We thought it would be finished by now had we hired out the whole project. But after budgeting out the finances, we decided to do 75% of it ourselves. And that always takes longer. And it almost always produces snags. And by we I mean Caleb and my dad.
This pregnant lady can't do a whole lot. I spent a few hours vacuuming one night and paid for it dearly.
By the way, considering all the snaffoos, foreseen and unforeseen that came up, Caleb and my dad have done an outstanding job. I'm very proud of my hubby and all he has learned about construction and home ownership in the past few years.
Anywho, the basement was actually finished beforehand. However, it was finished in a cheap way to help sell the house (which it did!) and after discussing it we decided we wanted to put money into "really finishing it". That will become our main hang out spot for parties, play dates and a play area for the girls and when they're older, a safe, welcoming place for our kids to have friends over.
The walls were paneled and were already beginning to pop out. Old windows that were quite drafty. There was a dividing wall put up for some odd reason and we wanted to tear it down to open up the whole basement. We were going to try and salvage the carpet but there were 3 separate areas of carpet missing after tearing our the wall and re-framing a couple areas. Plus it got nasty after demo-ing and drywall. I think I could vacuum over and over and over and still find nails in the carpet. So. New carpet it is!
Caleb demo-ed the whole basement himself and my dad graciously offered to help us with electrical work, framing and painting. We decided to hire out drywall/mudding.
Super excited to have it completed. I'd say it's about half done currently and the hard part is behind us, thankfully. Painting, trim, storage unit, outlets and carpet has yet to be finished. But that's the cleaner part of a basement remodel and more fun because you can see the finish line!
Can't wait to enjoy the finished product this summer! I kept forgetting to take pics along the way so this is all I have.
The nasty demolition work
Right about where Caleb is standing is where the dividing wall was put up.
It was gross and messy.
Notice there are no lights in the ceiling.
Notice the lovely recessed lighting in the ceiling! Thanks dad for all the electrical work! We LOVE the way they look! Right where the odd strips of blue/green lines are in the carpet... that's where the diving wall was put up.
Our drywall guy gave us 48 hours notice that we had to clear out the entire basement along with a large to-do list for Caleb before they could begin drywall. YIKES! We spent the next two nights working on getting everything ready. Caleb's dad came over and helped carry down 33 sheets of 12 foot long drywall. Again. YIKES! Thankfully, it fit down the stairs and they did it relatively quickly. And yes, I even helped :) Probably shouldn't have but I didn't go into labor! By the way, if you re-do anything that involves drywall, you can save money by ordering drywall through a place like Home Depot rather than having the drywall company provide it. You just have to be willing to move the drywall yourself!
Ahhhhh fresh drywall!!!!
Caleb and my dad re-framed part of this wall, adding the angled wall and added a door to the laundry room.
New windows and below is the storage area that already existed and it was just easier to leave it that way. It will be storage used for toys.
I'll be sure to post more pics as we progress further.
Ooo exciting! And yes- you guys ARE crazy! But it looks really good, and will be nice to have it just the way you like it by the time the girlies are ready to play in it! Very impressive, PB. =)
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