working on the ole' homestead
1.22.2009
So, we decided to get moving with a couple house projects that were planned for "some time in the future". Our basement is a finished basement - meaning, it has drywall, some crappy vinyl floors, and some basic white paint. But, it is not very nice. I mean it works fine to work out in every once in a while, or to do laundry, or for basic storage, but it's not a place that you want to hang out and spend time. So, we decided to change that! Here's the basic layout of the area:
(Sorry for the crappy hand-drawn image, but I'm no good at drawing this stuff out in Photoshop.)
So, when you come downstairs there is a room to the immediate left. After ripping out some drywall that was moldy (we had a leak from the back of the fridge upstairs), we discovered that that room originally had another doorway leading to the back of the basement. We went ahead and ripped the drywall all the way to the doorframe, and both Chris and I agree that it makes the space so much more open and inviting that way. That room had two big bookshelves in it, which we moved up to the den and placed next to the fireplace. It also has a futon, which we'll leave for now. All the way around the room the former owners had put paneling up on the lower half of the wall. We had another nasty surprise, when we realized that there was no drywall behind the paneling! The drywall ended about 2 feet from the floor, and the paneling was nailed right above this, hanging against nothing! Well, hanging against the studs here and there...but come on. They didn't even have insulation all the way around between the paneling and the cement block (surprise, surprise).
Chris has been putting in insulation, putting up drywall, and patching. Now, all we have to do is float and finish the drywall, prime and paint! We're going to paint one color throughout the basement. It's Vanillin by Sherwin Williams and we have used it in the kitchen and dining room also. It's a nice light buttery color - slightly yellow like a nice linen (if that makes sense). I'm not sure if I want to buy 5 gallons of Sherwin Williams paint for the basement though, so we'll probably try to get a color match with a cheaper paint. Or maybe just buy the cheapest S.W. paint we can get.
Then comes the fun part - laying the floors. Throughout the basement, except the laundry, bathroom, and utility areas, we will be laying this laminate flooring we got at Lowe's (on sale, of course!).
Isn't it pretty?
We'll be turning that one room into an office. We have a nice, huge rug upstairs that we'll put in there as well as the corner computer desk and filing cabinets from upstairs. With the futon (which I'll probably recover and repaint the frame) The upstairs room that currently is the office will be turned back into a bedroom. Luckily, we have a full-size sleigh bed in the garage that will work perfectly in there.
It's all coming together pretty well!
Posted bySarah at 3:00 PM
