the laundry room.
