Goodbye paneling, hello lovely basement

Our basement was really retro.  But not the cool retro, the ugly, old, time-to-get-rid-of-it wood paneling.  Yuck!  When we moved into our house, the whole thing was in desperate need of a cosmetic makeover.  There was teal shag carpet covering the upstairs, a pee-yellow bathroom, wallpaper on almost every wall, etc.  And that was just the upstairs!  We decided to concentrate on getting the top, main floor looking more modern and then we said, "we will redo the basement in a year or two."  Famous last words, right? 

When I look back at these pictures I realize just how bad it was.  I had gotten used to it to a certain extent.  I mean, how depressing is this laundry room especially?  And we both were so embarrassed when we had guests over and they went into the basement, so we are excited to now entertain a little more.

Old laundry room (looking towards family room where the new door is now)

Old laundry room (other side)

Old laundry room



I don't mean to sound bratty or ungrateful at all, the space was great and it served our family for years, but it just didn't have the look we were going for and it didn't match the main floor of the house, which was mostly all updated and really reflected the style and needs of our family.

Old basement (looking north, where new bedroom is now)

Old basement (other end)

Old entry to laundry room

Old basement (where we used to sit and watch TV)

Old basement (double doors are to furnace room)

Old basement (entry to existing bedroom)

Chris did most of the work himself.  He so selflessly gave up his whole summer to work 8-10 hour days so it would all be done before school started.  It took 7 weeks of work, but I am so proud of the hard work he put in and the sacrifices he made on not getting work for school done so we could have a nice basement.  I didn't even realize just how much I hated the old paneling and how un-relaxing it was to be down there until it got gutted and it was like a breath of fresh air.  I told Chris once, even when all the framing was up and there was a saw in the middle of the floor and no drywall or anything, that even if we had to leave it like this it for awhile, it would be better than it was.  He agreed.  Maybe a little melodramatic, but seriously it felt like that!

First thing to do was demo.  I was so nervous about this part and told Chris I didn't even want to be home when they did it because I expected tons of dead mice to be behind the walls and up in the ceiling.  A couple of years ago we had mice in our house and garage (long, gross story) and I figured when they died, that's where they went.  Thankfully Chris didn't even see one dead mouse, though I didn't confirm that information for myself!

Demo!

 

Demo!

We added an egress window to the wall where the small window used to be, to make it safe to have a bedroom in there.  Chris and his brother dug the big hole outside (6'x6'x8') and then we had a company come and cut the foundation.  But then Chris and his brother cut up the big chunks of concrete and hauled them up and out of the hole to the dumpster.  Hard, manual labor!!



Demo is done!  Looking better already - haha!

Next came framing and insulation.  

We closed off the old entry to the laundry room and made a new, bigger one on the other wall.

We took the double doors off and just made a single doorway to the furnace room.

 

We sloped the ceiling down the stairway so Chris doesn't have to duck his head
every time he goes downstairs! (although he still does out of habit)

 

The walls to the new bedroom and hallway to the existing bedroom

 

Looking out from the new bedroom

 



New laundry room doorway

Insulation is done!


Then came drywall, doors, tile for the laundry room and paint.  We hired a company to do the drywall, mudding and texturing, but Chris and his dad tiled the laundry room and Chris and I did the painting (mostly Chris).  We chose a light creamy-taupe for the family room and stairwell and a grayish-taupe for the laundry room and new bedroom.  Funny story about the gray paint though.  On the swatch, it was more brown than gray, but on the walls there is hardly any brown, it's almost all gray.  It's not a cool, bluish gray, it definitely has brown undertones, but it doesn't match the swatch AT ALL.  It turned out to be a happy accident though, because I think brown paint in those spaces would have been too much brown with the trim and cabinets, etc.

 

Then we got carpet installed and furniture delivered and finished up the trim and the million other little finishing touches that really add up.

 

Photo bomb by Sequoia (who loves the new basement, BTW)

My new laundry room/office -LOVE IT!

Other side of laundry room/office

New bedroom

Family room

Family room

This isn't much of a playroom, but honestly the kids mostly
play in their rooms.  They just aren't much into toys lately, they
prefer Legos or dress-up.



It took 7 weeks total, including some really, really late nights painting, staining and hanging that stupid TV!  But I totally, totally love the new space and it feels so neat to say that this whole house is ours now.  Everything you see inside and out (minus just a few exceptions) is something we did, so it totally feels like ours!  I am so proud of Chris doing all the work - he learned some new skills and he amazed me with what he was able to do and how hard he worked to see the project through to the end.  I admire his hard work and his dedication!

We still have to save up for and hang up some artwork (probably DIY cuz it's cheaper and more personalized), style those bookshelves and hang curtains in the new room, but it really feels pretty much done at this point.

So......ten years later and it's finally done!  But I actually think it was good to wait (maybe not 10 years, but oh well), because we were able to live with it awhile and see how we really used it and what we most needed out of the basement.  For example, had we done it a year or two into living here when we only had 1-2 kids, we probably would not have had the foresight to put in another bedroom downstairs.  We probably would not have had the foresight to make a bigger family room and a smaller playroom, knowing that our kids were getting bigger and eventually the amount of indoor space they needed to play would be much smaller (Legos only take up so much space).  Phew, it's nice to not have that work hanging over our head each night anymore, now we can just sit on the couch and enjoy it!