Basement Remodel: Before Construction

   Sorry it's been so long since I've updated this blog! I have been taking pictures, but haven't had a chance to post and update! Especially last year with all our travels and my crafty business taking off! However, I'm going to try and get better about posting with all the new changes and exciting things we have going on around the house this year!

   Many of you might have heard that we took on the major project of finishing our basement this year! We decided that it was something we really wanted to complete before we started having kiddos and expanding our family! So we talked with some friends up here, and interviewed a company from Woodbury, MN called Ispiri to work with us on the design and completion of this project.

   There was no way we could do all this work ourselves, and we wanted it done fast and done well! So we hired Ispiri in December and started planning and mapping out our space right away!

   The basement is a little less than 1400 sq ft, and has one egress window. It was already insulated, and roughed in for a bathroom as well! So we really needed to plan what to do with the rest of the square footage, and then start picking out finishing touches! Of course that sounds easy, but it still look us 3 months to pick and finalize a design and select our finishes. 

   We also met with a sub-company, Home Electronic Systems (HES), out of Hudson, WI that works closely with Ispiri for the AV needs that we were looking to install. We decided to put in a home theater system with Dolby Atmos surround sound in our Family Room area downstairs, and this company has been great to work with for all the details and decisions we needed to make to install this particular system.

   Once we were getting closer to finalizing the selections on the basement, though, we needed to move all our stuff from the basement to the main level or the garage. Our basement wasn't "full" by any means, but when you have ~1400 sq ft worth of stuff that all the sudden needs a home.....well let's just say the rest of the house looks like complete chaos right now, too!

   Okay so enough babbling....here are some before pictures of the basement before construction starts:

Here's the original Blueprints of our basement with numbers referencing each picture below. I'm sorry it might be hard to read, but hopefully you'll get the idea!

1.) A look at the main living room area

2.) Back Bar wall shared with the utility room

3.) Doorways: Left one leads to hallway going to the bath and stairs. Right one is the under-the-stair storage closet

4.) Looking back at the doorway leading to the hallway

5.) View of the roughed in bathroom and utility room from the doorway

6.) View from the hallway of the bathroom and utility room

7.) View from the bathroom of the hallway, stairwell, and entrance to the guest bedroom.

8.) View from the hallway at the niche gallery wall feature at the bottom of the stairs.

9.) View from the bottom of the stairs

10.) View from the bedroom doorway into the guest bedroom/theater space

11.) View from theater space into the guest bedroom

12.) View of the theater screen wall and a peek at the egress window from the bedroom

13.) View from the theater room back toward the bar area and storage room

14.) View from bar area to the back storage room

    So after mapping out the space we came up with design plans that look like this:

   It might be hard to read from the picture, but I will reference this blueprint in future posts as construction work begins on this project! I hope you enjoyed seeing our space before we begin this next stage! We cannot wait to share more pictures with you all as everything unfolds! Have a wonderful day!