Well, I promised I’d share our basement remodel when I recapped September.  I figured since the month is almost over, I better get with the program and quit dilly-dallying.  Taking a week off has totally blown my schedule but it was SO worth it.

After looking through all the pics from the remodel, I’ve decided to break this into two parts.  First up is the basement remodel itself.  Part 2 will be the bathroom.  I also want to note that we bought this house knowing that we wanted to remodel the basement since the main level is only 856 sq. ft.  Just a cute little Cape Cod.

WARNING:  Lots of photos so I’ll try to keep the narrative to a minimum.

This is the “lovely” entrance from the kitchen.  Anybody hear the ’70′s music playing in the background?  And who puts a chain lock on the basement?  ’Fraid of the boogey man?

Hmmm….drop ceiling, peel and stick floor tiles, baseboard heater and some really ugly walls.  Niiiice.   Maybe I should tell you this house was built in 1940, so that is not concrete block walls.  It’s more like terracotta tile blocks.

Removing the tile and you can see the drop ceiling has already been removed.

Here you can see the laundry room on the other side of the staircase.  You will see later that we closed the doorway (if you can call it that) to the laundry and moved the door under the steps.

Looking from the laundry room out to the future family/media room.

Here you can see the main wall has been studded and insulated.

The laundry room wall studded, insulated and waiting for drywall.  The column contains the main sewer drain from upstairs.

Now you can see the new laundry room door opening under the steps.  The shelving is for hubby’s audio/video components.  Oh, I guess I should tell you the door at the bottom of the steps leads in to the furnace room.

Looking back towards the main wall, you can see that the drywall is almost done.  The opening on the side wall is for a custom built DVD storage unit.

These are stock cabinets.  The center part will later house the speaker system.  Po is supervising….as always.  {My apologies for the blurry pics, I am getting better…Promise}

Now you can really see the DVD storage taking shape.  This was a great way to add a little more storage and make use of the concrete block that supports the back wall.

Things are really starting to take shape.

Damn, another blurry pic but you can see the crown molding starting to go up.

The carpet hasn’t gone in yet but things are really looking fabulous!  We left this side of the staircase open and I’m so glad we did.  It really makes a difference in the feeling of the room.

Unfortunately, the carpet installers (after being warned) broke the light, so we replaced it with a different one.  I can’t seem to find any pics of this view completed.

And the finale you’ve been waiting for ……{insert drum roll here}

I’d like to take time to explain just a couple things and give a couple tips.  First things first, we originally planned to bring a couch and chair down from the living room but could not get them to fit down the stairs.  And second, since we ran WAY over what we thought we were going to spend,  we still haven’t bought furniture specifically for downstairs.

Which leads me right into the tips….

Never let a contractor (even when it’s your husband’s buddy) tell you he can’t put anything in writing.  Get it ALL down on paper.  Or find somebody who will. Period.  What he is expected to do and when.  What is covered…is he purchasing all materials?  Is he supposed to Drylok the floor? {He was supposed to and didn’t, which led to water issues later.} Are you paying for tools?  Extra help to make the deadline if he is running behind?  These were all issues we had.

Make sure you plan for all your electric needs now and in the future…extra outlets, cable tv, etc.  We did an electric plan, which he didn’t follow.  So there are NO outlets on the main wall.  No place to plug in Christmas village lights without an extension cord…grrr.  Even the outlet on the ceiling for the projector was done after the drywall went up.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little peek into our basement remodel and learned something along the way.  I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Please take a minute to scroll down and leave a comment.  I would love to know what you think.  Did this inspire you?  Will you use this as a jumping off point for your own project? Or just say –  Hi, I was here.  Comments are the only way to let me know what you are thinking.  If you enjoyed, please share with your friends or followers.  Thanks =) 

  Andrea

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