Basement: Before and During

It’s hard to believe that just a few months ago, when we started working on the basement, it looked like this:



While painting this weekend, we reflected back on all of the work that has been done in our basement over the past few months.  There was the plumbing work that started our house on fire, purchasing materials and some demo, the fireplace install, preparing for the inspection and the to-do list, insulating, ready and waiting for drywall, drywall installed, the drywall dust (oh, the dust!), and the beginning of the painting process! 

I wish I had an “after” pic, but we have months to go before we will have a real “after” photo of the basement.  Here are a couple during photos to show how things have changed:





















Here is a pic showing the first color we chose for the basement! The green wall on the right will be the wet bar wall. It’s definitely GREEN, but so far, we like it!


Looking back, there sure were some phases where there was a lot of stuff EVERYWHERE in the basement!

What do you think of the progress we have made?

Priming and Painting

It was a productive day at our house today – we started the painting process in the basement!  I realized how much work painting the basement was really going to be when we figured out how much primer and paint we would need.  This is definitely not a 2 coats of a pretty color and you are done kind of job.  Today we primed the entire family room and stairs area of the basement - both ceiling and walls.  Initially we were going to prime/paint all of the ceilings first, but once I realized we were going to run out of primer (8 gallons!), I decided we should change gears and prime the walls of the family room so we could start putting real color on the walls today too. I am so tired of white primer and "ceiling white" paint.  Lucky us, we still have the bedroom, bathroom, and a couple of closets to prime both ceilings & walls and then 2 coats of paint….

Here’s a sneak peek at the first COLOR we put on the walls in the basement:



What do you think?

Just a little drywall dust…

Okay, little is an understatement!  The drywall process is officially done, except for the cleaning phase that comes after.  When I left for work this morning the guys were hard at work sanding in the basement and when I came home, nearly 10 hours later, this is what I found covering the entire main floor of our house:

Of course it’s easy to imagine that we have not cleaned in months, however, I assure you, this cabinet was dusted just 7 days ago.  This is fresh, fresh from today. 

I have been working hard to wipe the layer of filth off of everything upstairs while handy hubby is in the basement using the shop-vac to vacuum every inch of the new walls – using a 3 in” diameter brush.  Needless to say, he has been at it for awhile…

Wish us luck that we might actually finish priming the basement and start putting some color on the walls this weekend!  Want to know what colors we picked?  They are FUN and BRIGHT!

Memorial Weekend Fun

This year we stayed home over Memorial Weekend since hubby was running.  We knew it was going to be HOT on Sunday, so we set up the pool on Saturday morning to let the water start warming up for the heat on Sunday.  After the big race on Sunday, we came home, the boys put their swim trunks on, and the rest was history! 























Can you tell they were having fun even though the water was FREEZING?!?  I was laughing so hard it was hard to take pictures!  The neighbors were enjoying the show too!

Have you been out playing in the water?

Running a 1/2 Marathon!

Okay, so it wasn’t me. I didn’t run.  Not even close.  Everything about the title of this post is the exact opposite of me.  I did a perfect job of standing on the bleachers, clapping, and cheering for all of the people crazy enough to run in the HOT weather we had Sunday morning.  Oh, and I brought my camera.  Of course I didn’t practice on all of the other runners first, and it was BUSY when hubby came running in, but I was able to snap a few pictures to document that he really did run his very first 1/2 Marathon.  Did you notice I said first?  I kinda think he likes this running business and may continue on.  Can you say FULL Marathon??  I think there just may be one in his future.  I’m not sure, just guessing.

Waiting for Daddy!  When hubby ran by, Anthony had his arm hanging out waiting for a high five.  Too bad hubby was super focused on the big screen and the timer and missed it…


Here he comes!  He’s in the blue shirt, right in the center.  There was a pretty good crowd and lots of runners coming in with him. 




Hubby will want you all to know that according to his heart rate monitor (that he started as he crossed the starting line), he came in at 1:59:41 – just a few seconds faster than the clock at the finish line.  He was wearing a chip timer on his shoe that will give his official time, but it has not been posted online yet.  His goal was to beat 2 hours, and we are going to say that he did it!  There was also a big screen (upper right corner of the photo below) that would show the runners coming in.  Initially it was off in the distance a bit, so us spectators could see who was coming.  Eventually, when the runners were coming in more steady, the camera stream was pretty much exactly what we were seeing.


Right after the race – doing some quick hydration!


I’m proud of you!

Anyone else crazy enough to think about running like this?

The drywall is up!

The drywall arrived this week on Wednesday, and the guys showed up on Thursday to hang it!  It is crazy to see the basement starting to take shape after so many years (8.5!)of such a wide open space.  Handy hubby has spent so much time down there these last few months that it really feels strange to him too.

These pictures are from Thursday, after the drywall guys left.  Notice the “stilts” over on the right leaning against the wall?  We both really wanted to give them a try, but decided we better not!



The wall straight ahead is where the wet bar will be!



There will be built-in cabinets on both sides of the fireplace – TV on the right, shelving on the left.



Inside the bathroom – on the right is the shower that will eventually be installed and that is a closet
on the left.  We need as much storage in the basement as we can get!



This is the new spare bedroom.  We have had the air-to-air exchanger turned off during this dusty process, and since we are looking at a 90 degree day this weekend (and want the A/C on!), hubby spent some quality time sucking up the dust.  Ahhh, cool air for us!



The cat box has been in the basement for awhile, but is temporarily relocated back upstairs while the drywall guys are working.  This is the door at the top of the stairs to the basement.  The kitty door is currently locked, and they are not impressed!  Especially when we are all down there without them!



We ventured out in the pouring rain this morning to order the stone for the fireplace, pick up some more paint swatches (I need help making a decision!) and to attempt to order the doors for the basement. 

Who wants to come over and help me make a decision with all of these paint swatches???

It’s time for DRYWALL!

The drywall is here!!!  Can you tell I’m excited?!?  It would have been nice if the delivery had not been quite so early this morning, but that’s okay, we’ll take it!

Here’s the basement a few days ago, all ready for the delivery -




The drywall is here!  With this truck and a few guys, it still took over an hour for them unload it all into our basement.


It’s here!!!  There are nearly 70 sheets of fun waiting for a team of some other guys to hang tomorrow.  I am going to come home from work to an entirely different basement!




I’m pretty sure that the time has come for me to go pick out some paint colors.  I’m thinking you’ll find me surrounded by paint swatches this weekend! 

We are changing up the style in the basement (from the rest of our house) so we are open to some fun ideas! 

Any color suggestions?